In an interview with InContention, Bridges explained that the Marvel superhero movie rushed into production to make its release date, with the director and star making up scenes as they went along:

"They had no script, man. They had an outline. We would show up for big scenes every day and we wouldn't know what we were going to say. We would have to go into our trailer and work on this scene and call up writers on the phone, 'You got any ideas?' Meanwhile the crew is tapping their foot on the stage waiting for us to come on."

Bridges, director Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. would literally act out sequences during primitive rehearsals, Downey taking on Bridges's role and vice versa, to find and essentially improvise their way to full scenes, the actor recounts. Bridges says that the entire production was probably saved by the improv prowess of the film's director and star.

"You've got the suits from Marvel in the trailer with us saying, 'No, you wouldn't say that,'" Bridges continued. "You would think with a $200 million movie you'd have the shit together, but it was just the opposite. And the reason for that is because they get ahead of themselves. They have a release date before the script, ‘Oh, we'll have the script before that time,' and they don't have their shit together.

"Jon dealt with it so well," Bridges continues. "It freaked me out. I was very anxious. I like to be prepared. I like to know my lines, man, that's my school. Very prepared. That was very irritating, and then I just made this adjustment. It happens in movies a lot where something's rubbing against your fur and it's not feeling right, but it's just the way it is. You can spend a lot of energy bitching about that or you can figure out how you're going to do it, how you're going to play this hand you've been dealt. What you can control is how you perceive things and your thinking about it. So I said, ‘Oh, what we're doing here, we're making a $200 million student film. We're all just fuckin' around! We're playin'. Oh, great!' That took all the pressure off. ‘Oh, just jam, man, just play.' And it turned out great!"

First off, that's amazing that he called them "suits." He really is The Dude. And second, this is just hilarious. I can't believe they let Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau just run with this stuff. But, thank goodness they did, because what came out was a pretty great action flick blended with biting humor. Still I can't imagine what it must have been for everyone else on set. [InContention via Worst Previews]

Bridges is channeling the weirdo genius that made "the Dude" in The Big Lebowski such a terrifically memorable (and quotable) character. Starring George Clooney and Ewan McGregor, The Men Who Stare At Goats is about a longterm Army project to bring psychic powers into combat - especially in the War on Terror.

Here we see Bridges' character trying to teach rough-edged military types about how love and wholeness will allow them to become "warrior monks" who will end all war. I love the way all the men are clutching at bouquets of flowers as they consider the possibility of walking through walls and predicting the future in order to rid the world of Al-Qa'ida.

The Men Who Stare At Goats hits theaters November 6.

The film is inspired by Jon Ronson's non-fiction bestseller. Ewan McGregor plays a reporter who's tracking down the rogue military mind jedi George Clooney — which is pretty awesome, seeing as McGregor played a jedi. Either way the film, which is directed by Grant Heslov, looks hilarious. Here's the official synopsis:

Reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) is in search of his next big story when he encounters Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), a shadowy figure who claims to be part of an experimental U.S. military unit. According to Cassady, the New Earth Army is changing the way wars are fought. A legion of "Warrior Monks" with unparalleled psychic powers can read the enemy's thoughts, pass through solid walls, and even kill a goat simply by staring at it. Now, the program's founder, Bill Django (Jeff Bridges), has gone missing and Cassady's mission is to find him. Intrigued by his new acquaintance's far-fetched stories, Bob impulsively decides to accompany him on the search. When the pair tracks Django to a clandestine training camp run by renegade psychic Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey), the reporter is trapped in the middle of a grudge match between the forces of Django's New Earth Army and Hooper's personal militia of super soldiers. In order to survive this wild adventure, Bob will have to outwit an enemy he never thought possible.

Goats will be in theaters November 6, 2009 November 6.

Talking to Screencrave, Lisberger said that Tron Legacy addresses the way in which technology can be mistaken for reality:

I think that one of the themes in the story being expressed is where Flynn's allegiances really lie. He created breakthrough technology in the day, so it means something very special to him. But he also has a real world family, and he's being asked to decide who he loves more. Then it gets really tricky because there's a tendency for people to say, ‘The best thing I could do for my kid is bless them with the best technology,' and maybe the kid doesn't really want your technology, he just wants you... I think that's sort of an interesting metaphor because we're sort of in the race with the Devil. Aspects of the world are going to hell, and we think if we can get to the point where we can simulate it, then we'll understand it and we'll solve the problem. We're struggling with AIDS and global warming, but if we can simulate it correctly, then we'll understand it and we can fix it. It's a classic sci-fi problem. Is technology gonna be your best friend or at times is it gonna be your best friend who turns out to be your worst enemy?

Part of the answer to that last question may lie in something that may be a spoiler about the new movie, if it's not a metaphor:

We were imprisoned at one time by the MCP, which was the mainframe computer system that told us what we could know about our information, and when we could know it. Some very trippy people have talked to me about what they think the MCP represents, and how it represents a form of how the universe tends to make us feel like we can't exceed certain parameters.

It's like "Why can't I play the piano? Why am I not gifted at sports?" There seems to be something in us that's limiting us. There's a since of being trapped. We deal with being trapped all the time as people. It's like yeah, "I can't play music, I wish I could." So, we overthrow the MCP, but we don't overthrow that limitation, and now technology is much more sophisticated in how it traps us. It doesn't just brutally say, "I'm the MCP, you're going to do what I want."

Sounds kind of Matrix-y... Does this mean we should expect Jeff Bridges in a long black coat doing wirework in the movie? Suddenly I may be less excited about this movie than I used to be.

D23: Steven Lisberger 1:1 for Tron [Screencrave]

The film was inspired by Jon Ronson's non-fiction book which explained how the government tried to create a psychic military team that could walk through walls, read peoples minds, tell the future and kill a goat by staring at it. The film looks like a fast paced comedy with a cast full of old pros, plus a pot-smoking Bridges in a braid can never fail. Here's the official synopsis:

Reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) is in search of his next big story when he encounters Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), a shadowy figure who claims to be part of an experimental U.S. military unit. According to Cassady, the New Earth Army is changing the way wars are fought. A legion of "Warrior Monks" with unparalleled psychic powers can read the enemy's thoughts, pass through solid walls, and even kill a goat simply by staring at it. Now, the program's founder, Bill Django (Jeff Bridges), has gone missing and Cassady's mission is to find him. Intrigued by his new acquaintance's far-fetched stories, Bob impulsively decides to accompany him on the search. When the pair tracks Django to a clandestine training camp run by renegade psychic Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey), the reporter is trapped in the middle of a grudge match between the forces of Django's New Earth Army and Hooper's personal militia of super soldiers. In order to survive this wild adventure, Bob will have to outwit an enemy he never thought possible.

Goats will be in theaters November 6, 2009 November 6.

Note, Bridges is without beard presently.

First take a look at these incredible-looking tokens to Flynn's Arcade. But in the sequel, Flynn has mysteriously vanished. At least that's what has been rumored, and is now being implied on the Flynn Lives site. The followers are dedicated to uncovering the mystery of Flynn's disappearance including a time line and an assortment of clippings about Encom's CEO.

1989 — Kevin Flynn alleged to "disappear." Initial facts raise many questions. Many of us were suspicious.

1990 — Sightings of Kevin Flynn by ordinary citizens, including high-credibility "Level 3" sightings of Flynn in NYC's Central Park during a Shakespeare Festival, on the fringes of a San Francisco street fair, and the notorious "Elvira" sighting of Kevin Flynn at Halloween celebrations in West Hollywood, California. Unfortunately, these initial sightings display certain characteristics true to this day — nothing has been confirmed and photographic evidence has been lacking.

1992 — Sightings continue. Several of us make contact thru Usenet and begin correspondence.

1994 — First Flynn Lives! meet-up in Dayton, Ohio. We resolve to continue our efforts to find out the facts behind the mysterious disappearance.

1998 — Letter from Kevin Flynn to a founding member of the group gains media attention, then debunked. Founding member (now ex-member) checks into a mental hospital for observations.

2001 — A $5,000 award is offered to anybody who can prove Kevin Flynn is alive. By December 31st, alas, nobody had satisfied our jury and the money was spent on a great party for all of the "Troniacs" we know and love!

2002 - 2005 An era of low visibility for our group. Sightings drop off, and interest seems to slacken. Thank heavens that is over!

2007 - Interest picks up as the "Albino Cow" Flynn sighting in southern New Jersey energizes a new generation of activists.

Here are a collection of fake clippings documenting the CEO's mysterious disappearance.

So dust off your unitards, it's Tron time, bitches. BRING ON THE ARG's and day-glow lights, we're ready. Also, we're hoping the countdown hidden beneath the dancing spider is for the Comic Con panel — seems like it.

Serinda Swan says that she, Beau Garrett (Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer) and two other actresses play "temptresses from inside the computer world." She explains:

We're sort of the main guy's go-to girls. There are lights actually sewn into our wardrobe, so it's like nothing you've seen before!

By the "main guy," does she mean Kevin Flynn's evil cyber-self, or someone else? And whom exactly are these "temptresses" trying to tempt? Sean Flynn, Kevin's son? This could get ooky pretty quick.

Meanwhile, Swan, who plays Zatanna in tonight's Smallville, says she actually played her spells backwards on her ipod so she could memorize those lines backwards — when you replay her dialogue backwards, it'll sound intelligible, she promises. And Clark's mysterious wish is one that "turns him upside down." Also, she wants to find the spell-book to bring back her father, Zatara, because he died protecting her. The episode leaves the door open for her to return.

[TV Guide]

Ain't It Cool News got the scoop from a source on the movie's Vancouver lot. Apparently it starts out in 1989, where Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) has created a ton of best-selling games based on his Game Grid challenges, from the first film. He's marketed everything he saw in there, as toys and action figures. Then Flynn disappears, leaving behind his seven-year-old son Sean. Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) takes over Flynn's company.

Then we jump forward to the present day, and Sean is now a twentysomething. Bradley gives Sean info that causes him to search for his dad, and the search leads him to Flynn's old arcade, and inside the computer world. Sean meets the CLU character (Flynn's computer avatar in the first movie). Flynn programmed the CLU to make the computer world a better place, but the CLU got corrupted and is creating its own interpretation of "improving the world." CLU is trying to eradicate a type of program called ISOs, and the ISOs believe Sean Flynn will save them from the CLU's attacks.

And somewhere, out there, the real Kevin Flynn is whizzing around on a classic lightcycle. Sean has to find his real dad and enlist his aid against his preternaturally young computer avatar. There's a light cycle versus light jet duel, with both the cycle and the jet creating light walls. And a huge disc battle.

It sounds like fun, and the possibilities of the two generations of Flynns teaming up against the computer image of Flynn, frozen in youth, sound almost endless. Here's hoping! Oh, and supposedly the actual title will be "Tron" plus something after a colon.

After last year's amazing Tron 2.0 test footage premiered at San Diego's Comic Con we were all left stunned. "What, old barefoot Flynn is watching young Flynn destroy some poor blue program? FANTASTIC, and whoa evil beard." While many of you have debated the evilness of Bridges' beard, and the plot summary reveals that there is some rebellion going on against a corrupt cyber-entity which may or may not be Bridges (he could be the rebellion's leader for all we know). But what we've heard a report about how they're going to do it.

A source reveals to io9 that Jeff Bridges has been sent up to Canada to be digitized. A plaster cast has been created of Bridges.

Our tipster tells us that:

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.

If this is true, it totally explains how there can be two Jeff Bridges in the shot together: the real Jeff, and his digitized, younger 3-D clone. Here's hoping it looks as cool as it sounds.

You can see the rest of Bridge's Iron Man set pics at the link. [Jeff Bridges via Slashfilm]

In an interview with the Guardian Jeff Bridges explained why he wasn't afraid to strap on another Tron suit and how just making the trailer for Comic-Con was worth it:

Yeah, that's [TR2N] 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.

But more importantly he addressed how they were going to upgrade TR2N for today's audience with motion capture and other work. Bridges compares the work to the differing King Kongs.

Well, when we made Tron there was no internet, no cellphones. But now we have motion capture, so I think we'll get a far more successful version of the story, which is someone literally getting sucked into a video game. When we did King Kong in the 70s, one minute you'd have a shot of Rick Baker in this big suit and then you'd cut to this 80ft stiff model, and they looked nothing alike. Compare to that Peter Jackson's King Kong the technology is there and they did a wonderful job. I thought they created a beautiful Kong. So I hope that'll be the same for Tron.

I'm so glad he's back for this, it's such a great idea and could be pretty brilliant because you can't over-CG or over-motion capture TR2N, in my opinion.

[Guardian]

Would it have killed them to comic-book this thing up a bit? It's just a big creepy having all those heads lined up in a row like a strange Three Stooges remake, plus it's eerily reminiscent of this godawful Return of the Jedi poster. Too many heads just make a poster look odd.
New IRON MAN poster! Man in Suit! Man in Suit! Wait, wrong franchise... [Ain't It Cool]

That experimental laser that turns Bridges into a video game character actually zips an orange across space first, early in the movie. It's only later that a pissed-off Master Control Program does the same thing to Jeff's pesky ass. Of course, no one at the company seems to remember that they've invented teleportation either, at the end of the movie. Probably a more lucrative line of work to go into than gaming. Here are more secrets of Tron:

• Director Steve Lisberger saw video games in the late 1970s, and was fascinated with the world they existed in. However, he wanted to open that up to people in a non-cliqueish way, and he and his partner Donald Kushner set up an animation studio in 1977 to start developing the film.
• The film was supposed to be animated, with live-action bookends setting up the "human" side of the story. However, Lisberger met with Information International, Inc., who showed him footage of filming real actors in front of back-lit animation. They filmed test-footage of a frisbee champion hurling discs, and this convinced Disney to fund the film.
• Information International, Inc. had previously animated the android-vision in the movie Westworld, and they scanned and animated Peter Fonda's head for the sequel Futureworld, which was the first appearance of 3D computer graphics in a film. They also did animation tests for Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Star Wars, but they ultimately achieved the most success for creating a newspaper and technical document publishing system.
• Moebius, Syd Mead, and tech artist Peter Lloyd all contributed to the production design of the film, with each designing different elements: Moebius the set, Mead the vehicles, and Lloyd the environment. Mead also created the iconic Tron logo.
• Speaking of vehicles, when I was a kid those Recognizers scared the hell out of me. Yes, it's not really trivia related, but can you imagine one of these, on fire, and piloted by a Sleestak? Holy hell.
• Peter O'Toole was originally signed on to play Sark/Dillinger, but when he arrived on set and didn't see any of the physical sets or props, he balked.
• Apparently Jess Bridge's manhood created too much of a bulge in his "Clu" outfit, so he had to wear a dance belt to conceal it. The Big Lebowski, indeed.
• Debbie Harry screen-tested for the role of Yori. She probably told the producers to "Call Me," which they never did. Yes, that was a bad Blondie joke. Sorry.
• The scenes of the ENCOM labs with the laser teleportation array were shot at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Their own real laser is able to produce 28 trillion watts of power on target. The lab is now the home of the faster computer in the world, Blue Gene.
• The Tron videogame was a smash hit compared to the movie, which did moderately well. The game has far outgrossed the movie. In fact, it took several dozens of my quarters back in the 80s. It spawned a sequel called Discs of Tron, which is worth it just for the black light effect alone.
• A game sequel that ties into the movie, Tron 2.0, was released in 2003. It features Jet Bradley, the son of Alan Bradley (Tron) being zapped back into the computer world. It didn't do that well financially, but is worth picking up and playing. I still play the damn thing from time to time.
• Supertramp was supposed to provide two songs for the movie, but eventually those were provided by Journey. They are "Only Solutions" and "1990's Theme," and are pretty forgettable.
• Composer Wendy Carlos provided the rest of the soundtrack, doing most of the work on MOOG synthesizers. She had also provided the scores for The Shining and A Clockwork Orange.
• The Academy left Tron out of the voting for any visual effects awards, because they felt they'd cheated by using a computer. Oh Academy, always so forward-looking.
• A sequel for the film has been in the works since 1999, and last September Disney announced that the project continues to move forward based on a script by Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, who both write for Lost. Jeff Bridges has said he's excited about possibly reprising his role as Flynn.

• 

• Men in day-glo body suits could battle in a virtual world again soon. Jeff Bridges says he's eager to do a Tron sequel. For a while, Disney was talking about a remake instead, but Bridges says he expects to be pitched a sequel in the near future. And he's excited to do Tron 2, because he's heard the special effects will be as "innovative" as the original's were in its day. It could be unbearably cheesy, or it could be the next Matrix. [Collider]
• Sydney Poitier (Death Proof) will co-star in the Knight Rider TV movie, which NBC hopes will be a pilot for a new, Transformers-esque series. The talking-car movie sounds even worse than NBC's Bionic Woman revamp: Jason Bruening will play the son of original driver of the smart-alecky car. Poitier will play a "feisty" FBI agent who dislikes Bruening's maverick character. Can we just agree never to call female characters "feisty" again please? Better yet, let's just agree not to remake any more sci-fi detritus. [SciFiWire].

Famous names: The gorgeous electronic score by Wendy Carlos proves (much as Jerry Goldsmith's did with Star Trek: The Motion Picture a few years earlier) that a good soundtrack can help compensate for narrative flaws.

Crunchy goodness: 5

Stunt casting: Pac-Man, at 45:21.

Memorable product tie-in: While the movie didn't do as well as expected (it wasn't a huge flop, but it wasn't the blockbuster Disney needed), the tie-in video game was a huge hit, grossing more than the movie itself.

Bang for your buck: Between the groundbreaking CGI environments and extensive rotoscoping work done on each 65mm frame set inside the computer and whole lot of other techniques and tricks, every penny is on the screen—though, admittedly, it wouldn't have hurt to have lost a few seconds of bells and whistles to pay for one more draft of the script, or at least a technical advisor to make sure the computer terminology being tossed around was remotely accurate.

Tron Sector

Famous names: John Carpenter, Jeff Bridges, Karen Allen

Crunchy goodness: 3

Sight you'll never unsee: Jeff Bridges' naked ass. Really, that's a super long shot of his ass, using only the flimsy excuse that aliens don't understand nudity.

Stunt casting: It was something of a stunt to put horror maven John Carpenter at the helm of what is essentially a quiet love story with a couple of aliens and a chase scene. The man who created Snake Plisskin and Michael Meyers manages to get it right, though, giving us an alien who is both recognizably lovable and impenetrably strange.

Copycat: In Contact, the aliens take the form of Jodie Foster's dead father in order to gain her trust and help her "understand" them.

In Depth Starman Review by Caroline & Gene O'Regon