The new live action ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ movie has had fans on their guard almost from the beginning, with the announcement that controversial ‘Transformers’ director Michael Bay would be producing and early rumors that rather than mutated terrestrial turtles, these heroes on a half shell would actually turn out to be aliens from outer space.
With the newest incarnation a solid hit on Nickelodeon, a new generation of Turtle fans has arrived, but will the new film measure up to expectations? You can witness the full trailer for yourself below:
At least the Turtles themselves look neat! Some are worried that Shredder has been altered to a Caucasian scientist of some sort, one that possibly had a hand in the creation of the Turtles.
Screenwriter Andre Nemec made a few comments about the film and his approach to combining the various incarnations of the characters from their lengthy history:
I did have the old Eastman and Laird black and whites in the office. I knew very well the cartoons and the movies… I was a fan enough to know the differences between the original comics, the cartoon and the various iterations of the movies. [This movie] does a really great job of taking you through all the different iterations and how they’ve been drawn and how they’ve been rendered. Sort of what their attitudes are. Taking the job was less daunting and more just the opportunity to play in a really amazing sandbox with Michelangelo and Donatello and Leonardo and Raphael. It was a lot of fun to sort of break it out and find our own take and our own version of what we think the turtles are.
He added:
You know, the canon of the turtles, in all their iterations, always seems to harken back to a being a story about family, a story of friendship and a story about brothers. I think that, ultimately, when you look at all the different stories, whether it’s the [Eastman]/Laird comic or the cartoon now or the cartoon from the late ’80s, or the movies where they’re in the suits, it really always boils back down to being a story about brothers. That really was the most driving principle for us, making sure that that element was always a central component of the movie.
They’ve all been pretty consistent over the years. Amazingly, they’re all pretty well represented by the weapons they use. Michelangelo has always been the freewheeling nun-chucks guy. Donatello has the bo staff, which is a simple but complicated weapon. He’s the tech guy. Leonardo has the swords of a leader and Raphael carries these big, brutish sais, which are really about doing the maximum destruction in the shortest amount of time. They have always, in the canon, lived by those principles. They’re four individuals who are individuals all alone, but, combined, really make one person, which makes them really interesting to watch. They sort of make their decisions, not to get too heady about it, but when those brothers are interacting, it’s almost like watching one person come to terms with the direction they’re going to move in, whether it’s left or right.
So it sounds like Nemec is a fan and was careful to be respectful of the various takes on the Turtles of the past. Now how much of that makes it into the final film remains to be seen. But do Nemec’s comments make you more or less excited to see the new live action spin on these heroes? Comment below!
‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ is directed by Jonathan Leibsman, produced by Michael Bay and stars Megan Fox, Alan Ritchson, Jeremy Howard, Pete Ploszek, Noel Fisher, Will Arnett, Danny Woodburn and William Fichtner. It is set to hit theaters on August 8th, 2014.
Source: Coming Soon
