Disney has hired screenwriters Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal to fashion a remake of “Tron,” the 1982 film about a computer programmer who gets sucked into the parallel world of a computer program.
The original pic, written and directed by Steven Lisberger, was considered ahead of its time, from its fixation with computer programming to its cutting-edge rotoscope graphics. Klugman and Sternthal, who just wrote the historical epic “Warrior” for Gavin O’Connor to direct and Icon to produce, feel that the world has caught up with Lisberger’s original concept, making it ripe for redo. It will be supervised by Brigham Taylor.
“It was remembered not only for story, but a visual style that nobody had ever used before,” said Klugman, who recalls dumping many quarters into the arcade game spawned by the film. “We are contemporizing it, taking these ideas that were ahead of the curve and applying them to the present, and we feel the film now has a chance to resonate with a young audience.”
Sternthal said the new conceit is that the computer programmer gets trapped in a cyberworld, so that the film can utilize the Internet.
“In a lot of ways, (‘Tron’) was a movie about a man venturing into hell. Our job will be to keep the humanity as he ventures into an unreal world.”
The scribes take the job as they near an end to writing “Black Cat,” based on the 1940s Harvey comicbook character of a stuntwoman who becomes a vigilante on the streets of Los Angeles. Michael Uslan produces the pic to be directed by Chuck Russell.
