Power Rangers

Go go Power Rangers!  Filming has officially commenced on ‘Saban’s Power Rangers’, Liongate’s big screen reboot of the long-running kids show.  The film version mixes things up a bit, but the names and personalities are the same as the original line up from when the show debuted in 1993: from the left, the new cast is comprised of R.J. Cyler as Billy the Blue Ranger, Naomi Scott as Kimberly the Pink Ranger, Ludi Lin as Zach the Black Ranger, Becky G. as Trini the Yellow Ranger and Dacre Montgomery as Jason the Red Ranger.  There had been some earlier reports that the cast would be playing new characters and that the movie would be a continuation of the current TV series, but that turned out to be untrue.

The first reaction to the pic is, the cast isn’t dressed in colors that overtly mimic their Power Ranger alter egos, the way the teens on the show did.  (Right)  There are touches of their colors (I suppose the top Scott is wearing could be described as pink).

Their look is decidedly edgy, which is in keeping with the way they are described as being “disenfranchised and disparate” and the gang are not friends when the movie begins.

Also, the movie took care to switch things up racially.  On the original show, the Yellow Ranger was Asian and the Black Ranger was black, which many found either humorous or distasteful.

Director Dean Israelite explained:

“From the very beginning, diversity was a very important part of the whole process.  We switched all of the races around, but we made sure that the essence of each of those characters are who they were in the original show, and this really will be an origin story of those characters.”

Another area where the movie will diverge from the original show is in the costumes.  The movie crew won’t be sporting the spandex unitards from the original show or even the padded versions from the 1995 feature film.  Israelite described the modern suits as having a “really modern, edgy, badass, aspirational quality.”

“We’ve really pushed ourselves to make them feel different from any other superhero costume that’s out there.  One key that’s different to the Power Ranger suits is that they’re not really suits that people get into. They’re suits that morph onto our kids, so they already have this almost metaphysical quality to them.”

The cast will be sporting these new super suits in their battle against sorceress Rita Repulsa, played by comedic star Elizabeth Banks (‘The Hunger Games’ series, ‘Pitch Perfect’).

“It’s very exciting that we got [Banks], and I think what she loves is the opportunity to really embrace the insanity and deliciousness of Rita Repulsa in terms of how weird and wonderful that character was, and really dive into and consume that character.  You should always be off-balance when you’re watching her. Is she insane? Is she totally calculated? Does she know what she’s doing? Elizabeth can toe that line really well.”

Not much else is known about the movie at this point, but with filming under way we will bring you news as it surfaces.  

Are you ready to morph into action with this new team of ‘Power Rangers’?

‘Power Rangers’ debuts next year on March 24th, 2017.

power-rangers_

Source: Entertainment Weekly