Masters of the Universe Movie Will Be Faithful To 80s Show Promise Directors

Aaron and Adam Nee, co-directors of the highly-anticipated Masters of the Universe live-action adaptation, stated that their version would be faithful to the beloved 80s cartoon series. The original series, which was created to provide marketing for Mattel’s line of action figure toys, was a cultural phenomenon and had kids racing home after school every day to watch the animated adventures of “the most powerful man in the universe” (as well as racing to the toy isles for the most recent action figures).

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe followed the adventures of Prince Adam, who, upon holding up the magical Sword of Power and uttering the words “By the power of Grayskull,” transforms into Eternia’s greatest champion, He-Man, who uses his powers to defend the planet from the evil forces of Skeletor. The series led to a spin-off series, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, whose toy line was directed toward young girls instead of the boys that flocked to He-Man. A new live-action adaptation has been rumored and in and out of production for years, but Netflix finally has one secured in place and has tapped Aaron and Adam Nee to direct.

In an interview with Slash Film to promote their upcoming action-comedy, The Lost City, the directors make clear that they plan on keeping with the spirit of the original series and that it will be more akin to Thor: Ragnarok and Guardians of the Galaxy than Lord of the Rings.

AARON: And that’s what we are trying to hold onto is, what was that sparking inside of us, as kids? And so, we want that, at its core, that very basic human connection that we were feeling while not going, “Well, we’re grownups now. So we can’t really have a character named Ram-Man, we can’t really have Fisto.” Instead it’s like, “No, we’re going to have that.” How do you pull in like all of the kind of just wildness and craziness, but do it with love and affection?

It’s a wild, crazy property, and we wanted to keep it wild and crazy. Like, you had just wacky characters, but what we also wanted to keep is what it was to experience those toys and those cartoons as kids. Whereas kids, we took it completely seriously and trying to tap into, what was it that it was making us feel then? That empowerment that made us feel, and that sort of wide-eyed wonder of the incredible things that can happen, and the incredible worlds that you can encounter. And so we want that wildness, but also the sort of reverence and love of it, that we saw it with through the filter of our child eyes….

ADAM: But I think there’s also the side of it, it’s like being able to poke fun at the property as well. Like what [Taika Waititi] did in [“Thor: Ragnarok”]. I feel like you can love Thor, but also make fun of Thor at the same time and feel a joy in that. I think that we’re somewhere in the middle there, where there is reverence for it, but also you have to be able to make, you can’t take yourself too seriously.

AARON: Or I would say maybe not even so much poke fun, but have fun.

ADAM: Have fun with it.

It was announced earlier this year that West Side Story’s Kyle Allen had been cast in the lead role as He-Man, a casting decision that was met with a fair amount of skepticism online. Before West Side Story, Allen’s most notable role was Amazon Prime Video’s The Map of Tiny Perfect Things, neither project of which necessarily screams He-Man (Prince Adam, perhaps). He is currently starring in the romance film The In Between. He will soon be seen starring in the Peter Farrelly-directed The Greatest Beer Run Ever, opposite Zac Efron, Russel Crowe, and Bill Murray.

He-Man has seen a few different adaptations over the years. The only live-action adaptation was 1987’s Masters of the Universe, starring Dolph Lundgren, Frank Langella, Billy Barty, Meg Foster, Courteney Cox, and James Tolkan. The film was both a critical and box office disappointment, and it didn’t see another adaptation (not including the misstep that was The New Adventures of He-Man cartoon series in 1990) until Cartoon Network’s short-lived He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Most recently, Netflix doubled down on its He-Man content with two different animated series; the Kevin Smith-produced Masters of the Universe: Revelation and the CGI (and more kid-friendly) He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. 

Source: Slash Film