All I wanted out of TRON: Ares was the return of Kevin Flynn. A TRON movie without Jeff Bridges’ Kevin felt wrong, so please know that I made a very excited noise the minute that Bridges confirmed he will be in the third installment of the TRON franchise. (I screamed.)
Bridges is being honored with the Chaplin Award from Film at Lincoln Center, and during a retrospective on his career for the Film Comment podcast, Bridges seemingly confirmed that Kevin Flynn will be a part of the third movie. “I’m heading off this Saturday to play a part in the third installment of the ‘TRON’ story; I’m excited about that,” he said. “It’s wild. Jared Leto is the star of this third one, and I’m really anxious to work with him, and I’ve admired his work.”
One of the things that Bridges also talked about was the technology that is now available for TRON: Ares compared to what was used for TRON: Legacy. “[I’m really excited] to see what the technology is going to be all about [this time],” Bridges said. He also went on to talk about Legacy, directed by Joseph Kosinski, and knocked a bit at the de-aging used in it.
“When I did ‘TRON 2,’ ‘TRON Legacy,’ we had to put all these dots on our face and all these kinds of things,” Bridges said. “And that’s [probably] all passé. I had to see myself as a young guy or as another character, but the same guy, but it was gonna be digitally created. I think it was [de-aging], but I didn’t like the way I looked in it; I felt like I looked more like Bill Maher than myself; it was kind of bizarre [laughs].”
This is all I wanted!!!!
I have loved Bridges my entire life. (Yes, because he looks like my father.) And the TRON movies are something that mean a great deal to me. The idea that Ares was not going to include the Flynn boys felt wrong. We don’t know yet if Sam (Garrett Hedlund) is going to make an appearance in the film, but having Kevin back is a step in the right direction.
I mean, look, every single time someone talked about this movie, I screamed about Kevin Flynn. I very much had an agenda. So Bridges saying he’s heading to film, whether he was supposed to tell us or not, really just makes me the happiest of TRON fans.
So all you TRON heads, rejoice! We’re going back on the grid and with Kevin Flynn in tow! Who can ask for anything more?
(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
