Pete Ploszec, Jeremy Howard, and Noel Fisher, who play three of four lab-pets turned vigilantes, discuss the the latest installment in the TMNT franchise: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows which is now playing.
Paramount Pictures’ TMNT 2 also boasts actors Will Arnett, Laura Linney, and Tyler Perry. This week, The Knockturnal got the chance to speak to three actors who brought our favorite turtles to life (with help of some complicated animation technology) about how their characters, Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo respectively, evolve in this new movie.
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Q: When it comes to your character, what’s the quality you find most appealing about them or about playing them?
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Pete: I like the push and pull dynamic that he faces as the oldest, as the leader. At the same time he has to be in charge and make tough decisions, he is still wanting to join his brothers in the fun and the revelry. He is a teenager who is being forced to grow up, but he’s still a kid.
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Jeremy: Donatello is just harmless. He has this really endearing quality, especially when they find there is a cure. He brings it to Leo because he wants Leo to make the decision. He wants to make right by his brothers and doesn’t like confrontation. That was my favorite scene to shoot. It was so full of emotion and colors, and you get to see Leo in a way that you didn’t in the last film. I think viewers will really identify with the emotion from that scene.
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Noel: What I love about Mikey is that he is perpetually innocent. And he sometimes gets caught up between Raph and Leo’s power struggle. I enjoy his purity, it’s just a beautiful quality. He’s, in a way, the youngest, but he would never turn on his brothers for anything in the world.
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Q: Pete, Leonardo is obviously the leader of the four turtles, making the choices and dishing out the orders. Do you see any of yourself in the character?
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Pete: Yeah, I think if people got to know us they’d realize we are each pretty close to our characters in a lot of ways. I definitely channeled my own upbringing to play Leo, it helped that I played football in the past and had that kind of a role.
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Q: As you said, Mikey is, in a sense, the youngest of the four turtles and has the biggest desire to fit in with the world. How do you feel his character may resonate with young viewers who may watch the film?
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Noel: I think it’s a story everyone can relate to, a story about acceptance. Everybody wants to feel like they belong, like they fit in. It’s about the battle of accepting yourself for your uniqueness. This is especially important when you’re young, to feel like you’re part of a group.
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Q: Noel, obviously, Mikey is a bit of a pizza fanatic. Does your love of pizza even come close to rivaling Mikey’s love of pizza?
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Noel: I don’t think anybody’s does! Actually, I think Jeremy has the pizza part down.
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Pete: I second that!
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Q: As the smartest of the four turtles, Donatello makes it cool to be the nerd. How do you feel his representation in the film will resonate with pre-teens or teens that watch the movie?
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Jeremy: I think that a lot of people identify with the “nerd culture” that has been dominating for a while. A lot of these comics who grew up in the 80s talk about how isolated they were. But the Technology Age brought a place for the voice and emotion of people who are passionate about movies and technology and anything else. Being a nerd now is not aligned with earlier notions of being uncool, we are taking over the world now!
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Q: How do you see yourself faring in a competition of smarts against Donatello?
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Jeremy: I would get my butt kicked. Donnie is worlds beyond anything I could do.
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is out in theaters now.
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This interview was edited for clarity.
