Netflix is producing a live-action adaptation of the classic 80s toy line and cartoon series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. That film is being helmed by Adam and Aaron Nee (The Lost City) and like the rest of the He-Man fans out there, I’m curious to see how they will bring this Master of the Universe movie to life.
Well, during a recent interview with ScreenRant, they talked about their approach to handling the material and the importance of doing it right and making sure the audience is invested in Eternia:
“It’s so important to us that we don’t shortchange this material. This is a huge movie, but it feels like it’s our baby. It feels like we’ve got the the kind of closeness and affection that we would have for an indie project. It’s so important to us that we get to take the audience to Eternia in a way where it feels like a rich, well-developed real place, like you are going to a real world and experiencing a real culture. Then also just having the kind of attention to detail for the adventure elements and all of those things and the costuming and the build time for all of those things, nothing is rushed, it’s [being] done right.”
Adam Nee said that they hope they are able to capture the “fun and color and bright and vibrance and the empowerment that it gave little kids.” It’s also explained that they are treating the film as an origin story.
West Side Story actor Kyle Allen is taking on the role of He-Man and his role is described as “an orphan named Adam who discovers he is a prince destined to be the savior of a faraway land. He must quickly learn of his power and the importance of saving his true home from an evil force.”
Aaron Nee previously shared that they want to keep things wild and crazy like the original animated series, and likened the film they are making to Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok. He said:
“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 that, 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.
“Those things [Masters of the Universe properties] weren’t just huge successes because of clever marketing or something like that. It was tapping into something primal, something fundamental about us as kids. Whether the creators did it accidentally or out of brilliance doesn’t matter. It was tapping into something. 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?”
I would love nothing more than for this film to turn out to be an incredibly awesome fantasy epic! We’ll just have to wait and see if these guys have what it takes to pull it off.