At least two stunt doubles worked with Stephen Farrelly to bring Rocksteady to life.
Days before his big win at the TLC match this past weekend, WWE fans were noting something interesting about the wrestler’s first appearance as Rocksteady in the new trailer for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sequel. Yes, that was him as the human version of the character, but was that him in the mocap suit? If the cast listing is any indication, the answer is no. Although he definitely pulls off the role of the human punk that will become a mutant Rhino, it would appear that Sheamus was not the one performing all of the stunts when they shot the action scenes with Rocksteady.
This wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen them use more than one actor to capture a character on film, as Leonardo was notably recast just months before the original film came out, with Johnny Knoxville taking over the vocal work. In addition, although Danny Woodburn was originally the only man behind Splinter, they brought in Tony Shalhoub to perform the voice. Could we be seeing a similar decision when it comes to Rocksteady in this movie? Maybe, but we don’t know enough to say for sure. All we do know is that more than one person worked to bring the character to life. Stephen Farrelly was joined by Matt Leonard and Myles Humphus.
Humphus is known for his work as a stunt double, but he also has a few acting credits to his name. In particular, he has done stunt work for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and John Cena, so it actually makes perfect sense that he would work with WWE superstar Sheamus in this movie. On the other hand, Matt Leonard has done work on films such as Guardians of the Galaxy, The Avengers and Iron Man. At this point, it’s fair to say that they spared no expense on getting Rocksteady just right for this film, because they called in some top notch stunt double talent for the role.
I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising that it took three people to fill the role of a gigantic mutant Rhinoceros, but it’s still somewhat impressive. Does that mean Farrelly also had his voice dubbed over? Well, we haven’t really heard him say anything in the trailer yet, so it’s difficult to say whether or not this is the case. What we can say is that it wasn’t just Stephen Farrelly making the character come to life, although his recent match would tend to suggest that he’s tough enough to get that job done. For all we know, they’ll decide to dub over more than just Rocksteady before the movie comes out, because they were working on minute details such as these just a few months prior to the release of the original film.
What do you think? Are you glad they brought on two stunt doubles to work with Sheamus in this role? Should they give Rocksteady a different voice? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.