After getting the go ahead, there was still a whole host of problems. True, directing talent is hard at any time, but the fact that the original film came out in 1982 brought up the issue of Jeff Bridges’ aging. Added to that, he would have to direct his actors on a blue screen and try to have them imagine his vision while working. He began to shape his plan around getting as much material as possible for the actors to physically work with, starting with the soundtrack by world-renowned French electronic musicians Daft Punk. “I had always been a fan of Daft Punk. I knew that they are known for their electronic music, but I knew there was a lot more that they were capable of,” he said.
“I reached out to them, and we met for breakfast one morning here in Los Angeles and talked about our favorite films and our favorite film scores and composers – Wendy Carlos and Bernard Herrmann and John Williams – and the idea of creating a classic film score that blended electronic music and orchestral music in a really interesting way,” Kosinski elaborated.
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-T7vGdH_ek&feature=channel”&w=450%5D
(More on TIME.com: Review: New “Tron” Video Game Looks as Cool as the Movie)
Having the soundtrack with him since day one was a great tool for the director, who could play the music while shooting scenes and edit in time to the music, a rare occurrence in the film industry. During each of the 80 days of shooting, he had the music, conceptual art, previews of animatics and little rough movies to show his talent so they wouldn’t be completely in the dark. Kosinski had the actors rehearse each scene multiple times, but still couldn’t prepare them for what the final product would look like. He remembers the look on Garrett Hedlund’s face when he saw the film on the screen for the first time. “It must have been pretty surreal for an actor to see the movie finished,” he said.
As for the other technological aspects, it took a lot of experimenting and playing with what Kosinski learned from his past experience and a lot of trial and error during the 18 months of post-production. Since he was using the most advanced 3D cameras, which were incredibly heavy and hard to move, he carefully planned where each shot would go, helping him in explaining to his actors what he was looking for. For Jeff Bridges’ role as Clu, a computer program that looks like the younger version of the actor, Kosinski knew that makeup couldn’t get Bridges as young as he wanted him to look. He had Jeff Bridges act out the lines and then had a body actor do all the motions, effectively shooting the scene twice. He then fused the two performances together and then used CGI to make the actor look younger. Lighting with 3D films tends to be dimmer because of the technology behind it, and was a problem he had to contend with, as well as malfunctioning wardrobe pieces. The light suits were wired, and often they would blink out forcing the team to film the whole scene over again.
(More on TIME.com: From Legacy To Uprising: Tron Continues On TV)
Not all problems turned out to be a bad thing for the cast and crew. After one of their cameras broke down in the club scene TRON: Legacy, they team found themselves with some downtime. They turned off the lights, asked the extras playing the deejays – who happened to be Daft Punk – to spin some music and danced until the camera was up and running. “Everyone was in lit up suits, it was surreal,” he said.
This weekend will be the barometer if Kosinski’s first foray into the film world will succeed, and to the director, the journey of his film career will truly begin beginning. There’s one thing he can definitely say he has under his belt, however. While light cycles and computer programs coming to life might just be science fiction to some, Kosinski, unlike most people who just dream about what the future can hold, has made his vision reality.