Hollywood Reporter has, uh, reported that the new TRON film (as they’re saying it’s being called, rather than TRON 2 or the amazingly-annoying TR2N) has found a lead actor in Garrett Hedlund.

Even more interesting, perhaps, is that the article also confirms that Jeff Bridges is in fact onboard to reprise his role as Flynn, the arcade developer wunderkind (who doesn’t understand what computer memory is) and experimental LASER zapee from the original Disney film.

Now if only Disney would put that killer teaser out on the net in HD, we’d be tied over until TRON, scheduled to start shooting this coming Spring, gets some proper buzz materials going. The new TRON could be great, as it’s already got Bridges, a coupla hotties and the potential for some great, updated effects in a world where the video game business is now bigger than the movie industry. In real life.

Hollywood Reporter

After the Comic-Con TRON 2.0 teaser leaked out onto the Net, we contacted reps for Disney who said that there was no official word yet as to whether or not the movie would get made, and that they had no plans to ever show that teaser again. Of course that seemed a bit odd given that the teaser, which they called a technology demonstration, had a minute or two of effects (not cheap) and, you know, Jeff Bridges.

Well, Hollywood Reporter has announced that TRON 2.0 aka TR2N has its first two cast members attached, in the form of Olivia Wilde (House) and Beau Garrett (Made of Honor, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer).

No official word on Bridges yet, although we’ll keep our fingers crossed that a TRON 2.0 payday would be at least as enticing to him as a TRON 2.0 technology demonstration payday.

Hollywood Reporter

Nevermind that even after telling her that the story was just like Wizard of Oz, my Mom still couldn’t understand, after seeing the film, what was going on.

And let’s put aside the fact that Kevin Flynn, the most gifted game programmer of all-time, yells “Because, MAN, somewhere in one of these ‘memories’ is the evidence!”, stammering as if he doesn’t really understand all this computer mumbo jumbo.

It didn’t matter.

TRON was an instant classic. It was the first time any of us had seen a movie created mostly using 3D graphics. Graphics that were primative by today’s standards, but worlds beyond what was actually in video games at the time.

And yet we sat in that darkened theater, mouths agape, almost sure that what we were seeing onscreen could actually be going on inside those arcade machines, just the way kids know…KNOW…that once they fall asleep, their toys come alive and party.

TRON was a landmark not only because it was the first significantly-3D film, but because it was Disney, who has since fostered and acquired the finest in 3D animation studios. And because it was the first time a video game and movie project were developed simultaneously. You could walk out of the movie and go play the game.

[Of course this begs the question (to which there is only one correct answer, regardless of whether or not it's the actual answer): "Will there be a TR2N game released simultaneously with the film and one that ties in with the film?"]

Everything about the movie and the game was cool. The way they looked: A symphony of glowy blue, orange and green against a cold black backdrop. The way they sounded: Futuristic and electronic, thanks to Wendy Carlos’ score that was used so effectively in both media. And yes the story, ripped as it was from a timeless classic of yesteryear, was ported fairly nicely to make sense in this new, strange world of smiling yellow gobbly faces and falling insectoid invaders.

As video games and MMOs in particular bring us closer each year to having holodeck romances and second lives that are, for some people, more rewarding than the first could ever be, the TRON geek in all of us yearns to go back to the place where it all started.

The wait is coming to an end. A new TRON (or TR2N as it’s being promoted) is coming. And some crafty video bootlegger at ComicCon shot a teeny, canted clip of the teaser trailer that, even at those dimensions and at that angle, is entirely too exciting to pass up.

End of line.

UPDATE: A “cleaned up version” of this has been posted at dailymotion.com

UPDATE: Forget that last update because the clip was removed. You can still find it (for now) at the first link, and it’s the cleaned-up version. All of this implies that Disney may be readying an official version of this teaser trailer online soon. Which is good considering they already said it’ll be a year before we see anything else about this 2010 release.

Filmstalker via Gizmodo