Judith Hoag interview with Variety

[oldmanwinters]

https://www.yahoo.com/movies/ninja-t...170905367.html

I'm guessing this is a new interview Hoag did with Variety and not just a feature writer copying info from older sources. There's some insight on the dangerous work conditions stunt actors had to endure on the set of the original film. In my opinion, this sheds some new light as to why Jim Henson's crew became uncomfortable with the "violence" and didn't return for the third film.

Hoag says she was never asked to reprise the role, because she had complained to the producers at Golden Harvest about the lengthy six-day shoots and the intense violence added to the action scenes of the New Line Cinema release. “Everybody was beating everybody up,” Hoag says. “I thought the movie suffered because of that. It was something I spoke to the producers about, I think they thought I was too demanding, and moved on.”

Hoag says she was also upset by the number of injuries she witnessed onset. “It was a really challenging shoot,” she says. “They had all these stunt people who came in from Hong Kong, who had no union protections. They were getting hurt. As soon as they were injured, they were shipped out of there. It was not the safest set to be on. That’s a little distressing. People are doing the movie, doing the best they can on the budget and I think producers lose sight sometimes there are actual human beings involved.”

Credit to Judith for speakers up for her fellow actors even at the expense of her own career.

Also, more evidence that a yellow jumpsuit was considered for April O'Neil in the first film. We probably dodged a bullet on that one, even if they did stick with the awkward perm:

The film’s director Steve Barron, who had primarily made music videos, tried to put her in a yellow jumpsuit, like the one her character wears in the comic books. It turned out to be a disaster. “They had this really horrifying white jumpsuit and dyed it yellow,” Hoag says. “It was nixed.” Her hairdo was also complicated. “I remember just hating my hair in the movie,” she says. “They gave me this really horrible perm and it never cooperated.”

[pennydreadful]

Wow, that was a really interesting read - I didn't know some of that info! Thanks for posting, dude.

[RaphaelinSTL]

Weird, I always heard that Judith wanted to reprise her role but after reading the script for TMNT 2 and nothing there for April basically she turned it down.

[alliance]

im all for safety and quite honestly im not the one risking my physical health for the movie with that said THANK GOD the guys didn't listen to a f*cken word she was saying can only judge as a fan and we got a phenominal turtle film out of it and fight scene memories 25 years later, when looking back at that movie today I haven't seen one damn person bash that film who didn't watch it back then or did watch it..

[d_osborn]

Thanks for posting!

I had never heard that she was asked back for 3. I'm still blown away by how young she was when the first film was made---22.

[T-U-R-T-L-E POWA!]

I loved this interview. I thought it was really moving that she tried to help that sick kid and that he dressed like Raph to feel better. Raph is my fave so that resonates even more with me.

[nathanbofficial]

Awesome interview. It's nice to hear from Judith again. Although I thought she was perfect as April and I refuse to accept anyone else in the role (until someone does it better, of course) I have to say thank god they didn't listen to her. The 1990 movie was perfect as it was, it's a real shame she didn't return for the other movies, but if this genuinely was her reason then I have a difference in opinion to her because the turtles originally (which is where they got the idea for the film really) weren't all slapstick and comedy-driven. But still think she was awesome as April. And those legs...

[Warhorse]

Originally Posted by RaphaelinSTL

Weird, I always heard that Judith wanted to reprise her role but after reading the script for TMNT 2 and nothing there for April basically she turned it down.

Well, I read a long time ago in some magazine (I'm talking like, just before Secret of the OOze came out) and the article had said the studios removed Hoag from the sequels because soccer moms were complaining she was too edgy and showed too much skin for a kids movie. So the studio heads got rid of her. And the sad thing, I also remember reading reviews aboutm SOTO, and critics were thinking Paige was a better fit than Hoag, for a kids movie. I disagreed, but this is what I remember.

[strawberryfields]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

https://www.yahoo.com/movies/ninja-t...170905367.html

I'm guessing this is a new interview Hoag did with Variety and not just a feature writer copying info from older sources. There's some insight on the dangerous work conditions stunt actors had to endure on the set of the original film. In my opinion, this sheds some new light as to why Jim Henson's crew became uncomfortable with the "violence" and didn't return for the third film.



Credit to Judith for speakers up for her fellow actors even at the expense of her own career.

Also, more evidence that a yellow jumpsuit was considered for April O'Neil in the first film. We probably dodged a bullet on that one, even if they did stick with the awkward perm:

intense violence? I just watched tmnt 1990 today and its pretty tame.

[Warhorse]

Originally Posted by strawberryfields

intense violence? I just watched tmnt 1990 today and its pretty tame.

I don't think she was just talking about just the Turtle actors. Don't forget, we had stunt actors in the foot gear too.

[Shark_Blade]

TMNT 2 was terrible anyway so it's not really a loss for her, thank God.

[Donaterro]

Apparently in the scene where Tatsu flips out and attacks the foot members, the one "knocked out" foot soldier was actually supposed to die in the script. But they thought it was too violent.

Sounds like they held back on some violence; those fight scenes are impressive, martial artists wearing those suits which would sweat and sometimes weigh up to 80-100 pounds IIRC.