The Power Rangers fan film that hit the Internet last week sort of took everyone off guard. Power/Rangers was a very mature, very good look at what a fan film can squeeze and achieve from a show that was originally fairly silly and aimed at kids. Joseph Kahn crafted a film that featured the talents of sci-fi vet Katee Sackhoff and Dawson’s Creek star James Van Der Beek in roles you wouldn’t expect.
Some folks had some issues with it and Saban attempted to have the film taken offline due to a copyright claim, but it lives on and has garnered a lot of attention. The Hollywood Reporter caught up James Van Der Beek at Jerry Seinfeld-hosted Fatherhood Luncheon and got his thoughts on why the film was popular and how he became involved:
Approached by producer pal Adi Shankar, the actor told THR that he signed on to work on the unauthorized project (that co-stars Katee Sackhoff) because he wanted to work with Shankar and with Kahn, whom he described as a “crazy visionary.”
“I really wanted to follow him on this journey of creating something that was completely his own and we just did it to give it away for free to fans…It’s the essence of why we all got in the business: Let’s make something cool.”
He also commented on the controversy surrounding the film and why it was allowed to return online following Saban’s copyright claim:
“I think what happened is that everyone realized this is a win-win for that franchise and for the movie that Lionsgate is going to do,” he said, referring to the feature length project at the studio that is scheduled for summer 2016. “Now it’s back up and fan film, fan fiction is alive and well on the Internet.”
This is definitely one of the cooler fan films I’ve seen online. You see a lot of high quality stuff coming from fans of Star Trek and Batman, but having something based on Power Rangers just came out of left field. And it worked perfectly.
Gritty is overdone these days, but this works as a fun little side note to the series’ long history in Japan and Stateside. Maybe we’ll get a fun fan sequel one day, one that won’t ruin it for everybody due to this crazy attention.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
