Power Rangers Beast Morphers is back on television, and fans are loving seeing their fave Rangers back in action. That goes for the villains too though, as Roxy, Blaze, and Scrozzle are part of the winning formula as well. ComicBook.com recently had the chance to speak to the person who brings Roxy to life every week Liana Ramirez, who has been killing it in Beast Morphers so far, but she’s also quite busy with other projects. That includes a new horror project called Star Light, and Ramirez gave us the lowdown on her role in the film and what fans can expect from it, though don’t worry, as we also talk plenty of Power Rangers too.
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“So Star Light is about a group of teenage kids who find a celebrity on the side of the road,” Ramirez said. “She was in a bad car accident, and they take her in to take care of her, and once they do really crazy bad supernatural things are happening. It’s a horror film and it is very, very intense.”
Ramirez doesn’t typically seek out horror movies when she’s just watching things for fun (something I can absolutely identify with), but that also meant the reactions were incredibly authentic.
“The funny thing is I’m usually super down for anything in my career act-wise,” Ramirez said. “In my normal day to day life, I will avoid watching horror movies like the plague. But the idea of being in a horror was super awesome. I’m like, well, if they scare me, at least the reactions will be incredibly realistic. Because I’m scared at absolutely everything. Being a part of the project and being offered the role is that dream come true. We filmed the project out in Kentucky, and I met my best friend on the project. So it was just like a win/win. It was probably like the most incredible filming experience of my life other than Power Rangers. I mean, it was unreal.”
“It was so cool and so challenging,” Ramirez said. “Casey is my character in the movie, and she used to date one of my hardest characters I’ve ever played. I recently saw Star Light and I’m so incredibly proud of not only my performance but everybody’s performances. It was a lot. It really was. We had to go very deep.”
As for what you can expect, you’ll need to brace for some gut punches.
“Oh my gosh,” Ramirez said. “I think what’s going to surprise people the most is how impacted you are in the sense of the emotions that hit you after watching it, because whenever I watched it I was like, “Oh.” It felt like a gut punch to the stomach. That’s how I felt when filming it, and that’s how I felt when watching it. So it’s going to be interesting to see how everybody else reacts because everybody reacts in a different way.”
Ramirez has also been busy at work on a project called Runaways, which she filmed with her brother, and you can definitely plan on seeing more from that series.
“So my brother is currently part of a stunt team in Los Angeles, which is absolutely crazy because he’s 13 years old,” Ramirez said. “He started training with these people over the past year, and as soon as I came back from Rangers they’re like, ‘Hey, let’s all work together.’ And so we just filmed a project that we could put online for people to enjoy. And people have really enjoyed it, to the point of like we’re currently making part two and just finding time and scheduling that because everyone’s busy and working on projects. It’s just something that we do for fun to give people some really awesome action-packed content because well, we all work in stunts and we love doing stunts.”
Ranger fans might have seen the video where Ramirez was introduced to her very first action figure, something her friends surprised her with, making it unforgettable. “It was like the most perfect time ever seeing it,” Ramirez said. “I wouldn’t change it to the world. It was so cool. Yeah, it’s still really weird having that sitting on a shelf in my room and I’m looking over like, ‘Oh, that’s a six-inch version of me. That’s weird. Cool, cool.’”
Thanks to her role as Roxy, Ramirez has noticed more people recognize her out and about and remembers one surreal experience in particular.
“Yeah, for sure. I’m definitely starting to get recognized, which is a really interesting point in my career,” Ramirez said. “I’m very thankful for it. The funniest one so far was actually at that same Comic-Con where I saw Austin. There was this guy who came up to me and he was in this gigantic, super scary clown costume and he taps on my shoulder and removed his mask, and he shyly goes, ‘Hi. Can I have a picture with you?’ And I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, sure. Of course.’ It was the funniest thing. I’m like, ‘Oh gosh, I’m scared. But this is super fun and exciting.’ And like I could clearly see I was making this person’s day, but at the same time I’m like, ‘Your costume’s super scary, man.’”
Ramirez already finished filming Beast Morphers alongside the rest of the cast, but while filming is done, fans still have a year and a half worth of content to get through before the next iteration begins. That’s a bit wild for Ramirez, but that also means despite no longer filming the show, she’s not saying goodbye to Ranger Nation anytime soon, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Absolutely not, and I don’t necessarily want to leave either,” Ramirez said. “Of course I want to move on to do bigger and better projects in the future, but it’s going to be one of those things where this is kind of where I got my start. This is my home and it’s forever going to be my home, and I’m forever going to be grateful for it and love where I came from. So hell yeah, it’s going to be part of me forever. It’s such an amazing franchise to be a part of. Are you kidding me? Everything it stands for, all the cool people involved. It’s just, it’s amazing.”
We’ll have plenty more to come from our interview with Liana Ramirez, but make sure to check out Star Light later this year. You can also catch Ramirez on Beast Morphers every Saturday, and you can hit me up on Twitter @MattAguilarCB for all things Power Rangers!
