Nerd Reactor is reporting via Deadline that actor Alan Ritchson is being picked to play the character Raphael in Jonathan Liebesman’s upcoming film, Ninja Turtles, which starts shooting in New York City this April and is slated for theatrical release on June 6, 2014. The news comes a month after co-producer Michael Bay and actress Megan Fox made amends (as well as headlines) with the word that Fox will be joining the official cast as news reporter April O’Neil.
Aliens invade Earth and inadvertently spawn a quartet of mutated reptile warriors, the Ninja Turtles, who rise up against them to defend the world.
Tentatively named “Ninja Turtles”, the film is an upcoming reboot of the the classic franchise created by Kevin Eastman, along with Peter Laird who shared his optimism regarding the film’s direction in a recent interview with ComingSoon.net:
From everything that I’ve seen in the [“TMNT”] script and the development and everything they’ve asked my input on specifically, it’s gonna be an awesome, familiar, solid “Turtles” movie. It’ll have everything that fans are gonna want and then some.
The writers on board are Josh Appelbaum, Andrew Nemec, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway and John Fusco. Producing the film are Galen Walker, Andrew Form, Bradley Fuller and Scott Mednick for Nickelodeon Movies and Platinum Dunes with Denis L. Stewart, Eric J. Crown and Napoleon Smith III serving as executive producers. David Leitch (King Of Fighters, The Mechanic) and Jonathan Eusebio (Never Back Down, Dragonball: Evolution) are said to be directing the action with the 87Eleven stunt team. Paramount Pictures will be handling U.S. distribution.
Ritchson will also be joining actress Jennifer Lawrence in the upcoming film The Hunger Games 2: Catching Fire, which is slated for release on November 22, 2013.
Photo Credits: What Culture, EW
