Netflix Has Kyle Allen Ready to Play He-Man in a ‘Masters of the Universe’ Live-Action Movie
Allen, one of the actors from last year’s ‘West Side Story’, will have the "Power of Grayskull" for ‘The Lost City’ directors the Nee brothers.
'He-Man and the Masters of the Universe' 1980's Cartoon.
Like perma-grinning villain Skeletor’s evil schemes, the many attempts to make a new, live-action ‘Masters of the Universe’ movie have failed. Netflix thinks it can change that, taking on the rights to the characters and hiring actor Kyle Allen to play main hero He-Man.
This latest development comes as the streaming service grabbed the rights to make the film from Sony, which had been planning its own movie with Noah Centineo lined up as He-Man.
A quick primer for anyone who didn’t grow up with Mattel’s fantasy toy line from the 1980s: ‘Masters of the Universe’ is the story of Prince Adam and his heroic friends, who must defend the faraway land of Eternia from the machinations of Skeletor and a group of fellow evildoers. At stake is Castle Grayskull and the Power Sword, which transforms Adam into He-Man, helping him fight off the various threats.
A cartoon series called ‘He-Man and the Masters of the Universe’ was launched in 1985 to help sell the action figures, creating a pop culture phenomenon. It was infamously turned into a movie in 1987 starring Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and Frank Langella as Skeletor. That flopped at the box office, which scuttled a planned sequel.
Masters of the Universe
Sony was just the latest studio taking a crack at making a live-action adaptation of the toy series. Directors such as ‘Face/Off’s John Woo, ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Jon M. Chu and ‘Truth Or Dare’s Jeff Wadlow have been attached at one time or another, but the movie has always fallen apart.
Directing siblings Adam and Aaron Nee, the duo behind 2015’s indie movie ‘Band of Robbers’ were most recently attached to Sony’s attempt, working on the script with ‘Man Of Steel’s David S. Goyer. Since then, they’ve made adventure comedy ‘The Lost City’, starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, due out this year. The filmmakers are staying part of the package for the Netflix movie, re-writing their work alongside ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ Dave Callaham.
Sony is staying in the mix in one way, though – it’s holding on to the rights to distribute the movie in China, where Netflix doesn’t have a presence.
Netflix is all in on its deal with Mattel for He-Man and co, having already produced ‘Masters of the Universe: Revelation (developed by ‘Clerks’ filmmaker Kevin Smith as an update to the original concept), featuring Mark Hamill, Lena Headey, and Sarah Michelle Gellar among its voices. There’s also ‘He-Man and the Masters of the Universe’, which is a more traditional take on the tale, albeit one using 3D animation.
Kyle Allen on FX's 'American Horror Story'
Allen, who played Balkan in Steven Spielberg’s new version of ‘West Side Story’, also appeared in movies including ‘The Map of Tiny Perfect Things’ and on TV in ‘The Path’, and ‘American Horror Story’. He’ll no doubt be busy bulking up to play the muscular hero, as filming will start this summer.
