The stars of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem are all a little younger than me, but they still grew up with some of the same iterations of the franchise that I did. Ahead of their own film coming out, they discussed the versions that they grew up on.
Note: This interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.
When I spoke to the four young men about their favorites, Brady Noon, who voices Raphael in the new TMNT film, immediately said that he grew up watching the 2012 Nickelodeon series simply titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
“I mean, for me personally, I know I grew up watching the 2012 Nickelodeon series. And every day after school, I'd just come home and that show was always on. I would just always enjoy it and I got super into it. And I mean no just to be part of this amazing franchise like a couple [of] years later, it's just a dream come true,” Noon said with a smile.
Micah Abbey, who voices Donatello, was a fan of the live-action films directed by Jonathan Libesman and Dave Green (and produced by Michael Bay). “I used to watch the Michael Bay films with my dad,” he revealed. “I remember I went to go see the first one I think three times cause I loved it so much. And the soundtrack was really cool.”
Teenage Mutant Ninja (Ripped) Turtles
He added that what he enjoyed was the fact that the turtles were “so cool” and “so ripped,” which took us into a different part of this conversation.
Nicolas Cantu, who voices Leonardo in Mutant Mayhem, couldn't contain his laughter when the turtles in the live-action TMNT films being ripped came up. “Yeah, they made them so, like, attractive for no reason,” he said to a laugh from everyone.
That's when Abbey jumped back in and recalled that they all had six-pack abs. “They had like six-packs [and] I was like, ‘Man, I need one,'” he recalled with a smile.
I proceeded to ask if any of the turtles in Mutant Mayhem had a six-pack, to which Abbey, with all of the coincidence in the world, said, “Yeah, mine's definitely gonna get a six-pack maybe, like definitely in the future.” This made Cantu laugh who joked that a six-pack character design was in Abbey's TMNT contract.
Abbey then joked and said that his agents have “gotta write that in” to his next contract. But he then put Noon on the spot, saying that “if anybody, probably Brady [has a six-pack].”
Shamon Brown Jr. added “Yeah, he has his protein, for sure,” and Cantu concluded, “He definitely [has] a good workout plan.”
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem will be the seventh theatrical film released in the franchise. It stars the four teenage actors, Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Brady Noon, and Nicolas Cantu as the four main turtles: Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo. Hannibal Buress, Rose Byrne, John Cena, Jackie Chan, Ice Cub, Ayo Edebiri, Giancarlo Esposito, Seth Rogen (who also produces the film), Maya Rudolph, and Paul Rudd also voice characters in the film.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem will be released on August 2.
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