Jeff Bridges followed up his Oscar winning role in Crazy Heart with a return to his 1982 cult classic Tron. Attending San Diego Comic-Con with the Tron Legacy cast and filmmakers, Bridges hung out with the fans at a party in Flynn’s Arcade, a recreation of his character’s hangout in Tron. He took photos with anyone who asked and signed autographs for gamers and movie buffs.

“It’s so exciting,” Bridges said in a press conference in San Diego. “Comic-Con wasn’t around back when the first one came out. To feel the energy of the people, we really sensed it when we came here last year and showed the trailer. It was the year before that when we showed the first test and that was very responsible for getting the whole movie rolling, getting it financed. So the fans are very integral to this whole thing.”

Bridges gets back in a Tron light suit, and technology has even allowed him to play his younger alter ego. “Also, just like the first one it tickled the kid in me,” he said. “You know, to be sucked inside a computer and playing with all of the new toys that we had available to us, the cutting edge, to be involved with the cutting edge was very exciting.”

He’s always had a sense of humor about it. Bringing an old photo of his father Lloyd’ Bridges on the set of his TV show, Jeff credited his dad with pioneering the Tron suit. “There’s something here I want to show you. My father years ago had sort of a prototype of the Tron suit in Sea Hunt.”

Tron Legacy opens December 17.