“Who will be mighty? Who will be powerful?” ~ Anonymous
Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with and what do you do on the MMPR project?
This is Louis Maldarelli, Producer and Writer of the “MMPR” series.
How did the MMPR project begin?
The director of the series, Dominick Sivilli, and I are best friends and we were just hanging out one night going through Netflix Streaming. We came across every season of Power Rangers and decided to watch an episode or two due to the nostalgia feeling we had. We ended up watching ‘Day of the Dumpster’ and it brought us back to our younger days, but now that we are in our twenties, we really saw through the cheese factor of the acting and the dialogue. So, we talked about it for a bit, then did some research online and came across an interview with Jason David Frank saying he always wanted to do a ‘Dark Knight’ style of Power Rangers. Now, that is right up our alley! We looked around and found out that there weren’t many other fan-made projects for the Power Rangers out there, so we decided to take a crack at it!
I know I’ve seen the terms ‘fan film’ and ‘web series’ interchanged through all the media I’ve sifted through, and I will furthermore be referring to it as ‘project’. Do you happen to know which it is at this point?
Due to being an independent production company and not a big name studio, we always used the term fan film. At this point, it is both. We are focusing on creating prologue episodes that will show the audience the world we are building and the characters in it. After that, we would like to do a feature film.
The casting of professional actors, all with some kind of impressive credit, is a major staple of the project thus far for me; it represents the new direction of raw professionalism that a very juvenile subject seems to be treated with, and will probably change people’s minds about how shows like Power Rangers can be viewed. Was this your intent?
Of course! The term fan film gets thrown around a lot and is usually looked at in a negative way. We are a professional production company that works in independent films. We aren’t some guys in our backyard with a camera; this is our livelihood. Everybody who works on this production is a professional, whether they are cast or crew.
Who else have you hired from professional fields to work on the project?
Like I said, the entire cast and crew are professionals – they do this for a living! But, specifically, our visual effects supervisor, Mario Pece, is extremely talented and has worked in some feature films, music videos (Katy Perry, Robbie Williams) and in commercials (UFC, Chevrolet, Jell-O). One of our stunt coordinators is currently working on the feature films ‘TMNT’ and ‘The Amazing Spiderman 2.’ Our associate producer, Anthony Argento and Rollin Studios, does a lot of television work in New York City for MTV, CBS, USA and others.
The fan community is in a tizzy over the design of Lord Zedd, as well as the involvement of Robert Axelrod (the original voice of Lord Zedd). How important is Lord Zedd’s place in the story, and the production overall?
Very important! Lord Zedd is currently the main villain in the ‘MMPR’ series. He is the reason why this team is coming together! The actor playing Lord Zedd, Jerry Murdock, works in a lot of horror films and really brings the character to life in this new story.
How did you go about getting Robert Axelrod and David Fielding (the original voice of Zordon, who has been confirmed to voice the character once again) involved in the project? How will their performances be compared or contrasted to the original series?
I met Robert Axelrod at Power Morphicon. I showed him our trailer and he loved it. He actually asked me why we didn’t call him to do the voice over work originally! So, Robert was ready to jump on board from day one! David, I was able to get in touch with through one of our fans. I spoke with David for awhile, told him what our vision was and he was all for being involved. As for how will they be portrayed, we want to stay as close to the source material as we can, but also use it in a way that fits our story.
What can we expect to see in the relationship between the two rivals?
These two characters are mortal enemies – this won’t be a walk in the park for either of them!
I noticed in a recent post on your facebook page (www.facebook.com/MMPRfilm) showing off the concept art for the Red Ranger’s suit, and you mentioned it will soon be worn by Don Money, the actor playing the Red Ranger, himself. There has also been mention that we will see the Blue Ranger (played by Dina Cataldi) “suit up VERY soon.” Typically in tokusatsu productions, the suit itself is worn by a separate suit actor both to keep the actor safe and to save production time. Does this mean the production is doing away with suit actors?
For right now, yes, the Rangers [actors] themselves will be wearing the suits. The material for the suits is very specific and they are being made for these actors.
Speaking of the suits, the concept art is certainly intriguing. Many fans have lashed out at the idea of a non-retro Power Morpher as the means of transformation, but I’d like to offer you the chance to defend the project’s decisions. What was the thought process behind the design of the suits and the Morpher, and why should fans be excited about it?
The fans should know that the original suits and original Morphers will make an appearance in the film. But the reason why we went with a new Morpher and a new suit design is because it takes place in present time, 20 years after the original series. This is a new set of Rangers. So while we took some influences from the original suits, we wanted to make our own suits and Morpher that represent what is being told in the story.
Who will be making the suits, and what will they be made out of?
Our production team headed by one of our associate producers, Jason W. Short, will be making the suits. They will be made out of Dragon Skin, which is a special kind of silicone rubber.
The original show catches a lot of flak for how ridiculous the Rangers would appear while in the suits, waving arms and nodding heads to compensate for the literal communication barrier while their helmets are on. What can we expect as far as ‘suit acting’ (body language when the face is covered up) in the MMPR fan film?
It won’t be so over-the-top. But, really, that is something that will be decided leading up to the day we shoot between the director and the actors.
What is being done in the fight and stunt department? Have you hired a stunt coordinator or fight choreographer?
We are working with a fight coordinator and a stunt team. It is a pretty big team of up to 15 people. We feel like we haven’t shown a lot of action so far, so the first episode will make up for that.
Who will be the Rangers be fighting? Will we see a return of the infamous Z-Putty? What can you tell us about Zedd’s new army?
Can’t really say anything about that just yet. We will just have to wait to see.
I know the project has been kept under wraps for awhile (or, perhaps, no one has sought the right answers yet), but I know the fans are wondering: what is PROJECT_RANGER? Is there anything you can tell us?
All I can tell is what we have seen from our first mini-episode – PROJECT_RANGER is being run by The Silver Guardians.
The official synopsis is sure heavy on the idea that the world of Power Rangers has changed, or perhaps moved on, from the events of the show, set 20 years ago within the story of MMPR. What kind of society will the characters be living in, and what will the legacy of the Power Rangers be?
It will be a real world setting – just like it is today in 2013. As for the original Rangers, they will be celebrated as heroes by society. Now, how that plays into the story, we will soon find out!
Tommy Oliver is mentioned as being a main character, the focus of the main conflict of the story, and it is suspected he will return as the Green Ranger after being “in exile.” What role will Tommy be taking in this story, and what will be his relation to the rest of the world, especially Angel Grove?
The idea for the Tommy Oliver character in our series is that he never really believed that “evil” had been vanquished. After all these years, we find out that Tommy has been off on his own since the Power Rangers dispersed and has been training for the day when evil comes back. It is a very Bruce Wayne/Batman-esq character like when Bruce left to go train with Raz-Al-Ghul.
I also noticed the character of General E.A. Collins listed in the cast; your intermediate-to-diehard Power Rangers fan will note that he shares a name with the Red Ranger of Power Rangers Time Force, Wesley Collins, as well as his father, who runs a private military company. Is the General meant to be a reference to these characters? How will the MMPR project exist within the Power Rangers universe?
I think everyone knows now that General E.A. Collins is running the Silver Guardians in our series. When we last left off in Time Force, Wesley (and Eric) were now heads of the Silver Guardians. Are the characters related to each other? Short answer – Yes and that is something we will explore more in the future. The ‘MMPR’ series belongs to its alternate timeline – the same cast of characters from the original series but it its own world. Kind of like what JJ Abrams is doing with the Star Trek franchise. Our story involves several aspects of other seasons (Zeo, Time Force, SPD, RPM), but we are making it work for us. Now, does that leave open other Rangers from throughout the series showing up? I believe that is a very big possibility.
The cast is mostly composed of original characters, including the new core Rangers; some may rue the thought, but I see it as a breath of fresh air. What is the intent of introducing original characters, and what can we expect from them (especially the non-Rangers)?
When we started this film, we asked ourselves if we just wanted to do a story involving the original Rangers. But we didn’t want to recast – we feel that everyone involved with the original series (Austin, Walter, David, JDF, Amy, and Thuy) mean so much to the characters. Nobody wants to see a new actor playing Jason Scott or Trini. So we decided to create a new set of characters and a new story. It gives us the opportunity to do so much more with the story than what we could have done going the other way.
How much filming has there been so far?
Besides the trailer, we have shot two different mini-episodes (one of which we have released so far).Right now, we are in pre-production for the first major episode (involving the Blue Ranger character) and are working on the scripts for several other mini-episodes.
What can the fans do to help or support the project?
Get the word out! Go to our facebook, share our posts and if you can – donate to our Kickstarter campaign.
Is there a projected release date? On what medium can we see it?
We are aiming to release the first episode by the end of the year. Everything will be on YouTube, but you can get everything on DVD as a perk on our Kickstarter.
Where can we follow the production leading up to the release?
Our facebook -Facebook.com/MMPRfilm and our website – MMPRfilm.com
Thanks for taking the time to speak to us here on morphinlegacy.com. We sure look forward to seeing this whole thing come to life. Any final statements?
We would like to take the opportunity to thank all of our fans! All of our success is because of them. We owe everything to them and honestly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you all for keeping this project going and getting it to where it is now.
UPDATE:
The Kickstarter campaign has ended and the team reached 225% of their original goal, and now sit on nearly $42,000 in capital. I will be travelling to NYC in the immediate future to take a closer look at the project’s progress and have further discussions and interviews with Louis Maldarelli. Part 3 of WHEN IS A RANGER NOT A RANGER? is delayed due to this trip, so be looking out for all of it soon.
Until next time: have courage and press on regardless.
QC by thebubbledragon
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