The new, live-action / CG take on Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has faced a few obstacles on its journey to the screen, not the least of which was the whole origin controversy, which saw producer Michael Bay wading into a fight with fans, and delays while the script was polished. With the film now in the editing room, actor William Fichtner, long known to be playing the villainous Shredder, has said he believes we could be in for something fun – and different.
Out doing the press rounds for his new TV show Crossing Lines, he talked to Flicks And The City about the film and his character.
"It always had sort of a bouncy cartoon feel to me, which is great, that’s why it was appealing,” he says of past Turtles incarnations. "That’s not this movie… It’s not like any Mutant Ninja Turtles thing you’ve ever seen before. It’s freaky, they’re cool, and they’re mutants and they look awesome. It’s tough and it’s going to be really, really great.”
From the sounds of it, Shredder in this version will be altered too. “I play a guy named Eric Sachs and we find out that Eric Sachs is somebody else too. I can’t give away too much in the story but I can tell you that who Shredder is in the telling of this Turtles is unlike any telling of the story before. His connection and relationship to the turtles is a bit surprising and for an actor playing it, the backstory, which comes out in this film, is really intriguing… We made some changes while filming that I thought are just awesome.”
Of course, it’s natural for an actor at this stage of the game to want to talk up work that still has to see the light of day, but it remains to be seen whether the finished product is A) as intriguing as Fichtner believes and B) embraced by both general audiences and **Turtles **diehards.
With Jonathan Liebesman calling the shots, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles also features Megan Fox, Danny Woodburn, Alan Ritchson, Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard, Noel Fisher, and Will Arnett. It’ll be out here on October 17 next year. To see more of Fichtner talking, head to Flicks And The City.