Radical Featurette for TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM Focuses on Actual Teen Characters

Paramount Pictures has released a new featurette for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, that offers a fun behind the scenes look at the teenage cast that brings the Ninja Turtles to life in the movie.

For the first time in the Ninja Turtles franchise, the four main heroes are actually played by teenagers. This is the first time that we’re truly going to get teenage Ninja Turtles!

In the video producer Seth Rogen explains that “the teenage part” of these characters “is the most unexplored part.” So they set you to tell a different kind of story for these characters in a unique way that we haven’t seen before, and that gets me excited!

The video includes interviews with the cast and crew as they talk about their characters and share additional insight into them. It also features some radical new footage from the film!

Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation president Ramsey Naito previously talked about how producers Rogen and Jeff Rowe wanted to put a heavy focus on the “teenage” side of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, saying:

“[Seth and Jeff] really wanted to tell a story that embraced the teenage part — and to our surprise there hadn’t been any stories told about the teenage part which was weird. Jeff in particular gravitated towards teenage doodles, high school doodles that kids start doing in their notebooks… Those doodles are infused and inspired and embraced by raw budding hormones and dreams of empowerment and the desire of being accepted.”

“All of those things combined really inspired the look of the film which is so tactile, and ended up also then along the way of being infused with the spirit of New York — the smells of the subway, grit, grime, energy. It has so much energy look-wise. The development was born out of the teenage part of TMNT that was really organic. And because of the coming-of-age part of it, Seth being the comic genius that he is through these unique characters brought voice and comedy and heart.”

In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, after years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers through heroic acts. Their new friend April O’Neil helps them take on a mysterious crime syndicate, but they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.

When previously talking about the tone of the film, director Jeff Rowe revealed the vibe they were going for: “We wanted it to be like Stand By Me and Lady Bird. But, you know, with Ninja Turtles.”

The voice cast of the film includes Micah Abbey as Donatello, Shamon Brown Jr. as Michelangelo, Nicolas Cantu as Leonardo, Brady Noon as Raphael, Jackie Chan as Splinter, John Cena as Rocksteady, Seth Rogen as Bebop, Ice Cube as Superfly, Rose Byrne as Leatherhead, Natasia Demetriou as Wingnut, Ayo Edebiri as April O’Neil, Giancarlo Esposito as Baxter Stockman, Post Malone as Ray Fillet, Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko, and Maya Rudolph as Cynthia Utrom.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem hits theaters on August 2nd.