Here's an IGN interview with Olivia Wilde (plays Quorra in this movie):
http://movies.ign.com/articles/113/1131465p1.html
IGN: What have you thought of the footage you've seen so far?
Olivia Wilde: I knew it would be visually stunning, and I knew Joe's [Kosinski, director] plans for it. And Eric Barba [visual effects supervisor] and his whole team worked so hard on it. So I knew what they wanted to do with it. But it's even more stunning than I imagined. But there are certain elements that I hadn't taken into account when we were shooting. Things like the way they altered some of the voices, which I think is really interesting. Like when you hear the Black Guard programs talking to the other programs and their voices are warped. And then the Sirens, their voices are warped too. And that elements - just changing the sound in order to differentiate programs from users – was really interesting. And that was something new for me.
But the film overall is more beautiful than I imagined. And the texture of it keeps getting better. It's not finished yet, but each time I see pieces of it they're painted in more and more. And so it becomes more and more intricate. And I'm still just blown away by the CLU head. CLU, to me, if the most fascinating character in the movie.
IGN: Original Tron creator and director Steven Lisberger said that CLU represents the technology that comes between us. The tech that inadvertently prevents humans from interacting with each other. Is that your take on CLU?
Wilde: Yes, but only because it's our fault. CLU is like the abused step-child. It's like he's been created out of this beautiful program that Flynn designed in order to be a partner to Flynn. But he's not his real son. He's an avatar and he'll only ever be that. Because there's a limit to what programs can be. And that's what frustrates and enrages CLU. The philosophy of Tron for me is really just summed up by the old argument "Monkey vs. Robot." That's what a lot of these movies are about. What most sci-fi films are about. Tron even more so. If the question of the first Tron movie is, "What would happen if technology took over our lives?" "What if this new thing became more powerful than us?" And now, 30 years later, the film isn't asking the question anymore because technology has taken over. We are slaves to technology.
This film is asking "Now what?" "Can we escape this or learn what it is to be human again?" And "can we harness the technology that we have created for good?" I think that's what Kevin Flynn dreamt of doing, but he became swallowed up by his own creation. And CLU is just a symptom of that. But I don't think it's irreversible. I like to be optimistic about what technology can do [laughs].
IGN: This is a very physical role. Were you prepared for all the fighting? And how much harder was it to do those battle scenes in heels?
Wilde: It was much more challenging in heels. It was hard. But I enjoy the physicality because it was a tool with which I could unlock who Quorra was. I was doing a tremendous amount of research on Joan of Arc and Buddhist warriors and all sorts of things that could inform me about who she was. But it wasn't until I had physically transformed through the martial arts training and cross training and everything else we were doing, that I could understand - oh, this is how she feels. This is how she walks. She's the kind of person who could protect herself if she got jumped while walking down a dark street. That's not who I am. I'm not a physically powerful person. So without that training and without that physical element of the role I wouldn't have been able to capture who she really is. It was really challenging, but also useful.
IGN: You mentioned Joan of Arc just now. Was she an influence for the hairdo you rock in the film?
Wilde: Yes, she was. In my first conversation with Joe [Kosinski] about the look of Quorra, I said "Joe, she's Joan of Arc." And I told him that we should cut off all her hair and that she should be androgynous. That there should be nothing about her that's sexy and flowing. She doesn't need to pile on sexiness, because inherently, in that suit and being as powerful a warrior as she is, she is sexy. We don't need to push it at all. And I think with her character, on the interior she's quite innocent and child-like in her appreciation for the world. And very compassionate and naive. But with the hair and the physical creation of Quorra, I wanted her to have something that was kind of reminiscent of Joan of Arc in a cyber-punk world. And there's also influences by Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and some other images that we found. And I was really excited that Joe was open to that and that Disney was open to that. She didn't have to have Little Mermaid hair. She could be inorganic and not the typical definition of "sexy."
IGN: The movie is still a ways off from its opening day. Are you happy to be doing all this press for a movie that still over a month away?
Wilde: Oh, yeah. The reason I actually enjoy doing press for Tron, a movie that hasn't even come out yet, is because I'm really interested in the questions it brings up. Why is there so much anticipation for this? In my theory, the world is very ripe for a movie like this right now. It's very appropriate for what we're going through right now in terms of technology. I think it's more interesting for the viewer to watch this film with a little more background on what went into it. So that's why it doesn't bother me to do the press. I geek out on Tron and I like to talk about it.
IGN: When did you watch the original Tron for the first time?
Wilde: I hadn't seen it in its entirety until right before my first meeting with Joe and Sean [Bailey, producer]. Yet, it was still part of my cultural awareness. As it is for many people. There's been tons of references to it on shows like Family Guy, Chuck and on many shows going back many years. It's almost like Star Wars, where there are a lot of people who haven't seen Star Wars but they feel like they have because it's such a part of our cultural fabric. Now Tron certainly wasn't as big as Star Wars. The interesting thing about Tron is that it initially bombed. But it triggered a wave of cyber-world movies. And the Tron aesthetic. It was a sleeper movement. So I was aware of it and I felt like I'd seen it, but then I realized that I'd never actually sat down and watched it. So when I watched it I was really taken aback by how funny it was and how beautiful it was. It's weird and quirky and that's why I think it's still interesting. It wasn't trying to look like anything else.
It all came from [original Tron creator/director] Steven Lisberger's head. It was such a laborious project. There were 900 people in Korea painting film to create that effect. CG had never been used, ever. And it got disqualified from the Academy Awards because they said those special effects made it not a real film. And now movies like Avatar get nominated for best picture. I think the reason that this movie is happening now is because technology has just gotten to a point where this film can be as revolutionary as the first one. I think if you had made this film 10 years ago it would have fallen short because it couldn't be as groundbreaking and beautiful.
IGN: Did working on this film prepare you for big movie productions, like Cowboys & Aliens?
Wilde: Yes. And you know, Cowboys & Aliens was another step. And I think on this I maybe worked 68 days out of 75. And on Cowboys I worked 80 days. So I'm becoming more and more responsible for the film. But I feel like I can accept that responsibility based on each experience and what I've learned from it. So definitely. I think being in Tron prepared me for working with iconic actors, too. You work with Jeff Bridges and then you think, "Okay, I can handle working with Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig and Sam Rockwell." People that I've looked up to for a long time. I feel like I'm taking these great, incremental steps. And I feel more prepared for each one. And I feel like I'm at the right place and that I'm meant to be playing these characters.
