Today I had a chance to chat in a conference call with actor and writer, Bruce Boxleitner. Mr. Boxleitner discussed his writing, work in the Tron franchise, including the upcoming Walt Disney animated television series, Tron Uprising, due in 2012, and more.
Below are excerpts from the interview.
Question:
Today with what was old is never truly old, because it is always new. Did you have any idea how this (Tron) would be such a phenomenon?
Bruce:
No, not at all. It was a total surprise. Tron has just been a gift that keeps on giving. It’s amazing because at the time, 1982, when it came out, it did well but was not a gigantic blockbuster hit. We had not had those yet. I think the next thing, E.T. did that. It was quite a year for seminal science fiction movies that weren’t quite as appreciate at their time, and now we look at them and go oh my God they were fantastic and such influences on what we are doing now. Tron I believe is that. It truly was predicting somewhat in it’s very innocent way, a world in that we are living right now, age of information. Very few science fiction things do that, something in which we are living. I think it’s fantastic. When I got a call they (Disney) were going to do it, and saw the Comic Con presentation on YouTube, I was overjoyed, because for 20 something years it had been rumored and so on it, was going to be remade. I was very proud of Tron when it came out, and even more so now. I look at it now and I still think how we made quite an unusual little film, and nothing quite looks like it yet. I think Tron Legacy is fabulous.
Question:
We have Tron Uprising coming up, I can’t wait to hear about it.
Bruce:
I’m very excited about that. It’s good. I just worked on it the day before yesterday. Getting close to finishing the first season. I think it is coming on in Jan (2012).
Question:
And Tron 3 might be happening?
Bruce:
Yes, I hear they are working on that too.
Comment:
Hopefully you are part of it, Cindy (Morgan), and everyone else.
Bruce:
Yes.
Question:
In talking about Babylon 5, Tron, and your history of Science Fiction work, how did you get involved in Science Fiction? Were you always a fan growing up, and what type of Science Fiction or what type stories influenced your writing and acting?
Bruce:
The very first book I remember reading as a boy was Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I remember the movie very vividly. Disney by the way, great Disney classic. I always have been interested in the genre. I didn’t set out to do Science Fiction. I did a lot of Westerns, I did a lot of everything. You do what you can when you’re first starting out here in Hollywood. I’ve always enjoyed it because I think the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre’s give actors material that unlike say, a lawyer show,… require much more of your imagination and you acting skills. It really does. You really have to stretch in Science Fiction roles. For me Babylon 5 was the finest material I ever got to do as an actor. I loved doing Tron, Tron Legacy, Uprising. It’s larger than life, requires more of an imagination to do than standard t.v. work. It keeps you challenged.
Question:
With all of the work you have done from “How the West was Won“, “Scarecrow and Mrs. King“, ” Gods & Generals“, “Tron“, “Tron Legacy“, and the upcoming, “Tron Uprising“, I noticed a cowboy and alien theme. Then I think, “Cowboys & Aliens“. Seems like you were a pioneer before all of this started.
Bruce:
In fact, Yes. To answer your question, (laughs) I actually wrote a book in 1998 while I was doing Babylon 5 called “Frontier Earth“, published by Ace science fiction that came out in hardback that year. It is pretty hard to find. You can find the paperback on Amazon. It was the story about an alien visit sometime during the old west period in the 1880’s. Strangely enough I just saw the movie, (Cowboys & Aliens) last weekend and it seemed very familiar (laughs). I have always been into those genre’s, so it was something I wanted to write about. At the time I was in Babylon 5, and had a core audience to shoot for, and I did.
Bruce on meeting fans at conventions:
I love meeting the fans. I say to this to other people in the industry. Sometimes you should get out and actually meet and talk to all of the people we do this for…..I think you find out what your impact is or has been…fans come forth with questions and you get a dialog going. It’s always fun.
I will be meeting fans in Australia, New Zealand, at Dragon Con in Georgia next month…It s a lot of fun.
Bruce thanked everyone for their appreciation of Tron and his work and was excited to meet everyone at D23 next week.
Thanks to Bruce Boxleitner for taking the time to chat and thanks to the folks at Disney for setting up the interview.
You can still get tickets to the D23 Expo here.
