Deadline reported on Thursday that actress Megan Fox will join the cast of the the Michael Bay-produced and Jonathan Liebesman-directed reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The news comes long after it became public that the work-relationship between Bay and Fox melted down, leading to a write-out of Fox’s characte from the third Transformers movie.
The film is a reboot of the entire franchise, with albeit direct support from the original creators of the TMNT franchise. Liebesman had this to say of his partner and co-creator, Kevin Eastman, who is also working on the vision for the film:
“Whatever mythology we’re building on or expanding is from that guy, Kevin Eastman’s head, who created the Turtles in the first place. And so everything will tie in with the mythology; fans will be extremely excited with what we’re coming up with. A lot of it is stuff he’s wanted to do for a long time, but just hasn’t had the opportunity because now we have the budget and things on this film to expand it in the right way. And so, I’m happy that everyone is extremely passionate, and they will not be disappointed. It’s all coming from the best possible place for this franchise.”
A day prior to a Liebesman’s statement, co-creator Peter Laird shared his thoughts on the prospects of the new filmic revision of the characters:
“I would actually encourage TMNT fans to swallow the ‘chill pill’ Mr. Bay recently suggested they take, and wait and see what might come out of this seemingly ill-conceived plan…It’s possible that with enough truly creative brainpower applied to this idea, it might actually work. I’m not saying it’s probable, or even somewhat likely… but it IS possible.”
In August 2012, MTV caught up with Eastman, who went on to add that the film is “…easily the best ‘Turtle’ movie yet.” with the promise of ‘Raid: Redemption’-style fight scenes” and “epic ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ sort of effects.”.
Amidst all the hype in 2012, a shelved version of the previous script was unveiled to the world last year, to which Mr. Laird, more or less, echoed the sentiments of many fans following the progress of the film’s development, calling what he read “Unsatifactory.” Since then, the film went back into developmemt with a new script rewrite, and the studio is moving forward with production.
SYNOPSIS via IMDb:
Aliens invade Earth and inadvertently spawn a quartet of mutated reptile warriors, the Ninja Turtles, who rise up against them to defend the world.
About a month ago, martial artist and action performer Chancler Haynes used his Vimeo account to pitch Ernie Reyes Jr. (who starred as the fight double for the character Donatello in the original 1990 film and in the sequel with a new role as Keno) as the fight choreographer for the film. Reyes Jr. later shared the news via Facebook that actor, producer, writer, stunt performer and coordinator David Leitch will be directing the action scenes for the upcoming film, which is set to begin filming in New York City this April, set for a May 16, 2014 release date.