When the new movie was announced and Elizabeth Banks was cast as Rita, fans and casual viewers alike were shocked. A big Hollywood actress taking on the role of a character that was primarily known for cackling and having her lines dubbed over? What would she bring to the role? Well with the movie out now, the reaction has been mixed. Some praised her for bringing some cheesy fun to the more grounded movie while others think she wasn’t scary enough. Her early appearances in the film painted her as a dire threat but some would say she’s a little hard to take seriously when she’s munching on Krispy Kreme. Portraying Rita as both campy and scary was, “absolutely a conscious decision,” says Israelite, “Elizabeth and I talked a lot about (that) and we were a little scared.” He remembers that during filming, Banks tried a bunch of different ways of portraying the character. “There were versions of her that went too far and took you out of the movie and there were versions of her that felt too tame and didn’t feel old enough and we got a good balance.” Writer John Gatins says a lot of the cheesiness of that character came down to making the sure that they didn’t have little kids running and screaming out of the theater in fear. This recalls the controversy that surrounded Rita’s replacement on the original series, Lord Zedd. Introduced at the beginning of season two, Lord Zedd was a much scarier and more threatening villain that blew up the Rangers Zords’ right off the bat. Parents complained that he was too frightening and the show quickly toned him down into a more jokey character. Gatins believes that those types of complaints were very much on Saban’s mind when crafting the movie. They wanted the film to play both to the seven year old kids in the audience and the super fans. “We had to have her play both sides of that fence to a certain extent,” Gatins told us. “You want those scenes to be genuinely scary but the spirit of the show comes through and she’s like a little bit of a wacko.” Shamus Kelley really needs some Krispy Kreme now. Follow him on Twitter!
