From Batman Begins through to The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan’s decorated trilogy is widely considered to be one of, if not the finest live-action interpretations of the Caped Crusader, introducing moviegoers to a completely reimagined version of Gotham city and Batman himself.
In resurrecting Saban’s Rangers for the big screen, Bryan Cranton revealed to The Huffington Post that Lionsgate is adopting a similar creative approach to Power Rangers, and the actor went on to explain why the live-action feature film is shaping up to the markedly different from Saban’s original television series.
As matter of fact, Cranston wasn’t necessarily sold on the idea of portraying Zordon in Dean Israelite’s reboot because of the show’s cartoonish tenets. But one conversation with the film’s producers and Israelite himself quickly changed that.
“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.”
Featuring Dacre Montgomery, Becky G, Ludi Lin, Naomi Scott and RJ Cyler as Angel Grove’s finest, Lionsgate’s high-profile adaptation also stars Elizabeth Banks as alien supervillain Rita Repulsa. With Cranston also in tow, it makes for an enviable mix of proven talent and relative newcomers, and the actor believes this balance will facilitate a complete reimagining of that famous coming-of-age tale.
“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.”
Power Rangers is set for release on March 24, 2017.
