New Interview with Tohoru Masamune, Who played Shredder in the 2014 movie
 

The Canned Air Podcast has posted a new interview with Tohoru Masamune, who played the Shredder in the 2014 movie.
http://cannedair.libsyn.com/canned-a...ohoru-masamune

TMNT elements in summary:

-He was worried they might cut him out of the movie & was relieved when he saw the actual film featured his scenes & included his name in the credits.

-It was a very surreal experience for him, but he had a lot of fun.

-Minae Noji & him came to be good friends.

-He took inspiration from FW & the original film, as well as the comic books. He dug Mirage but found the IDW comics to be mind-blowing. He mentions that Shredder's journey & is a story of pain, & specifically says the Shredder micro-issue had a lasting impression on him. He definitely did his research (which he said was as much fun as actually playing the part), for what it's worth. He describes various plots & talked about the Mirage/Daredevil connection too. A shame he didn't get to put that insight to better use!

-Knowing Shredder was a dark character with a tumultuous past, he wanted to tap into that side of him, but worried his portrayal may have been too "moody". Ultimately he felt it was "spot-on".

-Wished they had done the Saki/Yoshi origin, but was thankful at least they didn't take a goofier OT inspired approach with The Shredder.

-He never got to actually wear the armor.

-So much of the 2014 film was changed from what he saw/knew of that it was a completely different movie in his eyes. There was a lot of uncertainty on-set from pretty much everyone involved.

-As a self proclaimed long-time fan, he liked all of the designs but admits it's hard for him to view them subjectively because he was so happy to be involved.

-He did not look into why he was replaced by Brian Tee but says he's tempted to ask Liebesman to lunch so as to catch up & discuss what happened. He suspects that all the re-casting was done to have those who could give their parts a lighter tone.

-He was miffed that Shredder didn't get to fight the turtles in OOTS.

-Judith Hoag was in one of the same acting classes as him back in the day.

Seems like a really nice guy, full of laughter & enthusiasm.

wow seems like a nice guy and really did his research sorry he got stuck with a ****** movie.

Think about that. He was cast as the Shredder in a TMNT movie and was pleasantly surprised when his screentime wasn't cut... man, the level of awfulness this film reaches is genuinely indescribable.

and all because hollywood didn't want to insult it's chinese masters with a japanese person on screen. sigh.

hollywood is doomed.

Alright, someone needs to get this man a coffee and a hug. He's a really swell guy who deserves a better role as The Shredder.

Great movies always spawn from these kind of sets.

Next TMNT movie franchise, we should have him as the Shredder or give him some involvement with it.

I would definitely give him another shot. He certainly looked cool as the Nick-inspired Saki.

I thought it was because they didn't want to waste any time developing Shredder as a character; that they just wanted a big Transformer for the turtles to hit, you know? But you're probably on to something too.

Didn't know the actor was a franchise fan. Interesting. Personally, I wish that they had brought him back for the sequel, I thought he did a better job with his brief screen time and voice over than the second actor did in Out of the Shadows with his greater screentime.

Also surprised to see I'm not the only one who liked the movie Shredder armor.

(I hold the somewhat unpopular opinion that the movie would've been better if they had followed through and made Sacks Shredder as the plan originally was, but if the change gave a guy the chance to do something he loved, that seems a fair exchange.)

Sounds like the biggest setback for the film was that nobody knew what kind of movie to make. It certainly was nowhere near what we were sold on before any of the footage and designs were revealed. Remember The Raid-like fight scenes?

I do wonder if this chaotic uncertainty had to do with Michael Bay. I remember him being quoted as seeing either a rough cut or just some dailies and saying it "needed humor." The Turtle actors have been quoted as to saying there were multiple versions of the movie that feel like completely different movies altogether.