The upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem options various hallmark and beloved parts of the franchise, from the titular characters’ signature weapons to their insatiable starvation for pizza, however one iconic a part of the fictional world is notably lacking: the villainous Shredder. As a substitute of that includes the canon’s most well-known antagonist and his loyal military of Foot Clan ninjas, the movie is as an alternative pitting the heroes towards a legal scourge named Superfly and his gang of mutants. That is one thing that will trigger some head-scratching amongst die-hards, however there’s a particular purpose as to why the filmmakers made that alternative.
Earlier this week, I interviewed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem director Jeff Rowe at San Diego Comedian-Con, and it was early in our dialog that the topic of Shredder got here up. My opening query was about how completely different the ultimate lower of the film is in comparison with the primary draft of the screenplay, and Rowe defined that it was a totally completely different story than what audiences are going to see subsequent month. And notably, it featured Shredder as an antagonist alongside Baxter Stockman. Mentioned the filmmaker,
[The first draft was] fully completely different. Couldn’t be extra completely different. We have thrown away… we have made like eight variations of the film to get to this model of the film, and so they’re all radically completely different from one another. However the first model of the film, they had been in highschool by like web page 20, Shredder was a villain, Baxter Stockman was a villain. It was so completely different from what’s there now. And it was only a lengthy means of honing in on what we truly cared about as filmmakers.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem ended up creating as extra of a coming-of-age journey for its major characters, protecting them younger and remoted from the human world – which made a battle with fellow mutants who’re rejecting society an thrilling and attention-grabbing battle for the plot. Jeff Rowe defined that there wasn’t any form of impulse to avoid Shredder as a result of he’s been featured so many instances on the large display; as an alternative, the choice to maneuver away from that includes him within the movie was purely within the curiosity of telling the very best story:
The primary model we had been like, ‘That is it! Clearly it is gonna be a Shredder and Foot clan film.’ After which, as we bought into the emotional story of the turtles and their eager for acceptance, it made sense for the villain to be a mutant like them and be capable to relate to them and have the same backstory to them – all of which precluded Shredder. After which it grew to become an actual alternative as a result of we may then give attention to introducing the world to this model of those characters after which make an incredible Shredder film afterwards!
We’re nonetheless ready on information a few potential sequel to this new imaginative and prescient for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, however it’s enjoyable to know that the blossoming canon has a variety of thrilling stuff in its again pocket for the longer term.
Not wanting to place the cart earlier than the horse, nevertheless, we’re nonetheless counting down the times till the discharge of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, which is now simply days away and aiming to be one of many greatest movies of the summer season. That includes a stellar voice solid that features Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Brady Midday, Nicolas Cantu, Jackie Chan, Ice Dice, Ayo Edebiri, Giancarlo Esposito, Seth Rogen, and John Cena, the thrilling new animated launch might be in theaters on August 2, and be sure you keep tuned right here on CinemaBlend for extra from my interview with Jeff Rowe.
