Last week Micheal Bay said the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles “are from an alien race, and they’re going to be tough, edgy, funny and completely loveable.” TMNT creators Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman responded to the news, with Laird being snarky and Eastman being enthusiastic. Take a guess which of the two is on the payroll.
Jonathan Liebesman, director of Battle Los Angeles and the most recent film in that confusing Titans trilogy, was asked about these TMNT stories since he’s directing the movie (Michael Bay is producing). Liebesman tells ComingSoon he’s “literally been locked in a room with Kevin Eastman” (sounds sexy) and that, “Anything we expand will tie right into the mythology, so I think fans will go apesh*t when they see it.” In fairness, this is probably accurate. Fans are going to go apesh-t regardless of whether it’s good or bad. That’s just how we react to everything.
Liebesman gave a much longer interview to Collider in which he said in regards to the “alien race” comment, “Look, it’s so funny—if everyone was such a die-hard fan, they would know that the TCRI canisters where the ooze comes from. That is alien ooze. Now I’m not saying what Michael said is exactly what the movie is, because we’re sitting in a room now figuring everything out.”
When asked if the turtles would be practical or CGI, Liebesman hinted that they may be done similar to another recent visual effects-laden project: “All I’ll say is that I love how they did [The Rise of the Planet of the Apes]. That was exceptional.” [Collider]
I know I’ve made this joke before but. . . . Quick, somebody clone Andy Serkis three times!
In addition, Bleeding Cool reports the working title of the film is Ninja Turtles with a planned release date of December 25th, 2013. So, yeah, no mention of them being mutants or teenagers. I asked Raphael about this, but I can’t print what he said. He’s cool, but crude.