Shooting on an iPhone in a Closet and More: How the New Power Rangers Got the Gig
On Friday, a new generation of Power Rangers will assume the mantle, but before Ludi Lin, Naomi Scott, Dacre Montgomery, R.J. Cryler, and Becky G. morphed into their new suits, they had to first secure the parts. Yahoo welcomed the five new Power Rangers to our Los Angeles studios, and they told our Khail Anonymous exactly how they got the part.
“I grew up with the Power Rangers,” said Ludi Lin, who plays the black Ranger. “I was a big Power Rangers fan. Power Rangers, they were good at improvising the special effects in the series, and it looks like not very much budget, so that’s how I shot my audition. It was basically in a broom closet with my iPhone and a lamp for lighting. And so I sent it off, thought not too much of it, and then I went back to Beijing and had an audition through Skype, and I was thinking, ‘Man, I really want this thing.'”
“When I did my tape, I actually taped with myself,” explained Naomi Scott, who is the new pink Power Ranger. “I actually did all of the other Power Ranger voices. But I changed my voice. For the guys, I’d be really low and for the girls I’d be really high.”
For the team leader and red Power Ranger, Dacre Montgomery, the role came in a way most aspiring actors dream of. “I was in drama school,” he shared. “I was in my last couple of months at university in Australia, and I had this tape floating around. Somehow, it made its way into [casting director John Papsidera’s] hands, and I got a call on a Friday morning, ‘Can you be in L.A. tomorrow night to test. And I flew, tested, and then they announced that I had the role the following day.”
“I didn’t think that I would book a role as big as this one,” admitted Blue Ranger R.J. Cryler. “When I did book it, I calmly lost my mind. [Director Dean Israelite] called me, ‘Hey R.J., I would just want to know if you’d like to join us as the blue Power Ranger.’ I was like, ‘Yeah. I’m down with that.’ And then I hung up the phone, lost my mind, and then called my parents.”
And of course, Becky G. goes into the movie with a fan base, but this will be her first time starring in a big-budget action movie. “I was on tour, and it was city to city,” she remembered. “It’s a real grind, it’s a hustle. I was exhausted and my agent sent me an email and was like, ‘Hey girl, I need you to do a self tape. And it was really interesting, because I had no idea it was for the Power Rangers. And so I did it, and a couple days later my agent called me and was like, ‘Oh my god, they love you.’ And I was like, ‘Who are you talking about?’ She was like, ‘The people at Lionsgate. Power Rangers.’ And I was like, Power Rangers?!”
Watch: Elizabeth Banks Couldn’t Do Anything but ‘Sit Like a Monk’ in Her ‘Power Rangers’ Costume
Read more from Yahoo Movies:
‘Power Rangers’ Preview Clip: Test Drive Is More Than a Little Rocky for Mighty Morpher in Training
‘Power Rangers’: ‘It’s Morphin’ Time’ for New Team in Full Trailer
‘Power Rangers’ Breaks Ground With First Gay Big-Screen Superhero
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