Lumino Magazine got the opportunity to sit down with Cindy Morgan, best known for her roles as Lora (in the real world) and Yori (in the computer world) in the original “Tron.” Morgan, a Chicago native, has been working in the entertainment industry since the late 1970s. It was not until her breakout role as Lacey Underall in the classic comedy “Caddyshack” that she became a household name.
What was it like working on the first Tron movie?
The movie Tron belongs to the people I think. Like all good science fiction so many things have come true. I love science fiction. I came from a broadcast background and moved out to Los Angeles because they wouldn’t let me do commercials in Chicago. I remember talking to someone and they said I’d never make it in the town, I told them “I’ll have my face on a billboard within a year,” and sure enough “Caddyshack” happened and I was up there in less than a year.
I first heard about “Tron” before “Caddyshack” actually. I was dating a guy who was in this comedy acting class with me. And I heard he was auditioning for some sort of cartoon. Then about a year after Caddyshack while I was cooling my heels at William Morris because of my open dislike for Jon Peters (executive producer of “Caddyshack”) and got a call from the Disney people.
So I get the script and it makes as much sense to me as Lacy Underall. After that I sat down over lunch with Jeff [Bridges] who I hadn’t met before. I know that it was between myself and Deborah Harry and I got the part.
The Lora character I played I thought of as myself. I approached the Lora character, the programmer that probably went to IIT, and that was essentially me. But for Yori I pictured her as a two-dimensional version of Lora. I don’t say lines or memorize lines I say ideas. That made the character unique to play.
I remember that they made us all wear those stupid skull caps and they were horribly uncomfortable It was actually a shammy cloth glued to my skin. They’d pull it and pull it off between takes and after a week I had blisters. One day I had enough and grabbed one of the helmets that all the men were wearing and stormed off the set. If you notice in the solar sail scene I’m suddenly wearing a different helmet. To me it made sense for the character to do that. I felt bad for Barnard Hughes who played the Guardian he had to be in that uncomfortable contraption the whole time.
The first movie throws around a lot of technical jargon, how familiar was everyone with computers on-set back then?
I had a conversation with Stephen Lisberger [the writer and director of “Tron”] the first week of filming and told him that my father had a background in mechanical engineering and even I don’t know what I’m saying. But Stephen was the writer and director so he knew what he was doing.
There was one line in the movie I couldn’t bring myself to say. You can see me struggling with it and I love that the audience has laughed at it at every screening I’ve ever been to. If you’re familiar with the movie Bruce/Tron has just woken me up from a trance and I say “Oh Tron! I knew there wasn’t a circuit built that could hold you.”
I had so much trouble with that line and so did almost everyone else that has seen it. That just proves you can’t lie to the audience, they always know.
You were some of the first actors to work with CGI, tell me what that was like.
I remember they took us to a studio to show us what CGI was and it was this dancing oval puppet. They pointed to it and said “that’s going to be you,” I just thought that if I’m getting paid for it I’ll just go along with it. I really didn’t know what was going on. The “Tron” set was a giant empty warehouse. I had to find the reality in the actor’s eyes. Jeff was great for that, so was Bruce.
One of the hardest parts was when we were supposed to be driving the solar sail. I had no idea what was going on. If you look at the original take we’re all looking in different places. In my mind I was driving a soundboard.
It sounds like chaos.
“Caddyshack” was chaos, Disney was very structured. Everything was storyboarded and closely monitored. If it sounds like chaos that’s because this was all so different to us. But Stephen was really ahead of his time and knew what he was doing.
What are your views on the new Tron? Did you see it coming?
It’s not that I saw it coming. I started doing appearances four or five years ago and 28 years after “Tron,” you gotta know that [the studio making a new movie] makes me smile. Of course it hurts your feelings when you’re discounted from something but the people who really know the big picture have been really polite and honest with me.
What are your feelings about not being in it?
I did a few appearances at the Comic Con in San Diego leading up to the announcement of Tron so when I found out I wasn’t included in the cast it was surprising. What really touches me is the supporters because they told me they were listening. The fans have a voice and they believe in what they are doing.
Where can fans see you next?
I’ve got something I’ve been working on for five years now. I’m actually doing what you’re doing. I am writing a coffee table book and a book based on my life. I was there and these are all first hand accounts. There are all these stories I want to tell. Story telling is a lost art form that needs to be brought back.
There are so many things I want to tell. I’ve got a wonderful photo of the three story fireball from the end of Caddyshack. You remember at the end when the entire cast is running toward it? There’s one person that’s not, that was me. They poured all this gasoline underground and just set it off. They did it again the next day and I made sure I was on the other side of the set. I said these guys are nuts, I’m from Chicago I know to stay away from the fireball.
I want to take the reader by the hand and take them with me. They are putting it in linear form so the reader can follow it. I go right at Jon Peters but everyone does.
I hear you’re from Chicago, do you visit often?
Not as often as I’d like. Being from Chicago has come in handy a lot. It’s such a great city to be from. I live in South Florida now and there’s defiantly a different mentality here. If I hear someone on my lawn at 2 a.m, I’ll call the cops. I don’t care how they do things in Florida.
Tron Legacy opens this Friday on the big screen. Do yourself a favor and catch up or re-familiarize yourself by watching the original 1982 film. Then head out to the next installment, Cindy Morgan might not be in this one, however with all the online campaigns (such as "Yori Lives" on Facebook) you never know what will happen in the future.
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