Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Screenwriter Addresses Fans’ Concerns
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With the release of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trailer yesterday, fans reaction has been mixed when it comes to the overall look and feel of the reboot. The film looks dark and gritty, while also showing a bit of the charm that the Turtles are known for. The Turtles themselves are also much bigger than expected too, towering over almost everyone in the film. In an interview with Coming Soon, co-screenwriter Andre Nemec (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) addressed fans’ concerns about TMNT. He mainly talks about the film’s tone and how dark the movie will be, especially when compared to other brooding and dour reboots such as The Dark Knight, Snow White and the Huntsman, or Disney’s Maleficent. Nemec said:
Tone was a very interesting question on this movie as far as how dark we really wanted to go. It’s really all in the conflict between the characters. That was the driving principle. The color palettes that were chosen were not designed to be Dark Knight-ish in that regard. We weren’t looking to make that movie. I’m a huge fan of that movie, but I didn’t eat gobs of popcorn while I was watching that movie. We certainly didn’t want kids to be running for the exits.
At the end of the day, TMNT is for kids, so Nemec continues to talk about how the film tries to balance a dark tone with a fun and humorous one. After all, the Turtles are irreverent teenagers, so they’re always going to be moody, while at the same time full of energy and excitement. Nemec continued:
We really wanted to entertain and have fun with it. I think we skate — we live — on a very fun line in this movie, whether it’s the action feeling real and exciting, but also fun and adventurous. It really never feels dark in a way that would startle you out of your chair or make you fearful…
Lastly, if you were wondering how much of TMNT will feel like a Michael Bay movie, according to Andre Nemec the answer is: quite a bit. Bay was a very hands-on producer on TMNT, so his influence can be seen and felt throughout the reboot. Nemec said:
Michael [Bay] has been an influence on the movie and he’s certainly been giving his notes and paying attention to the movie as we go through. There are Michael Bay aesthetics. He has a very good sense of action. He has a very good sense of entertainment. I think that, on those influences, you’ll feel Michael Bay’s hand.
While I was pretty lukewarm about the new trailer, I’m also very open for TMNT to work as a movie. I like TMNT as a franchise, and I like Michael Bay as a director. Platinum Dunes doesn’t have a good track record when it comes to franchise remakes such as Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, so we’ll have to wait and see if TMNT fares better than those movies.
TMNT retells the origin of the Heroes in a Half-Shell, and how the Shredder and April O’Neil’s father were responsible for creating them. The reboot stars Megan Fox, Danny Woodburn, Alan Ritchson, Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard, Noel Fisher, Will Arnett, Whoopi Goldberg, and William Fichtner as the Shredder. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hits theaters everywhere on August 8.
