Word from Coming Soon is that Michael Sheen, the numerator of Frost/Nixon, has been sucked into an arcade machine! Sheen has been officially added to the cast of the upcoming Tron: Legacy as a night club owner in technosburgh. The sequel to the 1982 geeksterpiece is set for release in December of next year. For full details, including whether or not Sheen will fight for the users, check out the article here.
Tron is backflippin’ fantastic. I saw it as a wee geek and longed for the day I would get sucked into Super Mario Brother’s 3. Because let’s face it, the 80’s were great and all, but there would be nothing cool about getting sucked into Asteroids; lots of spinning polygrams. Tron was not only a showcase for innovative special effects, such as they were, but also added a great deal to the movie geek cannon. The images and ideas of the film instantly took root with both the techno nerd community and genre film lovers alike. I think people may have had their concerns toward the sequel being that the landscape of visual effects has changed dramatically since Tron’s release, but I am hoping for an echo of the spirit and grandeur of the original. I really want to see a balls-out trip into the world of uninhibited computer graphics. Yes, I know this doesn’t always work out so well (looking at you Speed Racer) but I think the precedent set by Tron will allow for a more intellectual application of green-screen. Or at least that is my hope.
Michael Sheen being attached doesn’t do a heck of a lot for me. No let me rephrase, the announcement that Michael Sheen seems to be playing a secondary character in the film offers little about which to get excited. Yes, he is a phenomenal actor and his work in Frost/Nixon is stellar. But, being that his relevance to the plot is a mystery, it is impossible to judge whether his talents will be used effectively or wasted. So again, still excited about Tron Legacy as a whole but Sheen’s inclusion as a non-central character leaves me wanting.
If you’ll excuse me, I’ma go race light cycles. Who wants to be the blue guy?
