Always in character.
Daft Punk at the LA premiere of Tron: Legacy last night
For Daft Punk, the cybernetic French DJ duo tasked with crafting the score to Tron: Legacy, their first ever trip down a red carpet was actually blue — so pointed out Thomas Bangalter, one-half of the music team, just before hitting Hollywood Boulevard for Saturday night’s neon-tastic Tron premiere at the El Capitan theater.
Donning their trademark identity-obscuring robot heads, Bangalter and Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo were outfitted in Balenciaga tuxes custom-designed by the label’s revered creative director Nicolas Ghesquière, who doubles as a devoted Daft Punk fan and friend. And while the film focuses on the future, the guys’ look was firmly entrenched in the past. “It’s fun to mix science fiction with something very classic,” Bangalter told THR. “In a way, the suits are the image of what we’ve tried to do with the music, which is to combine something that’s quite futuristic with this idea of a classic Hollywood film.”
Indeed, prior to arriving, the two seemed most impressed with the history of the El Capitan, particularly the fact that it hosted the premiere of 1941’s Citizen Kane, which was perhaps another reason the duo opted to downplay their red carpet look. “We didn’t want anything extravagant,” Bangalter explained. “There’s enough extravagance in being a robot.”