You wouldn’t think that The Shredder would be in the business of defending April O’Neil, but that’s just what happened in a recent interview with Parade Magazine. William Fichtner, set to play the iconic villain in the new Jonathan Liebesman film due out in 2014, came to the defense of both Megan Fox and Michael Bay when asked about the controversy surrounding the film. To be fair, he may not have been very invested in the question, but the amount of hyperbole on display here is fairly interesting.
“I think the stamp, from a producer standpoint, that Michael Bay brings and the feel and the look that he wants you to get is going to be unlike any Turtles you’ve ever seen. This is live action. These turtles are out there. They’re incredible looking. It truly is. It’s unlike any Turtles you’ve seen and it’s unlike any Shredder you’ve seen. I think Megan [Fox] is the right woman in the right role at the right time playing April.”
Needless to say, I’m sure there are a lot of TMNT fans out there who would disagree with Fitchner on these points. Cast members have come to the defense of this latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film in the past, but few have come out and actually said such positive things about either Michael Bay or April O’Neil. Regardless of how some fans might feel about these casting decisions, we try to take a neutral approach to these projects and hope for the best. Even so, these comments seem a bit out there and display a lack of desire to stick to the origins of the Ninja Turtles.
When one of the main characters in the film comes out and says this is going to be “unlike any Turtles you’ve ever seen,” it doesn’t exactly inspire excitement for all of us Shellheads. We don’t want to hear that you’ve been changing our favorite characters and it is honestly disconcerting to see the suggestion that you have. Whether or not Fichtner may be right about Megan Fox remains to be seen, but that is a pretty shining endorsement to get from the villain of the film.
Okay, so none of this means that they have changed too much about our beloved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be worried. After all, Fichtner’s Shredder is already a representation of a huge change being made to the story; no longer is the character Asian, his name has been changed to Eric Sachs, and he’s apparently a European American. When the actor portraying one of the biggest confirmed changes to the storyline starts saying that this movie is “unlike any Turtles you’ve seen,” that has got to be cause for concern. We’ll still take the wait and see approach, but that doesn’t mean that we – along with many other TMNT fans – aren’t still on edge about this project.