Steve Jobs comes up at the strangest times. During our trip to scope out Tron: Legacy, we got a chance to speak to Stephen Lisberger, the creator and director of the original Tron movie and now an executive producer on the sequel. As the man behind one of the most enduring visions of virtual reality ever filmed (and created in a time when CGI was in its infancy) we wondered what he thinks of tech today. We got a stunning deconstruction of Steve Jobs’ shtick from the visionary filmmaker…
In a meeting room at Digital Domain (the effects house slaving away to create the world of Tron: Legacy in time for the US release date on December 17) we asked Lisberger what he thought of today’s world of iPhone 4, Twitter and Facebook compared to the era when Tron first had Jeff Bridges pull on the neon-lit jumpsuit.
The Tron director was scathing about the 60s generation (his own) saying it had failed to capitalise on its potential and had harsh words for one particular member – Steve Jobs. Lisberger says: “It’s ridiculous to look to Steve Jobs as some kind of prophet. The idea that I hold up this phone and say, every answer is in here is a dystopian notion. The phone may be a smartphone but it’ll never be that smart.”
Lisberger went on to express disappointment at the speed of some technological developments since the original Tron: “When I made the first film there was a pervasive attitude to try and use these tools to make things that look real. We’re still doing that. We’re in a race with ourselves. The real world is confounding us. There are so many problems we thought we would have solved by this point in time. Where are the Sid Mead-designed Bladerunner cars flying around LA?”
However, while the Tron creator is clearly not a Steve Jobs fanboy, he’s not anti-tech by any means: “My relationship with technology isn’t love/hate, it’s more shock and awe. My wife has a terrible sense of direction but GPS has meant we have virtually no arguments anymore.”
Stay tuned for move Tron: Legacy news soon on Electricpig and in the mean time take a look at our Tron: Legacy light cycle video, Tron: Legacy light cycle photos and Tron: Evolution preview.
Out December 26 | £varies | Tron: Legacy
