‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Star William Fichtner Talks Shredder, Reveals Three-Film Deal
The turtles are back in an all-new remake of 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,' produced by 'Transformers 4' helmer Michael Bay and directed by Jonathan Liebesman. But don't expect that classic "bouncy cartoon feel," though. Star William Fichtner, playing Shredder in the film, recently opened up about the new take on the turtles and the villain, revealing that this could be the start of more to come.
The trend among these comic book-adapted superhero films is to take the traditional image and darken it up a bit. (See Christopher Nolan's 'Dark Knight' trilogy, Zack Snyder's 'Man of Steel,' Joss Whedon's 'The Avengers' and the upcoming Marvel Phase 2 slate.) So far, it looks like the 'Ninja Turtles' are taking that same route and revamping the original story arch in the process.
According to Fitchner, speaking with Flicks and the City, "['TMNT'] always had sort of a bouncy cartoon feel to me, which is great, that's why it was appealing. ... That's not this movie. ... It's not like any 'Mutant NInja Turtles' thing you've ever seen before. It's freaky, they're cool, and they're mutants and they look awesome. It's tough and it's going to be really, really great."
As for his character, which he previously kept close to the chest, he went into quite a bit of detail:
Well I play a guy named Eric Sachs and we find out that Eric Sachs is somebody else too. I can't give away too much in the story but I can tell you that who Shredder is in the telling of this 'Turtles' is unlike any telling of the story before. His connection and relationship to the Turtles is a bit surprising and for an actor playing it, the backstory, which comes out in this film, is really intriguing...We made some changes while filming that I thought are just awesome.
However, he will maintain his classic look: "Shredder dons himself with armor, and that's who he is and that happens in this story. It's the backstory on how it all began with the turtles, that the character of Eric Sachs ... it's not by chance that he knows the turtles."
While it hasn't been officially announced whether more 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' sequels will spawn out of this new origin story, Fichtner definitely sees more coming down the road. "I think you're going to see a few of them ... Well, I signed a three-picture thing, so I'll see what happens."
'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' stars Pete Ploszek, Noel Fisher, Jeremy Howard and Adam Ritchson as the turtles themselves; Megan Fox as the new April O'Neil; and Danny Woodburn as Splinter; and features Will Arnett and Whoopi Goldberg. The film is set for release on August 8, 2014.