As well as helming Transformers: Age of Extinction, filmmaker Michael Bay is also involved with bringing another classic 80s kids property to the big screen next year, serving as producer on Jonathan Leibesman’s live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot. Speaking to Parade, cult favourite William Fichtner (Elysium, The Dark Knight) has offered up a few words about the film, which will see him tormenting the Heroes in a Half-Shell as the evil Shredder:
“If you grew up in the 1980s and Turtles wasn’t a part of your life, you must have been living under a rock. It was just a huge part of everybody’s existence, particularly kids. I remember seeing other Turtle films and cartoons, and they were all kind of bouncy and fun. That’s not this movie. [Laughs] This is the new Turtles. I had an awesome time working on it. I think the stamp, from a producer standpoint, that Michael Bay brings and the feel and the look that he wants you to get is going to be unlike any Turtles you’ve ever seen. This is live action. These turtles are out there. They’re incredible looking. It truly is. It’s unlike any Turtles you’ve seen and it’s unlike any Shredder you’ve seen. I think Megan [Fox] is the right woman in the right role at the right time playing April. The first time that I heard about it — Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — I was like, ‘Oh, wow. The Ninja Turtles,’ but I certainly finished the project thinking, ‘Wow! I’m really glad I was a part of that.'”
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is set for release on August 8th 2014 in North America and October 17th 2014 in the UK, with a cast that also includes Megan Fox (Transformers) as April O’Neil, Alan Ritchson (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) as Raphael, Noel Fisher (Battle Los Angeles) as Michelangelo, Danny Woodburn (Mirror Mirror) as Splinter, Jeremy Howard (How the Grinch Stole Christmas) as Donatello, Pete Ploszek (Parks and Recreation) as Leonardo, and Will Arnett (Arrested Development) as April’s cameraman Vernon Fenwick.
Originally published December 17, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
