Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has a long and complicated film history, the next chapter of which will be produced by Seth Rogen. The actor has long been a fan of the franchise, so coming on board won’t have been a difficult decision. And going by his latest comments to Collider, he’ll be imparting a big creative influence, too.
In the interview, Rogen emphasized a direction that hasn’t necessarily been seen in TMNT movies so far – the teenage aspect of the Teenage Ninjas, saying:
“As a lifelong fan of Ninja Turtles, weirdly the ‘Teenage’ part of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was always the part that stuck out to me the most. And as someone who loves teenage movies, and who’s made a lot of teenage movies, and who literally got their start in their entire profession by writing a teenage movie, the idea of kind of honing in on that element was really exciting to us. I mean, not disregarding the rest, but really using that as kind of a jumping off point for the film.”
The opportunity for a new take on the boys from down under (the ground) arose when the most recent series of movies – Michael Bay’s live-action yarns – came to a halt. Rogen has a hefty box office bomb to thank for that. Unlike those endeavours, however, the untitled film he’s developing will be animated. And in my opinion, that’s a good a thing.
I wouldn’t describe myself as a TMNT fan (though I did play the hell out of the 2007 game of the same name), so you’re welcome to throw this take in your turtle trash can. But live-action cinema never struck me as the best medium to adapt a comic about anthropomorphic turtles. Or maybe I’m just a stick-in-the-mud.
Hopefully, Seth Rogen will give true turtleheads (I know I’ve said turtle too many times, but it’s too late to stop now) the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie they want to see. I’d say he has a better chance of doing so than Michael Bay ever did. If you’ve got any thoughts of your own on the direction Rogen wants to take though, drop a comment below.
