This is more important movie moment than Avatar! Computer animators make a 60-year-old actor realistically look in his 30s! This method is going to be huge.

Tron Legacy

Tron, the original visionary movie that brought us the future of moviemaking is finally receiving a sequel.

The big idea is one again center stage. In the first Tron it introduced the audience to the then novel concept of virtual worlds and digital animation. This was something that left most of the audience nonplussed but made it an instant classic with a part of Generation X.

This time around the big idea is much more subtle. The virtual world is evolving toward naturalism away from digital simplicity with its own weather patterns and complexity of architecture.

Jeff Bridges plays two versions of himself and the one version has been digitally ‘youthened’.

A computer re-modeled younger Jeff Bridges

The real Jeff Bridges

In Avatar the computer generated imagery was used to create aliens, albeit very realistic and recognizable ones – but as much as you can see Sigourney Weaver it is still a blue skinned, broad nosed, 10 foot alien non the less.

In Tron we have an established actor being in effect ‘animated’; motion captured and then digitally re-modeled.

What does this mean?

After the first movie some people laboured under the misconceived idea that the computer ‘did’ the effects instead of it just being a tool.

In this film a existing tool is used in a different way. In the future, effectively now, you will still have actors, this method can only happen when someone has acted and has been motion captured. However in post-production the actors can then be digitally re-modeled to be younger or even look like someone else.

It is about the acting and not how someone looks. Think of it as digital make-up.

The big implication though is that they can be made to look like someone else.

Ever wanted to see Marilyn Monroe and Steve McQueen headlining again? In effect nothing is stopping that from happening any more.

Go watch the trailer to see all the more realistic pieces than the quick snapshot I got here.