Veteran actor William Fichtner has been around the block and then some, starring in flicks like ARMAGEDDON, CONTACT, HEAT, BLACKHAWK DOWN, THE DARK KNIGHT, etc., and has proven to have a great presence to anything he attaches himself to. However, when he was cast as Eric Sachs aka The Shredder in the new TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES reboot, fans reacted less enthusiastically. The character’s name didn’t match (the original Shredder was Oroku Saki) or race (he was Japanese), so the outcry was rampant. I’m not familiar with an Eric Sach’s version of the character (misdirection perhaps?), but apparently that’s the name of this version, so it looks like a new direction for the walking cheese grater, which Fichtner commented to THN about with much enthusiasm:
“What I read about Eric Sachs in the script was great, and then how the character has been moulded and changed when we started filming has become something really quite remarkable in terms of what we’ve seen before of the character.”
When asked about the look of the Turtles in the reboot, Fichtner gave another enthusiastic, although cryptic remark, saying:
“They are some messed up mutant turtles!”
I’m not really sure what to make of that comment, although I’m sure you guys can figure out a way to have a field day with it. As a fan of TMNT in all its many formats (some more than others), I’m hopeful that we can be surprised with something cool from the reboot, but like many of you I am also apprehensive. I’ll likely catch it in the theater regardless, to be honest, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be happy about it. But I sure as hell hope I will be.
Jonathan Liebesman‘s TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES is set for August 8, 2014.