Posted in: CW, Preview, TV | Tagged: Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup, cw, Dove Cameron, pilot, powerpuff

Powerpuff: Dove Cameron Discusses CW Pilot Reshoot, Bubbles & More

Published Wed, 09 Jun 2021 12:32:16 -0500

Last month, we learned that The CW had asked writers and executive producers Diablo Cody and Heather Regnier to rework the pilot for Powerpuff, a modern sequel series take on the beloved animated series "The Powerpuff Girls." Chloe Bennet (Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Dove Cameron (Liv and Maddie), and Yana Perrault (Jagged Little Pill) are Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup in a modern, live-action take that finds the pint-sized Powerpuff superteam now disillusioned twenty-somethings who resent having lost their childhood to crime-fighting but finding themselves needing to reunite to save the day one more time. Joining the trio are Donald Faison (Scrubs), Nicholas Podany (Hart of Dixie), Robyn Lively (Light As A Feather), Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants). Now, Cameron is offering some additional details on the pilot's status and what it means for a possible series green light in an interview with ET's Katie Krause– here are some of the highlights.

"I can't speak on it yet because they are still changing. Such a funny thing," Cameron explained, before putting to rest at least one rumor out there. "They didn't decide to rework the pilot because the script leaked. I just need to say that that wasn't what happened. We had to reshoot it anyway for a couple of reasons." As for the buzz that the Powerpuff script was "too campy," Cameron doesn't exactly push back on the claim- instead, emphasizing how important the franchise is and how many folks are looking for it to work. "It's a really big piece of IP, and it's tonally very specific. Like getting it right, making everybody happy, and also making sure that it translates. It's so specific. To modernize it and to make it fit like, a bunch of different things that don't normally go together, it's just kind of like a puzzle piece. So we're removing some elements and we're replacing others. I think the script is going to get another whack, and it's just going to be a slightly different approach but everything else is going to stay the same," she continued.

Having "never reshot a pilot before," Cameron is actually pretty excited for the opportunity for a do-over now that she's more comfortable with certain aspects of the role. "I'm actually very excited at the thought of it because I was texting the girls and we're like, 'Oh. Well, now we know what we're doing. What an amazing thing,'" she explained. "You never get to do that as an actor, go back and be like, 'What would I have done differently?'" For Cameron, it's all about getting the project in front of the fans because she believes they'll like what they're putting together. "It's just exactly what I would want it to be, honestly. I cannot say enough good things about the show and the character. So I'm very, very excited. I'm very excited to have everybody see how it's [coming] together. I mean, what is more fun than flying around Townsville and having it look like Townsville and fighting… I can't say what we're fighting, but what's more fun than that? That's the coolest job ever," Cameron revealed.

Not long after the news came down that the pilot was being retooled, several pages of what is reportedly the script from the pilot leaked online- and to say that the response was not positive would be a righteous understatement. Amid all of that, The CW's Mark Pedowitz expanded further on the network's call for the pilot to go back to the drawing boards. "The reason we do pilots is sometimes things miss, this was just a miss," Pedowitz explained during Tuesday's network Upfronts call. "We believe in the cast completely, we believe in Diablo and Heather, the writers… in this case, the pilot didn't work."

Revealing that the original pilot "might've felt a little too campy," Pedowitz stressed that the pilot needs to be deserving of its source material when it comes to quality- so getting it right matters. "You learn things and you test things out. In this case, we felt let's take a step back and go back to the drawing board because this is a powerful property, it has engaged a lot of interest and we want to get it right before we put it out," he explained.

Based on the Cartoon Network animated series of the same name created by Craig McCracken, the live-action pilot was written and executive produced by Cody and Regnier. Executive produced by Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and David Madden with Erika Kennair producing, Maggie Kiley directed and executive produced the pilot, with Warner Bros. Television producing.

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