In June, it was announced that the release date for Michael Bay and Jonathan Liebesman's
Ninja Turtles would be pushed back five months. The reason for the delay is still unclear,
The Hollywood Reporter claimed it was due to issues with script while
Deadline believed the delay was made so that Paramount could shave $10-20M from the budget. Even Kevin Eastman had two other reasons. One, being that director Jonathan Liebesman needed more time to improve key fight scenes, and the other reason was because the new release date would have more significance as it would be closer the Turtles 30th anniversary.
In the end, the delay has not squashed Eastman's excitment for the film. “All the intentions are in the right place,” he told an
NBC affiliate. “I couldn’t be happier to be a part of it. I think it’s going to be a fantastic film.”
Kevin goes into full cheerleader mode as he doesn't let it bother him that the director's last two films,
Wrath of the Titans and
2011 Battle Los Angeles, were both critically panned, “Jonathan Liebesman is going to make a great film.” Nor does it bother him that the script, which leaked online, was universally disliked, “From what I’ve seen of the script, it’s fantastic.
Kevin then lists three movies that Michael Bay's
Ninja Turtles will draw inspiration from, "We’re talking about being inspired by movies like ‘The Avengers’ for scope and roots origin and ‘The Raid: Redemption’ for fight scenes and ‘Rise for the Apes’ as far as computer-quality style.”
Bringing a new live-action
Turtles film to the big screen has been a long process and Kevin reflected on it's beginnings when screenwriter John Fusco (
Young Guns) was handed the keys. His version was to be inspired by the original dark and gritty black and white comics that Eastman created with Peter Laird, but Paramount wasn't on board. “Three years ago, I started working on the John Fusco version, which was this awesome, awesome, awesome ‘Batman Begins’ kind of take on the first movie," Kevin said. "It was really interesting, but it was maybe a little too edgy for what Paramount wanted.
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Kevin Eastman also participated in an interview with the
Examiner. I only included the parts pertaining to the live-action film.
Eastman explains why fanboys shouldn't be concerned:
I like to answer this by basically telling the fans first and foremost not to worry, this will be a great TMNT film. Much like many thirty year old concepts, the TMNT's have been re-invented a number of times, some were stronger than others, but if you look at what Viacom/Nickelodeon has done/allowed to happen with the new TMNT animated TV series, and the new IDW comic series, each has a slightly new and refreshed take on the "core concept," the new film with be the same, a film "well placed" in the TMNT lore the fans will enjoy. If we learned nothing else from one of my favorite "Comic Book Based Films, "The Avengers," that there's a lot to be said about never forgetting that core concept and core fan-base.
Kevin defines his involvement:
General creative consultant for the most part, which is cool as I get to wear a number of hats. From kicking the tires on a few plot threads with the awesome writers, Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec, here and there, to banging out cool character doodles for director Liebesman, they bring me in regularly to show off the latest landscape, and to get my thoughts, and so far, I'm 1000% on board! I know it will be an awesome film, and the start of a killer new franchise for Viacom.
Ninja Turtles will hit theaters May 16th, 2014