Rebooting movie franchises has been the latest craze in Hollywood from Robocop to Godzilla, there have been wins and losses. This summer one of the most anticipated reboots is the latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film. Noel Fisher plays Michelangelo in the new film and is pretty excited himself to be in the film.
While there has been a hit TMNT television show on Nickleodeon and a movie just releaed in 2007 it seems like this franchise never leaves and just keeps getting better. Audience’s opinions were mixed with the new look of the turtles but after seeing the film will definitely see the chemstry and energy of the ninja turtle brothers dynamic is still there.
The film is shot with motion-capture, similar to Andy Serkis’s performance in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Fisher and the rest of the actors portraying the Ninja Turtles had to wear unitards with foam shells and sensors all over their faces so the turtles actually resemble the actors which is “super weird” and “kinda trippy.”
Fisher also trained with a nun chucks expert which happened to be one of his favorite parts in filming. “They’re like professional badasses,” Fisher said about the trainers. He also went on to say why they felt they needed training, “I think it’s important for Ninja Turtles to really know what they’re doing.” It makes sense, they are indeed ninjas. While Fisher didn’t do all of the stunt work he did a lot of it and to prepare with the nun chucks training really helped make the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles more authentic.
Aside from the hyped up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Fisher is most known for his role of Mickey Milkovich in the Showtime series “Shameless.” Mickey is a very dark and troubled character who goes in and out of jail and struggles with himself being gay, it’s a really powerful and emotional character, a vast difference from the comedy relief of Michelangelo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Mickey has a gay relationship with one of the leads, Ian Gallagher, and honestly it’s no different than playing anyone else for Fisher. “He’s not a gay person, he’s a person who happens to be gay, and there’s like a funny distinction but I think it’s an important one,” Fisher explains, “It’s not any different than playing any other character really.” He’s a character that really is conflicted with his sexuality but Fisher believes he can be fairly relatable to people. “I think everyone can relate to that experience of needing to feel hidden or some part of them they have to hide,” Fisher stated.
Fisher has been acting since he was a child in a variety of movies and television shows, but does he have a preference? No, not at all. While they all are different, Fisher just hopes to continue to do both. “It’s been a good road so far, I’ve been doing both and I just want to continue doing that,” Fisher said.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hits theatres this Friday, August 8th and “Shameless” Season five airs January 2015.
To watch the full interview check out AfterBuzz TV’s “Spotlight On” episode here:
