Mumbai, Filmmaker Travis Knight says he was a huge fan of Mattel’s iconic sword-and-sorcery toy franchise “Masters of the Universe” and that’s why he wanted to give audiences a faithful adaptation with his feature film take on the series.
His film, “Masters of the Universe”, is the second live-action film based on the popular toys after 1987’s Dolph Lundren-starrer movie of the same title.
In the movie, actor Nicholas Galitzine takes on the popular role of Prince Adam aka He-Man, a character that has fans all over the world, including India.
As a filmmaker, Knight, who earlier directed the “Transformers” spin-off movie “Bumblebee”, said it was important for him to understand what had made the toy franchise such an enduring cultural phenomenon.
“Anytime you’re looking at adapting any kind of property, whether it’s a book, a video game, a toy line or a cartoon, it is important that you understand what was special and unique about it to begin with.
“Ideally, the people who are involved in creating that adaptation are passionate and love the material,” Knight told PTI in a virtual interview.
The director said he has adored the world and characters of “Masters of the Universe” since childhood.
“I loved this stuff growing up… And the same was true with so many of our cast and crew who had their own history, who grew up with these characters. I think you can feel that when you watch the movie, there is a joy, there’s a passion,” the director said.
“Masters of the Universe” follows Prince Adam, who has been living on Earth as an ordinary man with a corporate job. He is drawn back to the fictional planet of Eternia by the Sword of Power, only to discover that his homeland has been devastated under the rule of Skeletor, played by Oscar winner Jared Leto.
To save his family and restore his world, Adam teams up with his trusted allies and embraces his destiny as He-Man, the most powerful man in the universe.
Knight said the new film draws from various iterations of the franchise, including the 1987 live-action movie, but does so selectively to create a cohesive narrative.
“Internally, it’s wildly inconsistent in terms of the mythology and the origins and the lore, it’s all over the place. So, you do have to choose a lane, you do have to decide, what is the story that we’re telling and how do we best tell it?
“But it was important to me and to a lot of my collaborators, that we honour the legacy of this incredible world by drawing, in a thoughtful and tasteful way, from the various versions of the IP.”
At a time when filmmaking is often driven by trends, Knight said he prefers to focus on storytelling rather than external influences.
“I think trends come and go. In the end, that’s not something that I can influence in any way. The only thing that I can try to do is to tell a compelling story, create a movie that has heart, fun, has incredible action sequences, and that makes you feel joy,” he said.
“I’m proud that we succeeded, whether a certain film comes out and successful or not, or trends of movies are successful or not, that’s completely outside of my control. I can only try to control the movie that we made, and I’m very, very proud of it,” said the director, who is also the founder and CEO of stop-motion animation studio Laika.
“Masters of the Universe”, which released in India on Friday, also features Camila Mendes, Idris Elba, Alison Brie, Morena Baccarin, and Kristen Wiig.
Sony Pictures India has released the film here in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam.
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