When it comes to portraying a big screen superhero, it’s not the powers that make the champion. It’s really about the costume. And with a franchise as deep as the Power Rangers, there’s a lot of fabric-based inspiration to work from. So when it came to rebooting the popular TV series, the filmmakers decided to up their game. Unfortunate for the cast, that meant a rather long first costume fitting.
“I didn’t eat because I didn’t know it was going to take three hours,” recounts Becky G. (the Yellow Ranger). “So I was hangry! I felt myself feeling more and more claustrophobic until they finally put the mirrors in front of us. And that’s when I felt like, ‘This looks incredible. I’m a Power Ranger!’ It was crazy. It was this surreal feeling.”
Of course, it helps that the costumes aren’t brightly colored spandex. Rather, the Rangers sport a battle armor that literally transforms from them from average high school teenagers into masked superheroes.
“I think I get what the helmet’s all about,” explains Ludi Lin (the Black Ranger) in a moment of superhero self-reflection. “Once you put the helmet on, you really feel like a superhero. And I was thinking about that lately… it’s that anonymity. It evokes this certain feeling. When you put it on, you’re masked and it’s not like you’re YOU anymore. To me it speaks to the fact that anybody can be a superhero.”
