Peter Laird Talks about the New TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES Movie

by Joey Paur



As you know last week we announced that a new live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie was official, and that it is scheduled to be released in theaters 2011. I am pretty pumped up about this new Ninja Turtles reboot. I like where they want to take the story. I don't know if you ever read the original TMNT comic books but they are a bit darker than the cartoon and movies that have been made. Although the CGI animated movie was actually done very well. Producer and creator Peter Laird tells us a few things about the movie that I know you will be interested in hearing.  Here are is what he has to say about the return of Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo to the big screen.

“I can say that at this point there are a lot of positive feelings about a ‘Batman Begins’-style ‘reboot,’ which would, of necessity, include a retelling of the Turtles’ origin story. Having said that, I would also be into an all-new story, if it was decided that that was a more desirable direction. Either way is fine with me, to be honest!”


I think the ninja turtles would work perfectly in the type of story atmosphere he is talking about. He goes on to share some specific story points that us fans will be happy to hear.

“Simply telling the story of what happened in the first issue of the ‘TMNT’ comic book would be a pretty short movie, so I suspect other things from the Turtles’ history in the comics might be brought into it. I would not be unhappy to somehow see the tale of Baxter Stockman and the robotic ‘mousers’ folded into this movie, as well as some elements possibly setting up the TCRI connection for a possible sixth (or seventh) movie. But I think I’m getting a little ahead of myself there.”


Wow! Already thinking about a 6th and 7th movie are we? Well if it makes money then why the hell not!? Laird goes onto say that Shredder would be a necessity for any TMNT origin story, and we will also see the lovely April O'Neil and our favorite non turtle hero Casey Jones. Now if they decided to add Usagi Yojimbo in the mix then we could really geek out. Hopefully they eventually get around to it. This new TMNT movie will also be a mixture of Live-action and CGI animation.

“The basic idea, as I understand it, is to do an all live action shoot, with actors and stuntmen in full Turtle suits. To add expressiveness to the Turtles’ faces which would be difficult if not impossible to get with animatronics and/or puppetry, there would be ‘face replacement,’ with CGI Turtle faces superimposed on the live action performers’ heads.”

“This technology has been proven to be incredibly effective if done correctly. Look at the character of Davey Jones in the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movies, with his mass of writhing tentacles… an incredible effect.”


Why yes it was, and I think that this is the best way they can go about bringing us a new 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle' movie. I am excited to see these characters again, I have a feeling this time around they are going to go all out. I hope so because if they do it's going to be totally tubular.

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