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Mar 5, 2024 · Getty Images for SCAD. Paramount Animation has entered an exclusive, multi-year first-look development deal with writer, director and producer Jeff Rowe. The pact extends the relationship between ...
- Jeff Rowe on visual style, casting, the film’s themes, and the future of Turtles movies.
- TMNT: Mutant Mayhem Character Posters
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By Alex Stedman
Posted: Jul 26, 2023 2:00 pm
We are so, so close to at last descending into the sewers for TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, which is out in theaters next week. We’ve already seen multiple incredible trailers showing off the four turtles, April O’Neil, Splinter, and multiple villains, and gotten a good look at the ways in which it pays tribute to the original comics. But even with the film itself imminent, we’re not done obsessing over every little detail of this pizza-filled reboot of our childhood obsession.
We spoke to director Jeff Rowe during our San Diego Comic-Con live show, where we chatted about visual style, casting, themes, and the potential for more Turtles in the future. Here’s an edited transcript of our conversation:
Mitchells vs. the Machine was your first big feature debut. What did you learn from that that you were able to take into Mutant Mayhem?
Jeff Rowe: I mean, getting to watch Chris [Miller] and Phil [Lord] (who produced the Mitchells vs. the Machines and the Spider-Verse series) make an animated movie was so, so informative. It was like getting paid to go to graduate school. I really got to understand how far you can bend the pipeline and continue to change and iterate and always be improving the story.
You mentioned Chris and Phil, and I feel like this movie, this visual style, has been compared to Spider-Verse, but I feel like they deserve some credit for this era of animation that we're in, where it's allowed to also be a little bit darker and more emotional. So do you see that in Mutant Mayhem?
Rowe: One hundred percent. I mean, when I was a kid, Jurassic Park was one of my favorite movies and it scared the shit out of me. That opening, I was crying in the theater. Creepy Crawlers... There were just so many things of that era that were dark or spooky or mature. And I think it was a time in children's TV and film where it's like they took kids a little bit more seriously. And I think that this film, we definitely didn't want to age it down. It's a teen movie about teens, so we needed it to feel as emotional and dark or mature as a real teenage movie might.
And speaking of teenagers, this is the first time that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are played by actual teengers. Why was that important to you?
Rowe: Authenticity. I mean, I think that was the thing that was Seth's first flag that he planted in the ground where he's like, "We have to have real teenagers do this.” Because I think in his films – Superbad, Blockers, even Freaks and Geeks, which was his first real acting job – their success is based on it being cast with real kids who don't look like a bunch of Hollywood stars, but feel authentic. And I think it's why those properties are so beloved. So we were like, "Oh, we have to do that. We have to make the characters feel like authentic teenagers."
How did you actually find these kids, the voice actors?
Rowe: It was a huge casting call. We had hundreds of auditions. And then I listened, I watched every tape, and then narrowed it down to ones that felt good. And then we took the character designs. I edited just the voice into it. And then just looked at the different character designs and was like, “what voice sounds best coming out of each character design?” And we kind of narrowed it down to the Final 10. There was a chemistry read, and then those four kids together, Shaman, Micah, Brady, and Nick were just perfect. It was so kinetic and alive. And we're like, "These are the turtles.”
Aug 4, 2023 · Jeff Rowe (C) poses with performers in Ninja Turtles costumes at the LA Family Day Screening of Paramount Pictures' 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem' Phillip Faraone/Getty Images.
Aug 2, 2023 · Paramount Pictures. Director/co-writer Jeff Rowe delivers a banner reboot of beloved characters with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, which uses stunning CGI animation to tell an ...
- Film Critic & Entertainment Reporter
Nov 4, 2023 · In this interview promoting the release on Paramount+ and home video, director Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs the Machines) breaks down what went into making this new take of an '80s classic as well ...
- Jeff Rowe, Kyle Spears
- Resource Editor
- Rose Byrne
Jul 31, 2023 · Director Jeff Rowe spoke to io9 about all things Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, from his inspirations and early iterations of the movie, to Marvel and Spider-Verse, Splinter ...
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Jeff Rowe onstage at Paramount Pictures' "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" panel at the 2023 Comic-Con International: San Diego at the San Diego Convention Center on July 20, 2023 in San...
