Background Steven Lisberger relocated to
Boston, Massachusetts, from
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the 1970s to pursue a career in
computer animation. it generated only modest sales at the box office — the cumulative North American gross was just $33 million. Producer
Sean Bailey, who saw the film with his father and Lisberger, was captivated by the finished product. Although
Tron performed below Disney's expectations, Rumors of a
Tron sequel were further ignited after the 2003 release of the
first-person shooter video game,
Tron 2.0. Lisberger hinted that a third installment could be in the works, depending on the commercial success of the game.
Writing Shortly after hiring Kosinski, Bailey approached screenwriting duo
Adam Horowitz and
Edward Kitsis, who accepted for being self-described "obsessed about
Tron." Horowitz later claimed the challenge was to "homage the first movie, continue the story, expand it and take it to another place and open up space for new fans," and Kitsis claimed that the film would start a whole new mythology "of which we're only scratching the surface." Horowitz and Kitsis first created a story outline, and developed and fine-tuned the plot with Bailey and Kosinski across a period of two days in
La Quinta. The writers also consulted Lisberger, to view
Trons creator input on the story. which helped in particular to the development of Sam's story line. The writing staff cited
The Wizard of Oz as a source of thematic influence for
Tron: Legacy in writing the script, with Kitsis stating that "They both have very similar DNA, which is
Tron really lives on, in a lot of ways, trying to get home. You're put on this world and you want to go home and what is home? That's in a lot of way inspired us." Kitsis also added that they had to include an "emotional spine to take us into the story or else it just becomes a bunch of moves or gags and stuff," eventually deciding on adding a mysterious destiny to Flynn and giving him a legendary aura – "Kevin Flynn to us was
Steve Jobs and
Bill Gates all wrapped up into one and
John Lennon." The writers decided to create the character of Clu as an evil embodiment of "how you look back on your younger self, (...) that guy [that] thought he knew everything, but he really knew nothing." Bridges liked the idea of the dual perspectives, and contributed with the writers for the characterization of Flynn as a
sanguine Zen master by suggesting them to get inspiration from various
Buddhist texts. Part of the concepts emerged from a reunion the producers had with scientists from
California Institute of Technology and the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory to discuss concepts such as isomorphic algorithms and the digitizing of organic matter. For the disc game, Horowitz and Kitsis wrote a rough draft of the scene, and sent the script to Kosinski; he summarized his perspective of the sequence's visuals to them. In 2007, Disney began to negotiate with
Joseph Kosinski to direct. Kosinski had previously directed several CGI commercials, but
Tron: Legacy would mark his feature directorial debut. Kosinski admitted that at the time, he was not keen on the idea but it later grew on him as time progressed. Kosinski was involved in a meeting with Bailey, president of
Walt Disney Pictures. "Disney owns the property,
Tron," Bailey stated. "Do you know it? Are you interested? What would your take be? In a post-
Matrix world, how do you go back to the world of
Tron?" According to screenwriter Adam Horowitz, Kosinski stated that the film's universal theme was "finding a human connection in a digital world." They followed this by "approach[ing] the world from the perspective of character, using Kevin Flynn as an organizing principle, and focus on the emotional relationship from father and son and their reconciliation, which brings profound turns in their respective individual lives." On July 23, 2009, Disney revealed the film's title at their panel at Comic-Con. Bridges explained that the title is in reference to the story's theme: "It's basically a story about a son's search for his father." They also showed a trailer similar to the one shown at Comic-Con 2009, with updated visuals. At the time, the film had just wrapped production and they had a year of post-production ahead of them. Because none of the footage from inside the computer world was finished, they premiered concept images from the production. Art included the Recognizer, which has been updated from the original film. Concept photos were also shown of Disc Wars, which has also been revised from the original film into a 16-game tournament. The arena is set up so that the game court organically changes, and all 16 games are going on at the same time. The boards also combine in real time until the last two Disc warriors are connected.
Light cycles make a return, with new designs by
Daniel Simon. According to the press conference at Comic-Con 2008, a new vehicle appears called a "Light Runner," a two-seat version of the light cycle, and Kevin Flynn's own cycle, a "Second Generation Light Cycle" designed in 1989 by Flynn and is "still the fastest thing on The Grid." It incorporates some of the look of both films. In December 2008,
Olivia Wilde and
Beau Garrett were cast while
Bruce Boxleitner was revealed to be reprising his role from the original film. In January 2009,
Garrett Hedlund was cast as Sam Flynn;
Ryan Gosling,
Chris Pine, and
Michael Stahl-David were also considered for the role. In May 2009,
Michael Sheen joined the cast.
Filming provided for the setting of
Tron: Legacy.|alt=Black and white picture of the downtown Vancouver cityscape, a mountain in seen in the background.
Principal photography took place in
Vancouver, British Columbia, in April 2009, and lasted for approximately 67 days. Many filming locations were established in
Downtown Vancouver and its surroundings. Stage shooting for the film took place at the Canadian Motion Picture Park studio in
Burnaby, an adjacent city that forms part of Metro Vancouver. The film's beginning portions were shot in 2D, while forty minutes of the film were vertically enhanced for IMAX.
Digital Domain was contracted to work on the visual effects, while companies such as Prime Focus Group, DD Vancouver, and Mr. X were brought on to collaborate with producer on the post-production junctures of
Tron: Legacy. The sequences on the Grid were wholly shot in
3D, utilizing cameras specifically designed for it, and employed a 3D technique that combined other special effects techniques. and eventually altered using the three-dimensional element. Bailey stated that it was a challenge shooting
Tron: Legacy in 3D because the cameras were bigger and heavier, and variations needed to be taken into account. Kosinski collaborated with people who specialized in fields outside of the film industry, such as
architecture and
automotive design. The skintight suits worn by the actors were reminiscent of the outfits worn by the actors in the original film. Kosinski believed that the costumes could be made to be practical due to the computerized nature of the film, as physically illuminating each costume would be costly to the budget.
Christine Bieselin Clark worked with
Michael Wilkinson in designing the lighted costumes, which used electroluminescent lamps derived from a flexible polymer film and featured hexagonal patterns. The lights passed through the suit via Light Tape, a substance composed of
Honeywell lamination and Sylvania phosphors. To concoct a color, a transparent
3M Vinyl film was applied onto the phosphor prior to lamination. All the costumes had to be sewn in such a way that the stitches did not appear, as the design team figured that in a virtual environment the clothes would just materialize, with no need for buttons, zippers or enclosures.|alt=A man wearing a black jumpsuit with yellow flashing lines stares at another, wearing a jumpsuit with blue lines. Crowd effects for the gaming arena were recorded at the 2010
San Diego Comic-Con. During one of the
Tron: Legacy panels, the crowd was given instruction via a large video screen while techs from
Skywalker Sound recorded the performance. The audience performed chants and stomping effects similar to what is heard in modern sports arenas. It took two years and 10 companies to create the 1,565 visual effects shots of
Tron: Legacy. The majority of the effects were done by
Digital Domain, who created 882 shots under supervisor Eric Barba. The production team blended several special effect techniques, such as
chroma keying, to allow more freedom in creating effects. Similar to
Tron, this approach was seen as pushing the boundaries of modern technology. Darren Gilford was approached as the production designer, while David Levy was hired as a concept artist. Levy translated Kosinski's ideas into drawings and other visual designs. "Joe's vision evolved the visuals of the first film," he stated. "He wanted the Grid to feel like reality, but with a twist." The effects team hired makeup artist
Rick Baker to construct a molded likeness of a younger Bridges head to serve as their basis for their CG work. But soon, they scrapped the mold because they wished for it to be more youthful. There was no time to make another mold, so the team reconstructed it digitally. On-set, first Bridges would perform, being then followed by actor double
John Reardon who would mimic his actions. Reardon's head was replaced on post-production with the
digitally de-aged version of the young Bridges. Bruce Boxleitner, who plays the title character of
Tron, also appears de-aged in flashbacks; his real world character of Alan Bradley appears as Boxleitner's natural age. ==Soundtrack==