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Mania Exclusive Interview with Steven Lisberger

The original TRON director speaks

By Rob Vaux     July 29, 2010


Tron
© Mania/Bob Trate

 

Steven Lisberger has just a tiny handful of films under his belt… but one of them is TRON. The 1982 science fiction adventure announced the dawn of the computer age in ways few people at the time understood. Now twenty-eight years later, Lisberger returns for the sequel, writing and producing TRON: Legacy while turning the director’s reins over to newcomer Joseph Kosinski. In an exclusive interview with Mania, he spoke about the project—knee deep in Comic Con insanity and surrounded by a new version of Flynn’s Arcade that first sprang from his imagination.
 
Question: The original TRON has a fascinating history. It sort of matriculated over time as it found its audience.
 
Steven Lisberger: People don’t understand what that summer was like. TRON did the same business as Blade Runner. We cost almost the same; TRON was a little cheaper. We grossed, domestically, almost the same. We did big business in video games that Blade Runner didn’t. I was talking to Ridley Scott about Blade Runner the other day, and he said, “You know, I really took a beating for making that movie.” Those pictures, by any normal standard, were successful. The problem was, there was a recalibration of the system, and that recalibration was called E.T. It went up every single weekend for an entire summer. When was the last time you saw a movie continue to go up—that already opened big—and just keep going, bigger and bigger? I think it was number one for twenty weeks. And everybody was compared to that film. It was pretty brutal. It was a tsunami.
 
Q: But TRON found its audience over time, and while it did, the culture caught up with it.
 
SL: I like to say that the future caught up with the past. It’s a generational film. I think that it took ten-year-olds who saw TRON in the day to get to the point where they were powerful enough to get movies made. TRON is their mythology. It’s a founding myth for what they have faced. We haven’t gone to space, we don’t have time machines, the aliens haven’t shown up, the vampires aren’t here, we haven’t cloned dinosaurs… but we’re all Users. And we are all in cyberspace every single day. It’s been right about those benchmarks over the years, and the first film has become almost more right as time goes on.
 
Q: So how do you come back twenty-five years later and revisit the world?
 
SL: When we dreamed up the first film, we just had to dream big. My generation, we come up with all these great ideas. Whether we can implement them perfectly, or whether they’re practical, or whether they can be made real, that’s a whole other question. And frankly, my generation hasn’t been real good about implementing all these ideas. It’s the next generation, your generation, that has to make this stuff real, make it a part of life. That’s what Sean [Bailey] and Joe [Kosinski] have done. They’ve made TRON real. The first film was about, “Is this technology going to bring out the best in us or the worst in us? Are we going to become enlightened Users, or are we going to be MCP demagogues and programs?” Now the story is, for me, whether this technology is going to live up to the promise. Is it going to bring us closer together, or is it actually going to create barriers between us? Are you going to talk to each other in person, or are you going to ignore your kid and talk on the cell phone while you’re walking down the street holding his hand? Flynn has been separated from his kid by his own technology for a quarter of a century.
 
Q: How important was it to get Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner back for this project?
 
SL: They add a great deal of authenticity. When you’re dealing with this kind of stuff, you’re dealing with what’s real. It’s The Matrix question. Am I being seduced by the technology? Is this real or not real? Jeff is about as authentic as it gets. He adds that element that you just can’t simulate. I say that, and actually we have simulated him. The best of both worlds I suppose. Maybe it’s just my perspective because I’ve gotten older too, but I think both of them have improved with age, both Jeff and Bruce.
 
Q: You’ve stepped back into the project as a producer and a screenwriter, but not as a director…
 
SL: I’ve been lost upstream just like Flynn. This feels really right for me, being in this producer role. It’s closer to the original environment that TRON was born out of. I didn’t develop TRON as an individual. There was Lisberger Studios, we had a great number of incredibly talented people that went on, and we basically went over to Disney as a group. I never felt real comfortable being the lone hired gun. That was never really my style. So I appreciate the way this is working out.
 
Q: How responsive was Disney to the notion of a sequel?
 
SL: It was a long process, and it’s been discussed at Disney for decades. These days, when a project is developed, it sort of runs on a parallel track to the Hollywood timeline, but you’re never quite sure when the spark-gap is going to be closed. To use that same line from TRON 1, you just keep doing what you think is right and hope it works out. It finally closed, the spark-gap. I think a big part of making it happen was what I mentioned: the next generation became the Sean Baileys and the Joe Kosinskis and the studio heads. I also think that we came upon the story that was relevant at the right time. The idea that Flynn was lost upriver in his own world of the datastream, and that his son had to deal with the fact that his dad was just a legend. It felt right. Joe slam-dunked it with the test reel here at Comic Con. It was almost a secret that Disney didn’t know about. It’s like finding out you really have five acres of beachfront property in cyberspace.
 
Q: Could you make a franchise out of it? Could we see a whole series of TRON movies?
 
SL: I believe so, because as long as it runs a parallel timeline with technology--which is going to continue to challenge us--and as long as it stays contemporary that way, it’s relevant. And I do think it’s important that artists and creative people try to define technology in terms of story and character. That’s a good mix, that these tools are in their hands and they’re helping to define this story.

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COMMENTS AND RESPONSES

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Chopsaki 7/29/2010 4:05:25 AM

I'm feeling rather nostalgic, It's funny to hear Steven Lisberger talk about ET as the Avatar juggernaut of it's time. I can't speak for anyone eles but the 80's really is a decade onto itself. For me at least it really seperates everything that came before and everything thats come along since. Can't wait for another blast from the past...

Dazzler 7/29/2010 4:35:26 AM

I never felt Tron was a bomb.  It's a great movie and I can't wait for Dec!  

I really hope the video game makes a comeback too for arcades.  The game does not work right on a desktop computer with the emulator. 

Wiseguy 7/29/2010 5:51:46 AM

The eighties were sort of like coming out of an age of innocence. Everything was still new and fresh. Now all those fans have grown up to be too cynical IMO and since everything can usually resemble something else it's shot down most times from the start.

Muenster 7/29/2010 6:12:43 AM

ET, Titanic, and Avatar... Three of the biggest grossing movies in the past 30 years. Did not really enjoy any of them, but I fully understand how the masses can be duped by all the hype into thinking they were fabulous. ET was very fake looking and the acting was just awful. Titanic was abyssmally acted, and had the weakest script I've ever. Avatar, like Tron, was visually stunning, but was just awful on too many levels. (Tried watching Avatar a third time last week, It's so god-awful it actually angers me)

Tron, was rather weak when it came to a story and dialogue, but despite that it was well acted by very professional actors. (Disney back then had a good rep for attracting such.) Although even in 1982 some of the dialogue made me cringe, It was rapidly offset by a fantasy fusion of computers and human interaction that was right on the cusp of becoming reality. Maybe some people sensed it back then. Lisberger was right when he stated "It’s a founding myth for what they have faced. We haven’t gone to space, we don’t have time machines, the aliens haven’t shown up, the vampires aren’t here, we haven’t cloned dinosaurs… but we’re all Users. And we are all in cyberspace every single day." So here we are, still on earth, and sure we don't virtual reality on the scale of Tron or it's sequel, or teleportation...yet, but if your were into technology and action adventure movies then for some, including myslelf, it was an inspriation to embrace, use, and improve technology within your grasp.  

EagleManiac 7/29/2010 6:18:27 AM

I am totally pumped for this sequel! I have been a fanatic of TRON ever since I saw it in the theaters back in '82 when I was 16 years old! It affected me like nothing before, and got me completely into computers and I am still in the industry today! I have always felt that the '80's was a great decade for movies.

Wiseguy, that is true about movie fans today that grew up in the '80's with those movies. I am a movie buff (I know, hard to tell, eh?), and I am a classic movie buff for sure, and the '80's holds a special place for me because I saw SO MANY movies in the theaters during that time. I mean, we didn't have as many means of escape as we do today. We have 1000 Cable channels to choose from. The internet. DVD's that come out even while the movie is still in theaters. And so on. But back then, one had to go to the theater to see a movie, and if it was good, over and over to catch all the great stuff in it, and then WAIT for a year or so, and even more in many cases, before it even came to VHS! Now, it's all about pushing as many movies out as possible, and getting them to DVD and BlueRay as fast as possible. Avatar is a prime example. It was out on DVD/BlueRay and was/is still in theaters! That's ridiculous! It takes away the anticipation factor of getting the movie. I can remember when Alien came out in 1979, and scared the piss out of me. I had to wait a few YEARS before it arrived on VHS. Now it's only a couple of WEEKS and the movies are on DVD after a run in theaters, or, as with Avatar, still IN theaters! THAT is the stuff I hate about todays movie industry. It's simply a business, like any thing else, and no longer has the same "fun factor" as we did back in the '80's. I miss the '80's, and I really think we all have lost a lot and that's a shame!

EagleManiac 7/29/2010 6:28:36 AM

Muenster, I agree totally about Titanic and Avatar, especially Avatar with what you posted. I too think Avatar was pretty much nothing more than a visual FX demo, and nothing else. Not a good movie IMO.

Now, I DO have an issue with your comments of E.T. I couldn't disagree more with you there. But, we all have our opinions, and you just happen to think E.T. was awful. I, on the other hand, think E.T. is a classic of classic proportions, with a fantastic cast, great "kid acting", and some of the best Cinematic Music ever written, and by one of the greatest of all-time, Mr. John Williams. E.T. holds a special place with me, and I will always love it, even if it looks "dated" by todays standards. It was the right film at the right time. The only thing is, it hurt what is really a better "alien encounter" film, John Carpenters, THE THING, which is to this day, is one of the scariest Sci-Fi movies of all-time.....second only to Alien, IMO.

 

Hobbs 7/29/2010 7:01:56 AM

Good interview but I would have liked him to ask if the original Tron is comiing out in blu-ray before release of Legacy.   As the guy who is so involved in the movies you would think he would know.

It's too easy to rip E.T. by todays standards.  Back when it came out the alien didn't look that fake because it was state of art special effects and puppets.  You could say the same thing about the Thing today...special effects are an every evolving process.  Look at the 50's movies that were winning awards for special effects and you'll laugh watching them today. 

zalder 7/29/2010 7:21:35 AM

How I hope this is good, and they bring back a good video game.  Going to date myself but one of my favorite games on my old intellivision system (yes intellivision) was the tron game.  So simple but oh so good.

Rheul_home 7/29/2010 7:34:24 AM

I loved Tron when I was a kid but I honestly dont think its held up over the years and I consider it unwatchable. Blade Runner I didn't like when I was a kid and now it's one of my favorite films. I was pretty indifferent towards E.T. when it came out and feel the same way today. That being said, Hobbs is right. E.T. is easy to attack by todays standards. There are some hard undeniable facts about E.T.. Its a good family film with classic themes and lessons. Story and effect wise it was nothing we hadn't seen before but it was a charming film. E.T. is actually more of a Disney film than Tron when you think about it. You can say it looked fake if the only way you've seen it is on home video/DVD but not at the time on the big screen. E.T. looked every bit as good as Star Wars effect wise and it was a move both parents and children enjoyed. That is why it was so successful.

@Zalder I loved the Tron arcade game... There were two Tron games on Intellivision no? "Deadly Disks" and one I think it was just called Tron that had those big red things that wanted to step on you

Muenster 7/29/2010 9:39:59 AM

Yeah, OK Eagle. ET was not that bad, but it has not aged well.

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