The Dramatic Story Behind 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' I Heat Vision Breakdown

Hollywood Journal

Steve Barron's 1990 onscreen translation of 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.'

Transcript

00:00Hello friends! 30 years ago, audiences all around America were saying

00:03cowabunga dude as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hit the big screen.

00:06This week on a special shelter from home episode of Heat Vision Breakdown,

00:09let's look back on a film that taught kids the word damn

00:11and to threaten any pizza boys dumb enough to put anchovies on their pies.

00:19Ninja Turtles began life as a comic book from writers Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.

00:23The road manager for the prop comic Gallagher,

00:25that dude with a mustache and mallet who really hated watermelons,

00:27was a fan of the conics and teamed up with a producer to pitch the movie around Hollywood.

00:31A movie based on a comic book? Slam dunk for a movie studio, right?

00:34Well, no, not exactly.

00:36No studio wanted to touch a property about Turtles living in a sewer beneath New York City,

00:39especially as Ninja Turtles was being pitched around town in 1988,

00:42when comic book movie flops like Howard the Duck and Superman IV

00:45were fresh in movie executives' minds.

00:47So, the Turtles team set their sights abroad,

00:50spending months hounding Tom Gray, an executive at Golden Harvest,

00:53the Hong Kong-based studio known for releasing Enter the Dragon.

00:56Gray convinced his boss to greenlight the movie at $3 million.

00:58But there was another hurdle,

01:00getting the blessings of the creators of the Ninja Turtles comic book,

01:02who had story approval rights.

01:04They weren't impressed with screenwriter Bobby Herbeck,

01:06who had to spend nearly two months with the guys in Northampton, Massachusetts,

01:09before they finally signed off on the script treatment.

01:11Music video director Steve Barron,

01:13known for Michael Jackson's Billie Jean and Aha's Take On Me,

01:16both awesome videos,

01:18was tapped to helm the film and convinced Jim Henson,

01:20Lord of the Muppets, to come aboard to work on the movie.

01:23Henson's creature shop had to create two suits for each turtle.

01:27One suit, for fight scenes, had no electronics in them,

01:29while the other had electronic components controlling the turtle's facial expressions.

01:33Henson put the electronics in the back of the turtle's shells.

01:36In no time, the movie's modest $3 million budget had ballooned to $6 million.

01:40Oh no.

01:41As the July 1st, 1989 start date for the film approached,

01:44a deal with Fox fell through.

01:46No studio had agreed to distribute the film,

01:48and Golden Harvest didn't have the cash to finance the film without outside help.

01:51Ten days before cameras rolled, it looked like production would be shut down,

01:54but that's when New Line stepped in to help partner on the film.

01:56In the meantime, four actors were cast as turtles.

01:59Josh Pice, Leif Tilden, Michelin Sisti,

02:02and UK actor stuntman Brian Foreman.

02:04The stars had grown close, spending months together in New York,

02:07training with a sensei,

02:08but that didn't prepare them for the horrors of wearing full-sized turtle suits.

02:12The suits weighed 70 pounds and were unbearably hot and claustrophobic.

02:15Josh Pice, in particular, channeled his frustrations with the costume into rage,

02:19handy as he was playing Raphael, the grumpy turtle.

02:22All of the actors performed their lines on set,

02:24but Pice was the only star who got to do his own voiceover.

02:27The studio opted for other actors for the voices in the final film,

02:29including Corey Feldman as Donatello,

02:31Robbie Rist as Michelangelo, and Brian Tucci as Leonardo.

02:34Against all odds, the movie became a big hit when it opened on March 30, 1990,

02:38grossing $201 million globally,

02:41which is $398 million now, but adjusted for inflation.

02:44I checked.

02:45It stayed number one for four weeks, something that almost never happens today.

02:48Or then, really.

02:49Don't underestimate the turtles, dude.

02:51Head over to THR.com slash Heat Vision for more on your favorite movies, comics, video games, and beyond.

02:56You know, the good stuff.

02:57Cowabunga!

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