William Fichtner: New TMNT Movie Will Look Awesome

[CyberCubed]

I hate Eric Sachs. I hate white Shredder.

[ObiWanFan4life]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I hate Eric Sachs. I hate white Shredder.

[MastahShredder]

I haven't seen this mentioned but what weapon is he going to use?

If one at all.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by MastahShredder

I haven't seen this mentioned but what weapon is he going to use?

His character's dignity.

[chrisdude]

More Shredder talk from Fitchner.

You mentioned Michael Bay. You’re playing Shredder on next year’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Fans were kind of up in arms about this version when it was announced. What can you say about the movie?
I’ll tell you this much: My older son still has his little turtle toys that we used to throw in the tub with him, but he was just on the tail end of the craze. I have a lot of nieces and nephews who all grew up in the ’80s. If you grew up in the 1980s and Turtles wasn’t a part of your life, you must have been living under a rock. It was just a huge part of everybody’s existence, particularly kids. I remember seeing other Turtle films and cartoons, and they were all kind of bouncy and fun. That’s not this movie. [Laughs] This is the new Turtles. I had an awesome time working on it. I think the stamp, from a producer standpoint, that Michael Bay brings and the feel and the look that he wants you to get is going to be unlike any Turtles you’ve ever seen. This is live action. These turtles are out there. They’re incredible looking. It truly is. It’s unlike any Turtles you’ve seen and it’s unlike any Shredder you’ve seen. I think Megan [Fox] is the right woman in the right role at the right time playing April. The first time that I heard about it—Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles—I was like, “Oh, wow. The Ninja Turtles,” but I certainly finished the project thinking, “Wow! I’m really glad I was a part of that.”

Do you ever get tired of playing the villain?
I have to be honest; I don’t think I play the villain all the time. And I don’t look at it like I’m playing the villain. I think if I looked at every role like, “Oh, this is the villain,” how do you play that? Do you get better at twirling the mustache? I never look at it that way. I need to figure out what a character cares about. I play a gentleman in Turtles named Eric Sachs and we find out who he really is, but he’s a really complicated layered guy in the reasons that he does what he does. That is interesting to find. Is it the villain? I guess, but I don’t really look at it that way.

http://www.parade.com/243270/scottne...g-the-villain/

[MastahShredder]

Not like any Shredder we've ever seen? What did they do?

[CyberCubed]

It’s unlike any Turtles you’ve seen and it’s unlike any Shredder you’ve seen.

Hahahahaha, we know that, William Fichtner.

We've never had a white Shredder named Eric Sachs before or possible alien Turtles wearing bamboo armor before.

In other words they ****ed up the characters to the point where they're barely recognizable and they're passing it off as, "brand new never before seen versions of the characters that are better than ever!"

The scoundrels. The lot of them.

[Jester]

Wow...you are the very definition of a broken record, ain't ya?

[Xav]

Originally Posted by MastahShredder

Not like any Shredder we've ever seen? What did they do?

This makes me worry they kept the whole Shredder is really a yellow-skinned alien thing.

[Galactus]

Originally Posted by MastahShredder

Not like any Shredder we've ever seen? What did they do?

I've made this point before but the actors saying how different this is to previous incarnations of the franchise and characters carries little weight when by their own admission all they know of previous versions are vague memories of the light and fun Fred Wolf cartoon.

Previously he's mentioned that Shredder will be a lot darker than previous versions. That seems very unlikely what it will be is darker than the Fred Wolf cartoon version. Unlikely as it seems it's possible that the majority of the movie may actually be faithful take on the franchise but differs to how the 80s show.

All that being said he's white guy called Eric Sachs. I'd say that's pretty darn different already from any version.

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Why would there be? Unless we're assuming Danny Woodburn won't be under heavy makeup/prosthetics/costuming I don't see how his casting evokes anything but apathy.

Well there is the prospect that he'd also be playing Hamato Yoshi or some pre-mutated human version of Splinter. There's also the fact that Wooburn's roles are all similar in playing a certain character type which doesn't seem to sync up with how Splinter is generally portrayed.

I actually think that's a problem with Shredder arguably a bigger one that his race. Again unlikely but they could give Sachs a backstory that despite being an American still is still part of a Japanese Foot Clan but it's the fact that Fichtner doesn't seem like someone cast in role as a ninja master.

[MastahShredder]

He's a gentleman too according to Fichtner.

I like when Shredder doesn't have an iota of good in him.

[Barkworm]

This CyberCubed guy seems to be mentally challenged. It's kind of fun to read his dumb posts though.

[Jester]

Totally normal, he says. Even his family is totally normal. All 100% normal...whatever that is.

[marcelangelo]

you know I dont want to really invest too much thinking about this movie before I can really see it.but I just want to say I dont get a fred wolf image out of all these rumors at all...I mean I recognize the names and all but it really doesn't feel like the ot to me up to now..I know thats all hear say but if this movie comes out and really is like what we've been fed so far I don't think Ill be enjoying myself at all...
that being said **** all the rumors, the greatest laugh of all would be if this movie opens and not a single piece of ****** information was ever true

[HeroTurtlesFan]

"I play a gentleman called Eric Sachs and we find out who he really is..." - this line alone makes me think we're going to get a revelation that Sachs is an alias. For the name Oroku Saki, I suspect.

But if it's not, I'm not worried - I think this film is going to be a lot of fun.

[Galactus]

Originally Posted by marcelangelo

you know I dont want to really invest too much thinking about this movie before I can really see it.but I just want to say I dont get a fred wolf image out of all these rumors at all...I mean I recognize the names and all but it really doesn't feel like the ot to me up to now..I know thats all hear say but if this movie comes out and really is like what we've been fed so far I don't think Ill be enjoying myself at all...
that being said **** all the rumors, the greatest laugh of all would be if this movie opens and not a single piece of ****** information was ever true

I've said the same for quite some time now. That leaked script had all the correct characters and concepts to say it was a Fred Wolf-inspired movie but they were so radicaly different no one would call it a Fred Wolf-inspired movie and make no mistake that script is still the basis for this movie regardless of what Bay says.

Even with the studio mandated changes it still doesn't strike me that that these concepts are any more faithful in adapting the tropes of the 80s show. Vernon as a lead character and an action man, no Bebop & Rocksteady. Any Fred Wolf elements or indeed any elements from any previous versions seem to just be there to validate this as a TMNT movie.

This whole Shredder debacle a very good example of this. It's clear no one making this picture wanted to make a picture were the antagonist is a ninja master but rather a military commander - they simply call him 'Shredder' because of the percieved name value.

Originally Posted by HeroTurtlesFan

"I play a gentleman called Eric Sachs and we find out who he really is..." - this line alone makes me think we're going to get a revelation that Sachs is an alias. For the name Oroku Saki, I suspect.

But if it's not, I'm not worried - I think this film is going to be a lot of fun.

I highly doubt that Bay would give his good buddy a role of a patsy and I doubt they'd market Fichtner so strongly as playing Shredder. They're leaving little room for doubt that he's playing a character called Eric Sachs and Sachs is the Shredder.

If it is a case that he's a decoy then not only are we wasting time on a nobody (unless he turns out to be another character of importance) but it'd be groan worthy given it's been done twice now in two very big comicbook based movies and hardly met with with a great audience reaction. At least in those instances an arab terrorist and a Chinese warlord called the Mandarin would cause problems with a certain sections of the public. There is zero reason why the Shredder can't be Oroku Saki other than they want to make a movie with gun fights and big army battles.

This may end up a "fun" movie but they could have made themselves ans us a lot happier by making their alien movie that they originaly wanted to and left TMNT to someone who was even remotely interested in making a TMNT movie.

[sgtfbomb]

There's nothing wrong with being different, but being different for different's sake, as defended by those with that faux open-minded attitude, doesn't mean instantly it's good.

Imagine Michael Bay casting Woody Allen as the voice of Optimus Prime. Allen has made great films. I mean, Manhattan and Purple Rose of Cairo. So, he in his own right, as far as being an artist goes, isn't bad. But, in this scenario, we have Optimus Prime, the stoic hero of the Autobots, who now has this neurotic, wimpy voice. You go to the boards and voice your concern about this, and users with names like "PainNgainRocksYo" and "BadBoys4Life" chastise you for not being a true Michael Bay fan because you don't blindly like everything he does, even though the casting decision is obviously a meathead decision.

Fichtner is a good actor. But this is a really strange choice for Shredder. And while I won't go as far to call the gentlemen playing Splinter a "great actor," I do like him in some of the things I've seen him in, like Seinfeld. But, him as Spinter? I don't see. Megan Fox, even though her casting wasn't as out there as some of the others -- well, I can definitely see why some might defend her casting. Yeah, she's hot. But whether or not she's a bombshell in real life -- probably so, since she was willing to trade her natural beauty for that fake, plastic porn star look -- her acting persona is, without a doubt, a bombshell. Truth is, I think of several actresses who can satisfy the eyes without destroying that image by opening their mouths.

This is the kind of stuff I thought we were beyond. I mean, it really does remind me of early 90s, when they would cast anybody and everybody they can get into those horrible video game movies. We're really not too far off from that insane pairing of Bob Hoskins, a britsh actor, and John Leguizamo, of hispanic heritage, as two italian brothers. (And, of course, Dennis Hopper in the Kupa/Bowser role.)

[MiBs]

Originally Posted by HeroTurtlesFan

"I play a gentleman called Eric Sachs and we find out who he really is..." - this line alone makes me think we're going to get a revelation that Sachs is an alias. For the name Oroku Saki, I suspect

Maybe it refers to a Bruce Wayne/Batman kind of thing, but in an evil way. Eric Sachs being a businessman (and philanthropist) at day and head of a crime syndicate at night.

[shuriken]

Shredder is definition of a gentleman.

[Whatswiththeheadbands?]

Originally Posted by ObiWanFan4life

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