JeffBridges Tagged Articles at Cinematical

After that last flurry of casting announcements and rumors of Jeff Bridges' cloning, we haven't heard anything from Tron 2. But seeing as it's the new Star Trek, we jump on any rumor that leaks from the secret set. The fact that this comes by way of Ain't It Cool News makes it feel like the olden days of scoops and spies.

First off, the title is going to change again, this time going from Tron 2 to one of those colon things that are so popular these days. Like Tron: The Next Generation or Tron: Reboot. Anything's better than Tr2n, though.

The story details spilled by AICN's source sound legitimate, mostly because it's a predictable way for the sequel to go. The movie starts in 1989, where Bridges' Kevin Flynn has created some of the world's top selling games based on his Game Grid challenges in the first film. He's also built a nice fortune out of the technology he saw there -- there's action figures, and Recognizer night lights, which means this will be the stuff you can buy everywhere the summer this is released.

All this financial stability means that Flynn has a family life, namely a seven year old son named Sean. He disappears, leaving behind his son, and Bruce Boxleitner's Alan Bradley takes over Flynn's company (ENCOM). Fast forward 25 years, and guess who's going to be on the lookout for dear old dad? And guess where Flynn will be? There's more, but I'm going to stop there -- 2011 isn't that far away, and we've got to pace ourselves.

Okay, really this should be more of a top 100 list, so these seven are more "off the top of my head" than any kind of definitive selection. There are several kinds of Oscar snubs. There are talented actors, artists and filmmakers who have never been nominated, and others who have been nominated many times and never won. There are great films that received one or two nominations in minor categories (Vertigo, Singin' in the Rain) and great films that received none at all. The ones I've chosen here are the ones that, especially in retrospect, seem like the most obvious omissions.

1. Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive (2001)
Watts did receive a nomination two years later for 21 Grams, though that was clearly a case of making up for this mistake. In 2001, no one gave a slyer or more canny performance, in any film, in any category. Watts not only plumbed the depths of her soul for material, but also stretched to two opposite extremes of the character's personality, making up the two parts of this great, enigmatic film. It was historically important that Halle Berry won the Oscar that year, but considering the other nominees: Renee Zellweger (Bridget Jones's Diary), Sissy Spacek (In the Bedroom), Judi Dench (Iris) and Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge), Watts' snub is a real head-scratcher.

There's a plot to clone the young Jeff Bridges. Unfortunately, it won't be for general purchase (sorry Starman fans -- I know, having a Bridges of your own seems like a lot of fun, plus we would eventually have our own Dude), but for Tron 2.0.

io9 recently learned that a plaster cast of Bridges has been created and sent to Canada to be digitized. According to their secret source: "They will then take that 3D model and make him younger and then slap it on a body double in post. As this is only one cog in the machine, I can't give a whole lot of detail. Canada scans actors and props to be used for various projects. These are very high resolution scans that pick up every wrinkle, face lift and scar on the actors body."

The sharp-eyed noted that this is exactly how Bridges can be young and old Flynn, as he was in the ComicCon teaser footage. I've embedded a bootleg of the footage below so you can finally see it -- I'm now resolved to get Lasik on my eyes because holy crap, I was there and I'll be damned if I remember recognizing young Flynn.

/film cautions that this plaster Bridges cast may have nothing to do with the film, but may be for the Tron 2.0 video game which is rumored to be in production at Disney Interactive. We'll find out what it all means eventually -- but Tron 2.0 is officially the new Star Trek or Avatar where every snippet of info is eagerly analyzed, discussed, and probably proved wrong. But hey, that's what makes this fun.

Hold on to your glo-suits, because Tron 2 has finally kicked into high gear. Just one month after Olivia Wilde signed on to star in the much anticipated sequel, The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Disney has chosen Eragorn's Garrett Hedlund for the lead in the sequel to the cult sci-fi flick. Plus, if you were like me and were less than thrilled with the working title TR2N, it looks like Disney has made it a lot easier on all of us and the film will now go by the much simpler title of Tron.

So while most details about the film have been kept under wraps, Sci Fi Wire recently got the chance to sit down with Wilde and she gave us a little tease of what we should expect from the sequel. Don't worry, the interview is spoiler free but Wilde was willing to share a few tidbits, including the return of Bruce Boxleitner, and that director Joseph Kosinski will not just be relying on green screen, and is actually building some honest to goodness sets for the film.

There had been a few hints that the film was going to act as a 'next chapter' in the story, but what we do know is that Hedlund plays a man who finds himself retracing the steps of a character from the original movie named Kevin Flynn. Flynn was originally played by Jeff Bridges (who will also be returning for the sequel), a computer programmer that ended up as the CEO of a software corporation.

Tron is expected to start production this spring, and should arrive in theaters in 2011. Sound off below, and tell us what you think about Disney's choice of leading man...

It is not often that movie geeks can be taken by surprise, but that's exactly what happened at Comic Con back in July when Disney screened test footage from the long-rumored sequel to the 80's sci-fi classic, Tron. Now a few months later fans can rejoice at news that the project is still chugging along -- in fact, The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Olivia Wilde (of TV's House) and Beau Garrett ( Wilde's co-star in the horror flick Turistas) have signed to star along side Jeff Bridges in the sequel to the cult classic.

Newcomer Joseph Kosinski will direct from a script co-written with LOST writer Adam Horowitz. This is Kosinski's first feature after making a name directing commercials for Gears of War, Halo 3, and Apple, and has already been signed for the Logan's Run update over at WB (if that happens). According to the Reporter, TR2N, "is acting as a "next chapter." Plot details are being guarded closely, but Wilde will play a worker in the virtual world who tries to help fight Master Control Program, the villainous intelligence protocol that was the nemesis in the original film."

Although, if we're being honest with ourselves, was Tron really about the plot? I know that for me it was all about those cool light-up suits and the possibility that I might disappear into my Commodore 64 (What do you want? I was seven).

TR2N (a title that gets more irritating to type each and every time) is scheduled for release in 2011.

We've got two portrayals of U.S. Presidents vying for Oscars this year: Josh Brolin as W in W. and Frank Langella as Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon. I've yet to see either one, though I did see Langella in the Broadway play, which I hear the movie faithfully replicates. On the eve of W.'s release, it seemed like a good time to get a discussion going on Best Screen Presidents, real or fictional. Here's my list, which is surely missing some obvious choices -- but that's part of the fun.

1. President Jackson Evans (Jeff Bridges) - The Contender
For the past couple of elections, pollsters have asked people which of the two presidential candidates they would rather "have a beer with." Inevitably it is pointed out that the person you would rather have a beer with is frequently not the person you would want to run the country. Jeff Bridges's President Jackson Evans, though, wins at life: he's the guy I'd want to have a beer with, and the guy I'd want running the country. Seriously, I would vote for Jackson Evans over either John McCain or Barack Obama. He's charming, and funny, and a bit of a jerk when called for, but he stands up for what's right and gives the best Rod Lurie Speech to date. My favorite movie president -- though for the record, I think The Contender is only pretty good.

The geek cred of Jeff Bridges has skyrocketed this year. I can't really think of a time when he wasn't adored by film fans, but he's got a special place with the fanboys these days thanks to his turn as Obadiah Stane in Iron Man. I was present for the Tron 2/Tr2n (do I really have to spell it that way?) footage at ComicCon this year -- and it was one of those moments that will forever hold a place in nerd legend; the first glimpse of Bridges' face caused the walls of Hall H to shake with howls of glee. And that was just a teaser filmed purely for the convention -- heaven knows what emotions the actual trailer will prompt.

The Guardian had the chance to sit down with Bridges, who happily chatted about revisiting his Tron role -- and the uncertain possibility of having to don a "neon mankini" again. ("Ah, the G-string. You've got to love it. I'm wearing one now!") But despite the potential for skimpy underthings, Bridges felt the chance of doing a new Tron movie was too good to pass up. "[It's] another unique, wild experience that was too good to turn down. Engaging in that world again feels just like it did all that time ago. Basically, I'm still a child, I love being childlike, and here was another chance to play with these crazy toys. And the cutting-edge technology makes it exciting. Doing the teaser trailer for Comic-Con, I had my first experience of motion capture. And that's turning the industry on its head. It's amazing being part of that."

Do you remember a George Clooney project, green-lit in May, Men Who Stare at Goats?
Not only does it boast the coolest title in the world, but it's racking up a cast of equal greatness. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey, and Jeff Bridges are joining Clooney, under Grant Heslov's direction.

The film is based on Jon Ronson's book of the same title, and follows his investigation into the secret wing of the U.S. First Earth Battalion, a paranormal research unit created in 1978. Its goal was to create "Warrior Monks," supersoldiers who could do all sorts of comic-booky things like walk through walls, become invisible, read minds, and kill creatures by staring at them long enough. One soldier in Ronson's book claims he killed a hamster and a goat doing just that.

The adaptation is already switching things around a bit -- it's set in Iraq (where some of the supersoldiers have been reportedly deployed), and McGregor will be playing a stand-in for Ronson named Bob Wilton. He's desperate for a story, and stumbles upon the craziest one of a lifetime when he meets Lyn Cassady, played by Clooney, who claims to be a secret psychic soldier, reactivated after 9/11. As they travel through Iraq, investigating the story, they meet Bill Django, played by Bridges, who is the founder of the program and Cassady's mentor. Spacey will play Larry Hooper, another former psychic who is running a prison camp in Iraq.

While the topic of psychic supersoldiers seems to lend itself to comedy, Iraq and prison camps don't, so who knows what tone this will strike. Every actor in this can switch effortlessly from dramatic to quirky -- it's going to be a treat seeing them all in one film. Especially one with psychics and goat murders.

October 3 is quickly approaching -- the day that will bring Simon Pegg's How to Lose Friends and Alienate People to the big screen. Since the countdown has begun, a series of Pegg-led blogs and vlogs are being released posted over at the Guardian. The first video dips into the first day of shooting and working with a pig, and it looks more like a behind-the-scenes featurette than a blog, but that's okay. It's also teamed with Pegg's impressions of his experience on set. Ever wonder what they're like behind the camera? Here's some of the dirt:

On Kirsten Dunst: "She was friendly and unassuming and got on well with Nick Frost, which is usually my benchmark for judging people."

On Jeff Bridges: "a legend and an incredibly generous actor had me quivering with excitement every time he walked onto set" ... and Pegg says a future vlog will show him playing Pass the Pigs with Bridges.

On Danny Huston: "a man who I don't recall ever seeing not smiling is like me, a giggler, a condition which always causes exquisite anxiety when the cameras are rolling."

On Megan Fox: "an actress all too easy to underestimate, due to her striking beauty but one who definitely proves her worth as the 'so hot right now' ingenue Sophie Maes."

Will How to Lose Friends and Alienate People be on your Fall must-see list?