Bryan Cranston's familiarity with Power Rangers goes back a lot farther than his recent casting in the Dean Israelite-directed picture; he also voiced minor villains Twinman and Snizzard during the 90s TV series' run. Cranston will be getting a big bump in the character department and a turn for the "good" when he stars as Zordon in the feature film due out March 24, 2017. But it wasn't Cranston's history with the property that got him to sign on to the film; in fact, that could have easily proved to be a deterrent.
In a chat with The Huffington Post for his upcoming movie The Infiltrator, Cranston spoke a bit about the tone of the Power Rangers movie and how it made all the difference in influencing his decision to sign on:
“At first I was, to be honest with you, I was reticent to looking at the role because I remember the television series was kind of farcical and silly and ‘pow’ and ‘zow’ — weird movements and things like that. I was like, ‘Oh, OK."
But like most reboots and other adaptations these days, the new take tends toward darker, grittier material. Part of that trend might be due to the critical and box office success of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy, which Cranston references with regard to Power Rangers:
“I wasn’t really high on it until I talked to the producer and read the script and talked to the director. After that I went, ‘This is different.’ This is as different a reimagining as the ‘Batman’ television series as it became the ‘Batman’ movie series. You can’t compare those two, and nor can you compare this movie version of the ‘Power Rangers’ to that television series. It’s unrecognizable for the most part. There are tenets of the folklore that you hold onto for sure, but the inspiration is different, and the sensibility of it, and the approach to the film making is completely different.”
Just to clarify, Cranston is comparing the 90s Power Rangers series to the 60s Batman series, and then further comparing the tonal shifts of those movies into their modern feature film versions ... with one slight difference:
“I don’t know if the tone is as dark as that because you’re dealing with teenagers. So the appropriateness of that, and real teenage life, and going through high school and the cliques and the popularity or lack thereof, and the bullies and all the different sections and sub-sections of high school life, and the insecurities of these kids and things like that — hopes and dreams — and you embrace all of that into a retelling of the ‘Power Rangers.’ And what you would get is this new version, this new reimagined version.”
However the film is ultimately received, Power Rangers did quite well for themselves by landing both Cranston and Elizabeth Banks in major roles within the mythos. The veteran actors will anchor the cast which is comprised of relative newcomers in the title roles: Ludi Lin as the Black Ranger, Zack; Naomi Scott as the Pink Ranger, Kimberly; RJ Cyler as the Blue Ranger, Billy; Becky G as the Yellow Ranger, Trini; and Dacre Montgomery as the Red Ranger, Jason.
In addition to Cranston, stars Montgomery and Lin took to social media recently to share their enthusiasm for the upcoming Power Rangers movie as well:
#fallingwhistles #powerrangers #obsidian My world hanging around my neck. A photo posted by Ludi Lin (@ludilin) on
For more of our Power Rangers coverage, take a look at some of our recent write-ups below:
- ‘Power Rangers’ Poster: The Teenagers with Attitude Prepare for an Alien Invasion
- ‘Power Rangers’ Morphs Bryan Cranston Into Zordon
- ‘Power Rangers’ Reboot: New Image Reveals Radically Different Costumes
- ‘Power Rangers’: Rita Repulsa Gets a Sleek New Look for the Upcoming Adaptation
