Originally published April 15, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
If there is one film in production at the moment with more negativity coming from the fanbase, it’s the Michael Bay produced Ninja Turtles. Since the film’s announcement, fans have reacted badly to everything put forward including Bay himself, changing of the origins and the leaked script featuring Colonel Schrader.
Production has now begun on the reboot and The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Alan Ritchson, who is playing Raphael, to talk about how it’s going so far.
“It’s been an interesting process, this live-action-motion-capture thing. There’s just a lot of technology involved so there’s some kinks to work out. So we’ve had some trial runs, we’ve started shooting some. We’re also in this phase right now that is sort of developmental….We’re learning a lot of the fight choreography. We’ve got these unbelievable stunt trainers that work us every day to the bone. It’s been a great process. We’ll pick back up with principal photography soon.”
So with the cameras almost ready to roll, what does Ritchson think of the overwhelmingly negative reaction to the project?
“The frustrating thing for me since I’ve signed on is that you hear that it’s already got a reputation, this movie that hasn’t come out yet. I think people assume they know what it’s going to be about, and those people are wrong. The assumptions, everything you read online is wrong and it’s frustrating because you want to tell everybody how great it is, and you can’t really say why, but it is. It’s so much better than people think and it’s going to look way better than anybody can imagine. I can’t wait for people to see this. I think it’s going to live up to and exceed everybody’s boyhood dreams of being a Ninja Turtle. I grew up with it too and I want to see it come to life in the best way possible.”
Ninja Turtles also features Megan Fox as Apil O’Neill, Jeremy Howard as Donatello, Pete Ploszek as Leonardo, Noel Fisher as Michelangelo, and Will Arnett in an unspecified role. The film will be directed by Jonathan Liebsman and is set for release June 6th 2014.
