I just got out of the press conference for Tron Legacy, and there is definitely one thing these people don't want to talk about: that recent report that the Pixar braintrust helped contribute to rewrites on the movie. (A Disney rep actually plucked the microphone from my hand after asking me the subject of my question, murmuring, "Sorry, we'd like to avoid that.") One thing they will talk about? That highly anticipated Daft Punk soundtrack.
According to director Joseph Kosinski, the electronic music duo was actually the first element of the film he locked into place, even before he'd done a single visual effects test. How do you woo such famously reclusive artists? "I met them for a pancake breakfast at the 101 Cafe [in Los Angeles]," he said, laughing.
The men behind Daft Punk weren't present at the press conference -- "They're in the studio as we speak, putting the finishing touches on the score," Kosinski promised -- but the director promises that if you could see their faces under those famously disguised helmets, they'd be beaming. "It's a new direction for them that they're really excited about, and it's so tied into the film because we developed them both together."
So tied into the film, it happens, that the actors could actually rely on the soundtrack to get into character.
"They were integral to the process of shooting because if you wanted to find the tone of a scene, you could listen to a Daft track," said Olivia Wilde, who plays a computer warrior in the film. "I found that really helpful."
More on Tron Legacy coming soon from Dixon Gaines, who's about to sit in on the actual panel in Hall H...