Bryan Cranston Explains Why ‘Power Rangers’ Is a ‘Nice Bookend’ to His Career
After starring in arguably the greatest television series of all time, Bryan Cranston has certainly earned the right to pick any movie or television projects that he darn well pleases. That didn’t prevent a few people from raising their eyebrows when it was announced that Cranston would be joining the cast of the new Power Rangers reboot as their leader and mentor Zordon. Sure, we all know that Cranston got his start as a Power Rangers voice actor back in the day, but is he really so loyal as to sign on for a movie reboot when he could be out there winning Oscars and lighting up Broadway?
Apparently so. Yesterday, IGN (via Heroic Hollywood) spoke with the actor about his deliberation process and why a phone call from one of the Power Rangers creators inspired him to return to his old stomping grounds:
Haim Saban called. I know Haim and 35 years ago I was doing voice overs when I was first starting out and I would do it when they were dubbing into English and they had to change everything. I went in and did a bunch of different voices. I was 23 or 24. I wasn’t doing younger voices obviously. I did a lot of villains and ‘You shall pay for that!’ It was fun. And I was glad to have the job. I was learning a lot … I thought, ‘This might be a nice bookend to what I was doing before,’ since I started out doing voices.
In the interview, Cranston gives a bit of lip service to the screenplay and the grounded nature of the new high school characters, but it’s clear that Cranston’s relationship with Saban and his own memories of working on Power Rangers as a starving actor played a big role in his decision to return to the franchise. It’s stories like this that make Cranston seem like such a gosh-darn nice guy; at a time where he could punch his own ticket in Hollywood, Cranston is not so self-serious that he won’t take a trip down memory lane when an old friend asks for a favor. Whether Power Rangers is a surprise smash or just Max Steel with a bigger marketing budget remains to be seen, but we can all appreciate Cranston’s willingness to step back into the recording studio one last time for a franchise he so clearly remembers fondly.
Here’s the full plot synopsis for the new Power Rangers movie:
Saban’s Power Rangers follows five ordinary teens who must become something extraoridnary when they learn that their small town of Angel Grove — and the world — is on the verge of being obliterated by an alien threat. Chosen by destiny, our heroes quickly discover that they are the only ones who can save the planet. But to do so, they will have to overcome their real-life issues and before it’s too late, band together as Power Rangers.
Power Rangers will morph into theaters on March 24, 2017.