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erniesbrainfreeze · 6 years

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH ZOE ROBINS, NINJA STEEL WHITE RANGER: by pearl, co-moderator of @erniesbrainfreeze

The lovely & talented Zoe Robins, who plays Hayley Foster in Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel, was kind enough to agree to an exclusive interview for erniesbrainfreeze with me and we spent almost four hours talking about Hayley’s backstory, the romance between Calvin & Hayley, her favorite moments with the cast, and how she got started with acting!

Below the cut is our conversations, my questions/comments and her answers. And thank you to those in the fandom who gave me amazing questions to ask her!

We hope you enjoy the incredible behind-the-scenes information Zoe has shared with us and don’t forget to watch Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel every Saturday on Nickelodeon at 12/11 central!

PEARL: So the first question is about Hayley, she seems like a really fun character to play even if she doesn’t always get a lot of focus. What’s something about Hayley’s character that you have in your head or in your personal notes that we might not know from the show itself?

ZOE: Ooo great question! I decided early on that Hayley’s love for animals stems from her experiences of always being surrounded by them from a young age. She was raised on a small ranch with her mom and younger brother after her parent’s divorce. They were almost self-sustainable. Her caring nature comes from her mother who dedicated her life to sustainable living and caring for the planet.

Her empathy and compassion for all things come from the unconditional love and bond she has with her younger brother, who recently came out as gay.

PEARL: Oh, I love that so much! I always thought of Hayley as being a flower child raised by environmentalists so her being raised on a ranch is so cool! And so much love for the idea of her little brother, I wish Power Rangers would explore that some day for real.

Question by Jaz @elizabethdelgados: If there was an episode that you could have solely about Hayley, what would you make it about? How would you incorporate her backstory into a Power Rangers-esque plot?

ZOE: I would love an episode to be just a solely Hayley focus. She hasn’t had that yet - and there’s obviously so much more to her than just being Calvin’s girlfriend and a part of the ranger team.

If anything it would be about her and Kody, or maybe a situation where she goes above and beyond with helping someone and actually makes things worse. I think one of her weaknesses is that she gives too much of herself so learning to put herself first and valuing the process of self love would be fun to explore, and a great lesson for children! And adults as well!

PEARL: That’s so true and it would work great since a lot of the other rangers have had their flaws highlighted in various focus episodes. And we all love Kody so more of him is always good.

In fact, a question by Chipster @kimberlyannharts: Since having an animal as a side character is pretty uncommon for Power Rangers, how did you prepare for working alongside Kody? Did you have to take time to do classes or exercises with him before the show and how did you approach that as an actor?

ZOE: I’ve never owned a dog in my life so initially I was really nervous! We had a few chances to meet and play before we started and really it was just about us being comfortable around each other. The trainers were amazing and were always nearby!

I would have treats in my pocket or in my hand if he (Jax was his real name) needed to come to me in the scene or do something wild like wake me up by licking my face in the forest. We actually had peanut butter and bits of raw meat under my fringe so he would lick my face in that scene. It was nasty and I smelled so bad hahah

PEARL: Wow, that sounds gross but also your dedication is inspiring! I’ve also never owned a dog so I don’t think I could do that. But it came out great in show, I love watching Hayley and Kody together.

Speaking of your fringe, a lot of us were wondering, since Hayley’s hair is a lot more relaxed than your hairstyle at your Power Morphicon reveal 2 years ago, how did you or the stylists come up with that style? I know they made Chrysti [Ane] dye her hair blonde (I guess for hair color diversity?) so did they also ask you to relax your curls? (question by @hunterbradley)

ZOE: It was production’s idea, I would’ve loved to have kept the curls but I guess maintaining the look like the one they chose is much easier! And yes when we were all initially cast, we all looked very similar. Tan/brown skin tones with dark hair, so I think they were worried that kids might not be able to tell us apart lol. I would love to see a ranger with dreads or braids one day.

PEARL: Well, that’s fair, but there’s just so little natural hair representation in kids shows. I think there’s only been one ranger with dreads and one with an afro, both before the current era.*

ZOE: Absolutely! I would’ve been more than happy to rock my natural hair for representation.

PEARL: A question by Tabitha @operationoverdrive: It’s a sad fact that only five black actresses have played power rangers in the past 25 years (and you’re the fifth), however that is the perfect amount for a teamup! Have you had a chance to meet any of these actresses and how has it been to meet previous rangers in general? Did they give you any advice on being a ranger?

ZOE: Yes, I have, and they were beyond lovely. Camille [Hyde] was the first I met and she was so sweet! I met Karan [Ashley] at Comic Con and then Morphicon and Nakia [Burrise] as well. Everyone is just so great and for the most part the advice has been to make the most of every moment. They’ve all welcomed us to the “family” from the moment we were announced which has been so special.

PEARL: That’s so sweet! I love Karan and Nakia so much, they’re always so genuine and wonderful to their fans.

Going a little back to Hayley, she mostly sticks to Calvin and Preston for the majority of the series. Was there any cast member or guest star you wished you would’ve gotten a chance to work with more? (question also by Tabitha)

ZOE: I would’ve loved more scenes directly with Kelson [Henderson]. I couldn’t speak more highly of him. He’s the most professional, talented and down-to-earth person I’ve ever worked with and he’s a wonderful man too. He is so patient and had a great way of calming us most days when we were in the 11th hour of shooting and slowly losing the plot. Haha! I probably learned the most from him - his tenacity and gratefulness for the work grounded me so much.

Chrysti and I had a lot of fun with the Hayley and Sarah episode with their parents! It would’ve been nice to have more female driven episodes!

PEARL: That’s so sweet! Everyone has only high praise for Kelson, he’s such a legend on this show, I’m so glad he ended up being on Ninja Steel. And we loved that Hayley/Sarah episode! Their cute little handshake/hair flip thing was adorable and their dynamic was so fun and unique.

ZOE: Hahaha we put that in there ourselves! There’s a lot of stuff we added in the hopes that they’d make the edit and surprisingly a good amount of it did!

PEARL: That makes it even cuter! I love all the little things you guys add in the show it helps make the rangers so much brighter as characters.

Speaking of, Nico [Greetham] and Chrysti both recently took to Twitter to talk about how there was originally a love triangle/breakup storyline planned for Calvin/Hayley and Sarah, but that you and Chrysti spoke to Chip [Lynn] and they decided not to do it - a great choice, as we all love Calvin/Hayley. But we were wondering, did that plot ever get to script and what do you think Hayley’s feelings would’ve been on a potential Calvin/Sarah relationship? Would she have eventually moved on as well? Maybe even with one of the other boys on the team, although that would definitely be awkward, but Hayley has had focus eps with Preston and Levi both and those dynamics are really fun and interesting.

ZOE: We were told very early on with the story lines and both Chrysti and I were really confused about where they were going with it and concerned about the message being put out. We arranged a meeting with Chip where he really listened to us and I’m assuming saw how much we cared about the relationships within the whole cast. Women are constantly being pitted against each other in society and we were just not having it in our show.

Ultimately, Hayley would be fine, lol. Of course Calvin is her best friend and she loves him but she has joy and love for many other things in her life too! It would take some time for them to get over a breakup and remain in the same team and deal with the enormous responsibility of saving the world (lol) but those two have a lot of respect for each other so I think they would be able to stay friends.

Also LOL! I’ve seen some comments about the chemistry between Hayley and Levi. There are a lot of eps with Preston and Hayley together too. Honestly I think it’s because I just have so much fun with them both and love them very much as people so that probably translated on screen. I don’t think any of the rangers in our season would switch up partners haha

PEARL: I’m so glad Chip listened because yeah, two girls fighting over a guy is almost never a good storyline and it’s so predictable in media nowadays. Although I personally love romance & drama so I really enjoyed the ep with Calvin getting jealous over Hayley and Preston even though there was nothing between them haha. And that’s so cute how much Calvin and Hayley love each other, I think it really comes across on screen! You have great chemistry with the whole cast of course but you and Nico play off each other so well.

Have you and Nico ever discussed how Calvin and Hayley met and ended up in a relationship? They’ve been dating for two years by season 2 but was it a childhood friends to lovers thing or did they meet in high school, what do you think the start of their romance was like?

ZOE: For drama, yeah, I can see why they thought that could work but it’s just so contrasting to the tone of our show it just didn’t make sense. I’m glad production listened too! Because it was in something called “The Power Rangers Bible” which had storylines that we were told were set in stone and could not be changed!

And yes we have! Though I have absolutely no idea where my journal is for Hayley so I won’t be able to say what we agreed on and discussed 100%. I think we decided that they had been friends for a few years before dating and Calvin secretly crushed on Hayley for a while. I think we went out for a drive in his truck to a beach one night to watch the sunset and he asked Hayley out. Nico can correct me if I’m wrong but I’m sure I’m not pulling it out of nowhere! Haha

PEARL: That’s the cutest thing ever! You know, usually in Power Rangers they would just show the crush part (see: Tyler and Shelby, or Jake and Gia) without bothering to show the relationship part so it’s really cool that we started with Calvin and Hayley already established. But I would’ve loved to have seen that sunset scene. We all love Calvin and Hayley so much, their focus episodes are some of the best and most charming eps of the show.

ZOE: We really wanted to have flashbacks and conversations that alluded to the start of their romance but I guess it’s fun that the audience can fill it in for themselves :)

Thank you! Nico and I worked really really hard on the relationship and spent a lot of time getting to know each other off set before we started filming - and then obviously during the duration of filming. As a result we became really close, so our job was easy! The chemistry was already there!

PEARL: That’s so cute! The effort you guys put in really shows, even in the background scenes, how Calvin softens whenever Hayley is near him and how she’s always touching him... a lot of us are romantics at heart in this fandom so we love seeing that.

ZOE: Haha I love it! There’s so much opportunity to sneak those things in as the Rangers stand around as a group a lot! So we wanted to make it as believable as possible

PEARL: We’ve talked a lot about Hayley and I love all the new stuff we’ve learned about her but we also wanted to know more about you! Zali @2014federalbudget wanted to know: Being a kiwi, do you prefer to work at home in New Zealand or abroad in America/Canada? And are there are any classic New Zealand shows that you would be interested in being a part of?

ZOE: Working at home would be a lot easier as I’m pretty familiar with the way things work over here and ideally I want to be near family. Unfortunately our industry is so small and diversity is still an issue, so I’m finding I’m auditioning for a lot more projects overseas, mainly in America. I would’ve loved to be on Outrageous Fortune for a bit. It looked like a lot of fun and many talented actors that I look up to (Antonia Prebble, Claire Chitham, Sophie Henderson, Nicole Whippy, just to name a few) were on there and do amazing work.

PEARL: That makes sense, and that would be so cool! Did you know Antonia Prebble was on Power Rangers too?

ZOE: Yes I did! She was also on a show called The Tribe! I was in a remake of the show when I was twelve so I’ve been a fan of her work for a while!

PEARL: That’s amazing! I love the connections between Kiwi ranger actors, there are so many of you guys!

Kels (@rltarepulsas on twitter) asked a related question: Was there a role you saw growing up that made you want to act?

ZOE: It was Dakota Fanning in a role.. it may have been in I am Sam or Charlotte’s Webb - I can’t actually remember the specifics. But I do remember watching her and thinking “Oh that’s it. That’s the thing I want to do.”

PEARL: Dakota Fanning is super talented, that’s so cool! We also loved you on the Shannara Chronicles - how was that experience like and how was filming a more teen-oriented show different from a kids show like Power Rangers?

ZOE: Oh thank you! That was my first big international project and I was super anxious going into it but I had such a great time. The people involved were awesome. Very talented NZ actors and from overseas - Austin [Butler] is one of the sweetest people you could meet. I love doing fantasy too, and my character Zora is so much cooler than I am! Haha! I had to have archery training for that which was a lot of fun.

PEARL: Archery training sounds hardcore but then you also went through PR’s stunt training so I guess you can do anything!

We are all super excited to see you in more projects after PR! Ivory @lunarskye wanted to know if there are any projects you’ve been working on currently and if you can tell us anything about how they’re going?

ZOE: Thank you! At the moment I’m just enjoying being home after being in LA for over a month. With the down time I’m hoping to finally start writing, I have a few stories that I want to tell. But I’m auditioning for projects a lot of the time :)

PEARL: Oh, you’re a writer too? That’s so cool, what kind of stories do you write? Is it like scripts or do you prefer novel form?

ZOE: I’m not actually! Haha I just have some experiences and stories that I want to share. And they would be scripts. I definitely want to work behind the scenes as well as act :)

PEARL: Either way, that’s awesome! Did you get to do anything behind the scenes on Power Rangers? I know Peter [Sudarso] said he would pitch scripts to Chip occasionally and he even got to write an episode once.

ZOE: It’s something I’ve never thought that I could do but I’ve been so inspired lately to say something that it’s only a matter of time until I give in lol

Chip and the production team were great about that actually, in that they fully invited us to basically intern - be it shadowing directors if we wanted or submit scripts etc. Honestly I can’t speak for the whole cast but I do know we were super tired after working 6 days a week and there wasn’t much more we could give of ourselves when the week was over. It really was like an endurance test and I think for the most part we chose to focus on the task at hand and look after ourselves the best we could. Which meant on our day off we would relax and do whatever we needed to refresh ourselves. And yes, Peter’s episode was actually amazing, I hope he continues with that as well.

PEARL: Ah, that makes sense but it’s really cool that they let you do that! Speaking of the cast and your downtime, Kat @powerprincesses wanted to know, with you and Jordi [Webber] being the kiwis of the cast, was there any sort of culture clash with you guys? Did you take them out to tour New Zealand at any point and show them the sights?

ZOE: We had a few bonding trips before we started, one was heading out to a beautiful west coast beach called Piha together. We just spent time together and practised our morph on the sand lol it was cute!

Chip had an evil idea of picking us up super early in the morning a week or so before filming, to drive a few hours out of Auckland to do the Waitomo caves. Look them up, they’re extraordinary! You end up abseiling into this cave, and trudging through mud and water to see waterfalls and the amazing cave formations - and the glow worms! I’m pretty sure it was on our day off so none of us wanted to go as we were tired from training and all we wanted to do was sleep and prep. But Chip was right, it was one of the best times we had together.

Jordi took a few of the boys to his home in Rotorua, where they met his family and were introduced to some parts of the Maori culture. I know that was really special for them too.

PEARL: That all sounds so amazing! Those caves must have been seriously magical to witness. And that’s so cool about Jordi and the boys, I wish we got more of his Maori culture in the show, it would be really neat to teach more people about that. I think he’s only our second or third Maori actor on Power Rangers.

ZOE: It would’ve been super cool! But for some reason they didn’t have any New Zealand characters in our season!

PEARL: I noticed, that was so weird, especially since they let Chase not only be kiwi on the show in Dino Charge but he got whole episodes devoted to his New Zealand culture, including one where his little sister was part of a Maori dance group. But I guess since Ninja Steel is an anniversary season they wanted to take it back to the show’s American high school theme roots?

ZOE: I’m not sure! I think it has something to do with the tax incentives here where international productions have had to somehow showcase New Zealand for tourism benefits and have a certain amount of New Zealanders as cast. I think that’s changed cause we didn’t do that at all lol

PEARL: I definitely remember reading about a New Zealand grant starting with Dino Charge, yeah. I think it’s mentioned in the credits of each episode too. I think Peter also once told me that just having two kiwi actors in the cast was enough so maybe that’s what changed?

ZOE: I’m not sure. I remember Chip telling me that Jordi and I weren’t cast because of that as it didn’t apply anymore :) Makes sense as the new rangers are all American!

PEARL: Well that’s interesting... I’m glad you guys were cast anyway! It’s really so much fun watching you all each Saturday, I can’t express how much I love Ninja Steel.

I should wrap this up as I think I’ve asked a lot of questions already, so just one last one: Is there anything you can tell us about this last batch of upcoming Ninja Steel episodes, things to look forward to in general? Anything exciting for Hayley coming up?

ZOE: Us too :) Thanks so much! It means the world to me to have amazing fans like you. Thank you! And yes, I don’t want to give away too much but I think the best stuff with Hayley is yet to come xxxx

#power rangers #ninja steel #zoe robins #cast #ebf interview

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