A 'Good Chunk' Of TMNT: Mutant Mayhem Wasn't In The Script
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" may have just arrived in theaters, but it's already being considered one of the best "TMNT" films in the entire franchise. With a flashy animation style, a fantastic reimagining of the Turtles' origin story, and a stellar voice cast of actual teenagers, "Mutant Mayhem" has absolutely everything going for it. Not only was the creative team behind the film wise to cast actual teen actors instead of becoming yet another studio animated film plagued by the trend of celebrity stunt casting, but they also elected to record all of the Turtles' tracks together in the same room. This gave the film a frenetic, palpable energy that would not have been replicated by adults in private booths. Indeed, "TMNT: Mutant Mayhem" brings the same rambunctious sensation of being thrown in the middle of a pizza party in the middle of summer break.
As the Turtles (Nicolas Cantu as Leonardo, Micah Abbey as Donatello, Brady Noon as Raphael, and Shamon Brown Jr. as Michelangelo) were all able to record together, this also allowed for the room to improvise. The teens were able to bounce things off of one another, ensuring that the script didn't wind up sounding like yet another film where high schoolers talk like someone who hasn't stepped foot in a study hall for at least a decade.
If you've spent any time around a group of teenage boys, you probably know that they never, ever, stop talking. Throw in the fact that the Turtles are voiced by actors, kids that know how to play it up for a room, and you've got a recipe for a jabber fest. As it turns out, that's precisely what happened, which means there's a lot more "Mutant Mayhem" that didn't make it to the screen.
Bringing characters alive with authenticity
During an interview with ScreenRant (conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strikes), the cast opened up about all of the banter that wasn't in the script but was still recorded as the Turtles all improvised together. "I would say a good chunk of the movie is a lot of improvisation," said Micah Abbey. He continued:
"We literally — and I think we did a good job, especially Nick [Cantu] to bring it back because we do the scene, and then we do it again, and then Jeff [Rowe, director] would be like, 'Okay, just be yourself. Say it if you weren't even trying to be a character,' which was the most important thing, we were bringing life to the character by just saying what was on our mind, saying what a teenager would say, and then Nick would kind of bring it back to the script."
Leonardo has always been the leader of the group, so it makes sense that his voiceover actor would also become the one to get the group back on track. "I'm realizing it now, yes, I was the leader the whole time, it just oozed out of me," joked Cantu. "We had a great script, but it was also very fun to just mess around and see what came out, and I think Jeff or Seth [Rogen] said that they were listening to us while we were just hanging out, and not even recording, and they would go back into the booth and they would be like, 'Okay, we need to get them to say that into the mic,' so it was very realistic, it was just us."
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" is playing in theaters.