When asked in what direction the new film will be taking Peter Laird had the following to say:
“I can say that at this point there are a lot of positive feelings about a ‘Batman Begins’-style ‘reboot,’ which would, of necessity, include a retelling of the Turtles’ origin story,” Laird told MTV News of early plot discussions regarding the film. “Having said that, I would also be into an all-new story, if it was decided that that was a more desirable direction. Either way is fine with me, to be honest!”
Peter went on to share some potential plot points regarding the new film:
“Simply telling the story of what happened in the first issue of the ‘TMNT’ comic book would be a pretty short movie, so I suspect other things from the Turtles’ history in the comics might be brought into it,” continued Laird. “I would not be unhappy to somehow see the tale of Baxter Stockman and the robotic ‘mousers’ folded into this movie, as well as some elements possibly setting up the TCRI connection for a possible sixth (or seventh) movie. But I think I’m getting a little ahead of myself there.”
Peter goes on to say that making a TMNT movie has to include The Shredder and that April O’Neil and Casey Jones have also been in discussions to appear as well.
Finally Peter offered details on the technology that will be used to make the turtles have facial expressions:
“The basic idea, as I understand it, is to do an all live action shoot, with actors and stuntmen in full Turtle suits,” said Laird. “To add expressiveness to the Turtles’ faces which would be difficult if not impossible to get with animatronics and/or puppetry, there would be ‘face replacement,’ with CGI Turtle faces superimposed on the live action performers’ heads.”
“This technology has been proven to be incredibly effective if done correctly,” added Laird. “Look at the character of Davey Jones in the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movies, with his mass of writhing tentacles… an incredible effect.”