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One of the tricky parts of filming a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie in the Turtles’ native home of New York is the inevitability of being caught on camera by eager movie fans and members of the paparazzi. With Michael Bay’s recent statements reassuring fans that the heroes’ origin story hasn’t been changed and star Alan Ritchson‘s insistence that the film’s bad reputation is completely off-target, hope springs anew that Jonathan Liebesman’s reboot might make for a worthy addition to the TMNT franchise.
With that in mind, let’s talks about the recently leaked TMNT set photos that were captured during a shoot in Gramercy Park, Manhattan, which feature stars Will Arnett (Arrested Development) and Megan Fox (Transformers).
Identifying a character is always made easier when they’re wearing a name tag on a lanyard around their necks, and such is the case Arnett’s character, Vernon Fenwick.
Set photos published over at Super Hero Hype show Arnett in costume as April O’Neil’s scheming cameraman, who, in the animated series, frequently tried to take credit for stories in order to impress Channel 6 boss Burne Thompson. Between the two of them, Thompson and Fenwick make up the J. Jonah Jameson of the TMNT universe, often pinning the blame for crimes on the Turtles.
But really, who can blame poor Vernon for trying to grab a piece of the pie? His day-to-day job sees him relegated to lugging around heavy equipment while April keeps an eye out for the next story. There are a number of photos of Arnett in the gallery, though regrettably none of them show him sporting Fenwick’s trademark pink shirt and braces. Perhaps they’re saving that for another scene.
Megan Fox as April O’Neil…Sans Jumpsuit?
The gallery does, however, give us a first look at Megan Fox as April O’Neil in her trademark yellow – though she’s not wearing the full jumpsuit from the original TV show.
The decision to instead opt for a jacket will no doubt disappoint some of the more hardcore TMNT fans out there, but it’s understandable given that the franchise is being given a general makeover. You could argue that jumpsuits were part of the ’80s and ’90s and therefore would look out of place in a 21st century TMNT movie. Then again, this is a movie about giant talking turtles who know martial arts. Retro fashion decisions would sort of fade into normalcy by comparison.
Putting the costume aside for now, let’s take a look at the logo that could potentially be gracing theater screens when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is released. We’ve heard rumors of this new logo – and the return of the “Teenage” and “Mutant” into the film’s title that comes with – before today, but this is the first time that a photo of the logo has been published online.
The logo, which can be found in the image gallery over at Comic Book Movie, was printed on a crew member’s chair, and it seems to confirm that the unpopular title change has been redacted and replaced with the more familiar Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Aside from these points, the most notable plot point that can be gathered from the photos is that April O’Neil will, for some reason, be jumping up and down on a trampoline. It’s pretty admirable of Liebesman to dedicate screen time to showcasing his lead female actress’s, ahem, athleticism.
Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles opens in theaters on June 6th, 2014.
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