Garth Davis, Australian commercial and film director behind Mary Magdalene and Lion, is set to direct the next as-of-yet unnamed Tron movie. Davis will be joining Jared Leto, who was previously confirmed to be starring in the film.
In a report from Deadline, the currently unnamed new entry in the Tron franchise has finally gotten its director after years of uncertainty surrounding the film. Davis’s resume appears to be more quality than quantity, with only 4 films under his belt (among several TV episodes and commercials), however his 2016 film Lion received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, among 5 other nominations. According to insiders, while his films got Disney’s attention, his aggressive campaigning for the director job went a long way in securing the spot.
Aside from starring, Jared Leto is set to produce as well, along with Justin Springer and Emma Ludbrook. Writer Jesse Wigutow penned the most recent draft of the script. Springer produced the previous film, Tron: Legacy, as well as 2 episodes of the Tron: Uprising TV show. Meanwhile, Ludbrook is significant in that she produced, among her other work, several behind-the-scenes short films about Jared Leto’s band 30 Seconds to Mars.
The fate of the new Tron movie has been up in the air ever since 2010’s Tron: Legacy. The film was a commercial success, far more so than its 1982 predecessor, but plans for a continuation still continually fell through. While the original Tron didn’t do well financially, its eventual cult following elevated it to a level among audiences that its sequel still has yet to reach. Tron: Legacy was certainly a spectacle in its own right, with widely praised visual effects and a soundtrack by Daft Punk, but not quite the groundbreaking technological marvel of the original.
Still, Tron: Legacy made its mark, even going so far as to be featured in a Kingdom Hearts game. It’s worth noting that the upcoming film still has yet to receive an official “greenlight,” however, even though it is confirmed to be in development. To give an idea of how long this project has been in limbo, Leto himself has been attached since 2017. On the other hand, the hiring of a director might be a hopeful sign for the movie’s future.
Tron’s original story of a hacker being sucked into a computer world sounds very much like a product of its time, but it’s difficult to deny the appeal of such a tale. If nothing else, it’s some cathartic escapism into a fantastical world, and a new entry would likely be a welcome distraction these days.
Source: Deadline
