Let’s be honest for a second – if you didn’t watch Power Rangers growing up, did you even have a childhood? The color-coded heroes were all the hype back in the day and whether it was the Mighty Morphin’ era or Dino Thunder, we all had our favorites picked out.
And come one, the Legendary Battle? That was our Avengers: Endgame moment! Unfortunately, while Power Rangers was the childhood for many, it wasn’t for Dacre Montgomery, the Red Ranger from the 2017 film.
Ah, the iconic Red Rangers who, somehow, were almost every girl’s crush growing up. Jason Lee Scott, Leo Corbett, Conner McKnight, there was just something about these men taking charge that made us all swoon collectively. Then Power Rangers came along in 2017 and Dacre Montgomery donned the red suit, bringing Jason Scott to life. While he had that perfect heartthrob energy, it wasn’t enough to keep the film from flopping. Additionally, would you believe that the actor never had a glimpse of the franchise growing up?
Dacre Montgomery missed out on the Power Rangers hype growing up
Growing up, kids pick a topic and basically obsess over it for a long time, leaving no room for substitutes. While for many it was Power Rangers, Dacre Montgomery was a superhero fan, like most.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision, Montgomery revealed that growing up in Perth, Australia, he missed out on the magic that was Power Rangers.
While he would love to blame Geography, he admitted that it was more of a personal oversight. When asked if it was true that he didn’t watch any of the movies or shows growing up, he said,
It’s 100 percent true. I kind of missed it. I’d love to blame that I was on the west coast [of Australia], in the most isolated city on the planet, but I think Power Rangers really had reached every corner of the earth, so I don’t know, I just missed it! I had to find something to latch on to, which very easily became, ‘What does it mean to be a superhero? What does it mean to people in society to have a superhero that kids look up to?’ I thought, who do I look up to in my life? And for me it was people like my mom.
Little did young Montgomery know that a few years later, he would be playing the Red Ranger and becoming a part of a world he once didn’t know existed.
Unfortunately for him, the film didn’t really make a mark in the industry, bringing in $142 million on a budget of $120 million (via The Numbers). That’s only 1.2 times more than the money that went into it. Even the reviews weren’t kind and Rotten Tomatoes has given it a score of 51%. Montgomery’s performance, though, is considered to be kind of a standout with MSB Reviews crediting him for leading not only the team but also the movie.
Did Dacre Montgomery watch Power Rangers after getting the role?
After getting cast as the Red Ranger, you would think that Montgomery would be encouraged to watch some of the past additions to the franchise but this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Continuing the conversation with Heat Vision, the Stranger Things actor revealed that the film’s creators specifically told him not to bother watching the previous variations as this was going to be an origin story and a “complete reimagining.”
While Montgomery did watch a few bits and pieces here and there, he mostly stayed away from it to make sure he would be able to maintain his originality.
He said,
There was definitely incentive from the creators of the project not to focus so much on that, because it is an origin story, and it’s a complete reimagining. We were definitely encouraged to put our own twist on the characters and make them their own thing. I went and I watched bits and pieces and got a bit of an idea of that world, but there was definitely an encouragement not to do so, so I didn’t focus so heavily on it.
While Montgomery did not grow up with the heroes, he ended up becoming a part of its long-standing history, even if the film didn’t do wonders for the legacy.
Power Rangers is available to watch on Netflix.
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