Lisberger, of course, wrote and directed the originalTron, and acts as producer on the forthcomingLegacy.
Ad content continues below
Steven Lisberger: The original animation studio was actually right up the street.
Like, seven blocks from here it used to be called Washington.
Everybody was doing backlit animation in the 70s, you know.
It was that disco look.
And what happened was, I sawPong, and I said, well, thats the arena for him.
And they really inspired me, by how much they believed in this new realm.
You saw a way of using what they were working on at MIT, right?
And at the time there were no PCs.
There were computers that you could own, but they only ran on machine language.
But thinking about it, there really was no way for them to do it.
[laughs] It wasnt really until the PC came out that this became possible.
It was possible at the time if you worked for the Defence Department.
JS: Much better usage.
[laughs]
So, the entire concept ofTroncame from this single neon warrior.
That was the germ of the idea?
SL: Yeah, the basic germ.
You have an animation studio, and two things are inherent to that.
One is, whos going to be your Mickey Mouse, you know?
you’ve got the option to see that with Pixar and [John] Lasseter, withToy Story.
But we didnt have deeper character issues or motivations until we met programmers who were part of that.
And all that came together within six months to a year.
Was there a certain hippy ideology that came out of it as well?
SL: No question about it.
I am part of the boomer generation, and we were idealistic.
The Gen-Xers are more realistic.
My generation is certainly guilty of being too unrealistic.
We dreamt so big and didnt follow through.
My sons generation, basically Justins generation, has the problem of putting both those elements together.
We were just amazed that we pulled it in.
This new generation is making this tiger jump through burning hoops and training it.
And is that not the challenge of your generation?
Whereas, for us, it was more like We can get it to do something.
Isnt that a miracle?
Was your studios partnership with Disney a comfortable one from an artistic standpoint?
SL:Theres fairly unknown quote from Walt that went, I dont make movies to make money.
I make money to make movies.
Certainly, I had gone to film school, most of my experience was in animation.
I had done hours and hours of animation, and Lisberger Studios had a staff of about 70 people.
But because this was Disney Studios, what we were doing was sort of in their DNA.
We could have filled this entire room with the frame blowups from this movie.
It was two tractor trailer trucks full.
They felt strangely comfortable.
What they never felt comfortable with was using computer animation.
At the time, that was the Devil.
I cant tell you how scared of computers people were back in the day.
And the argument that the film was making was, Its scary because you are not part of it.
You have no access.
You have no idea whats going on.
If its in your hands too, and you will be empowered.
Holding the disc overhead is the symbol of unity.
JS:Ive got a good example of how scared people were of CG technology back in 1982.
The Academy eliminatedTronfrom the Visual Effects Award that year because they said it was cheating.
SL:We were not even nominated for special effects.
Its certainly been that way for the past 15 years.
Now that weve lived with it, were asking, What are the dangers of this frontier were living?
In the originalTron, you could see the technology up there on the screen.
SL:Its an evolution.
John Norton, who drew the original neon warrior, he was the Disney animator for years after that.
I wanted Mobius, and Richard Taylor, my effects guy, wanted Syd Mead.
I got to know both of them, and I got them both.
I cant tell you what a difference that made to us.
We were scared before.
Were still a little scared, but now we have these top guns.
With these two artists, theres nothing we cant do.
Its always been form following function.
Computers have always been doing what they do best.
He seduces it into doing what it does best.
The Light Cycles look more like theyre supposed to look now than when we did them.
That was Syds original design.
Whats happened now is that we have a Light Cycle that looks much more like wed hoped.
For me, that bike is the symbol of man coming one with a machine.
JS:Its that iconic look that certainly inspired us when we went looking to revisit this saga.
So, thats what set us on the path to continuing the story.
SL:It turns out that people dont really change.
And that wasnt supposed to happen.
The marketing department at Disney was not that sophisticated, and really hadnt warned these people.
And when their 10-year-olds looked at their parents freaking out, they said, This is good.
This is for me.
Sign me up for more of this.
They were the ones that embraced videogames.
At a certain point in time, the gears really lined up with the originalTron.
And it turns out they didnt forget that.
It doesnt really want to do images that look like the real world.
Computers really want to do images that, say, You know what I actually like?
You know what the landscape of my interior is?
And when you do that you end up with this look.
JS:And also we had the idea thatTronis a world that exists on a server.
Weve come up with a narrative explanation for why the world looks different from how it does in 1982.
SL:Its computer powered.
The underlying architectures the same.
I recently remastered the first film for Blu-ray.
The cursor frames, the wire frames, just fit perfectly into the originalTronimage.
[laughs]
SL:…and Id made that up!
That was a pain in the ass 28 years ago!
JS:Jeff was like, This is wild, man!
SL:And then the technicians that were doing the scanning didnt appreciate the irony.
I said, Dont you realise I just made that up all those years ago!
and they said You made it up, so of course it came true this way.
But I guess if you get it wrong in a big way, its almost more shocking.
So, you have to, in essence, reign your imagination in a little bit?
SL:I know what youre saying.
Its a misnomer when people say artists dont like limitations.
Its actually quite the opposite.
When you could do anything, you get a problem.
I think there is an artistic danger to that.
If you decide to meet for lunch, you could have 16 phone calls the day before lunch.
Im 10 blocks away.
Im one block away.
Im actually in the parking lot.
Im approaching the table.
Im can see you!
Oh, hey, were at lunch!
it’s possible for you to do that if you want.
Thats the responsibility of how you deal with this technology now.
So, how do you give yourself boundaries?
The fundamental design principles ofTronandTron: Legacyare the same, we just have the technology to push it forward.
To see how realistic that world looks, and still looksTron-esque, its pretty spectacular.
JS:Anyone have anyTronworld questions?
You know, what is the world, what is the Disc?
Yeah, what is the Disc?
[laughs]
SL:Its a frisbee [laughs].
I think the Disc, for me, is one of my favourite parts of theTronworld for multiple reasons.
They could be symbols of self.
Its where all the information about you is stored, its fundamentally who you are.
SL:Its a symbol of self.
SL:Ill give you an analogy of that, Im glad you brought that up.
We are born with our self.
We dont develop our ego until were about eight years old.
Prior to that stage in our life our super-ego has been implanted in us by our parents.
We have no protection against them.
We dont have an ego yet.
Whatever they tell us goes right to the harddrive.
When your friends hurt you it goes right to the harddrive.
And thats when people start to feel quite a bit of dissatisfaction.
I feel like the person I really want to be.
That concept is hidden underneath the idea of projecting your disc.
I think that what the world is doing to us now isnt a problem to do with ego.
Its a problem to do with toxic personality.
And our egos are expressed through cyberspace.
The ego helps you function in society, and it helps you work.
You have to have one.
And thats the role that cyberspace plays.
Good luck finding a job, or being part of society, if youre not connected to the net.
And all that is part of the ego.
Look how many toxic personalities there are on the Internet.
The whole idea of anonymity on the Internet represents being cut off from the original true self.
So, all of cyberspace and the mechanism of cyberspace is becoming a Rorschach to our true condition.
Thats about as heavy as it gets!
[laughs] Thats the penthouse.
SL:Its interesting that you should say that.
It did reflectThe Wizard Of Ozto me, and no one made that connection.
In this film, he really is like The Wizard Of Oz.
You cant love a legend.
You cant really connect with it or relate to it.
And when they can both look at each other as men, then the connection is there.
We werent chasing downThe Wizard Of Oz, thematically, but I think its in our DNA.
The Coen brothers have said the film that has influenced them the most isThe Wizard Of Oz.
Justin Springer and Steven Lisberger, thank you very much!
