More Talk On Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Back in April of this year co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Peter Laird, confirmed plans to bring a rebooted, live action film to the big screen. Now “Superman Returns” producer Scott Mednick has put in his two cents on the project, currently expected to hit theatres in 2011.

Mednick spoke to Mania.com about the project, stressing the importance of introducing the characters to a new generation of kids:

“We are intent on re-telling the origin, as it was in Batman, as it was in Superman, frankly as it was in Spider-Man. We have an entire new generation of fans who really don’t know the full back story,” Mednick told Mania.com in an exclusive interview. “As great as the [2007 animated film 'TMNT'] was, my son said, ‘how come a rat is their father?’ You know? Because he wasn’t around for the 1990 version.”

That said, the producer has also promised not to alienate the existing, older fanbase by child-proofing the film too much:

“You also have a much more sophisticated audience. Even the younger kids are more sophisticated by the information they receive. Things have become a little darker and a little edgier, just in general,” Mednick told us. “Certainly as filmmakers the technology has come so far. It really gives us an opportunity to revisit the material and come at it, hopefully, in a new dramatic way from a filmmaking standpoint, and honor the old, and bring in the new.”

If you want an idea of how the Turtles and their leader might look in the new film, according to Mednick you need look no further than this year’s release - “Where The Wild Things Are”:

“Jim Henson did brilliant job in 1990 [for the first live-action movie],” Mednick said with admiration. “Now…there’s face-replacement technology. The Wild Things were actually done by the Creature shop and Brian Henson, and we use face-replacement technology to get more emotive and expressive faces out of puppets.”

“We want the Turtles to be real. We want them to be in the movie, not Gollumed,” Mednick told us. “We’re excited about the opportunity to use all of these new technologies to give the experience that you really believe the turtles are real. They’re teenagers. They have great personalities. They’re not guys in suits.”

I have to admit that I’d love to see a shiny new live action TMNT on the big screen, being of ‘that generation’ the Turtles were a major part of my childhood, although for some reason I’m still not entirely convinced, and I’m finding it quite difficult not to get excited about this project. Head over to Mania.com for more.