The new "Power Rangers" film will be a re-imagination of the 90s phenomenal hit for a whole new generation of fans. This is exactly the plan of the director of the movie Dean Israelite when tapped by Lionsgate to redo the movie about five teens with an attitude.
"I grew up on Power Rangers in South Africa and what was important to me from the beginning was making a movie about growing up," Israelite said while talking to fans in New York Comic Con, per report from Polygon. He reiterated that he will have two approaches in making this film --- first, to keep the spirit of the original live action series, and second, to tell an exciting origin story.
"I wanted to make this a grounded, character driven origin story that was always set to the backdrop of this adventure. Always at the center was making these characters real, with real problems that people can find relatable," he added.
"I wanted to remain true to the spirit of the franchise that I grew up on and loved. And I wanted really hard to reimagine it and reinvent it for a 2017 audience."
Fully committed to the vision of realness, Israelite made the effort of avoiding the inclusion of fake elements to the film. To this respect, the director admitted that one of the biggest challenge to the crew will be the "Zords" that our five heroes will be piloting. Although they are entirely computer-generated, Israelite had his cast act out the scenes as physically as possible to make it appear more authentic.
In the same report, Ludi Lin, who plays the Black Ranger, spoke about the difficulty of shooting scenes with the Zords. He said that it is the most tiring and most physical part of filming as they are trying to make as real as they could.
"Everything that happened with the Zords, we felt the physicality," Lin said. "I think that's how controlling a big machine like that for the first time should feel. I was exhausted, I was tired, and the last shot we had was the hardest to accomplish."
On the other hand, according to Screen Rant, the main characters will be more evolved versions of the original stars from the "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers" TV series. Jason, the Red Ranger, will be a more complicated "jock" character while the new Kimberly, the Pink Ranger, will be more of an outcast rather than the original's Miss Popular Girl.
Billy, the Blue Ranger, who was nerdy in the original series will be suffering deeper social problems which is usually associated with less popular kids in school. The Yellow Ranger, who was soft-spoken and mild mannered in the original, will be more of a wolf-type Trini in the movie. Lastly, Zach who is the Black Ranger will be a more serious character than the charismatic version in the original series.
"Power Rangers" will hit theaters on March 24, 2017.