Producer Brad Fuller has brought the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles back to the big screen for a second outing in ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows’.
Within the film industry, there are a lot of job titles that audiences are clueless about. On top of the list is ‘producer’. Brad Fuller has been producing films for close to 20 years – having co-founded the production company Platinum Dunes, alongside Andrew Form and blockbuster director Michael Bay – and has found the best way of explaining his job to people not in-the-know. “[Being a producer] feels like we’re the coach of the team.
“We pick the players, put them in, and help them run the play. Directors are more like the team captain. I see my job as making sure players on the team are working to the best of their ability.”
Brad’s team analogy is fitting since he is partly responsible for bringing a much-loved team back to the big screen: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. After the success of their 2014 outing, the gang return for the sequel, ‘Out Of The Shadows’.
Platinum Dunes was founded in 2001 with the intention of creating opportunities for first-time directors. So far, Platinum Dunes have released 13 films, including remakes of ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ and ‘Friday The 13th’, along with ‘The Purge’. The majority of Platinum Dunes’ films are horrors: far from the cartoonish and child-friendliness of the Ninja Turtles.
Brad explains the decision to produce something outside of the horror genre was an opportunity to expand the company; allowing them to take on a diverse range of projects. “I think, as a film fan, I’ve always appreciated different genres.
“At some point, my partners, Michael and Andrew, and I realised that if we focussed on just one genre, we might miss out on some opportunities. So about four or five years ago, we started looking in earnest for another property outside of our wheelhouse.”
Along with expanding outside of horror, another reason the Ninja Turtle franchise appealed to Brad and his colleagues was the chance to utilise newer technologies; something Michael Bay has shown interest in throughout his ‘Transformers’ films. “We felt the timing was right, and the technology would allow us to see the Turtles do things we’ve never seen them do before.
“The thing I’m most proud of – and this sounds really geeky – was putting the Turtles in water. It’s quite a challenge, and to make that feel real was something Industrial Light & Magic [visual effects studio] worked a long time to make happen. It’s fantastic, and it looks so real to me. I mean, I can’t believe those Turtles weren’t in that river!”
The advancement of technologies has not only allowed the Ninja Turtles to come to life, but also expanded their world, something the team sort the advice of Ninja Turtle fans for.
The film also introduces fan favourites Bebop, Rocksteady, and Krang. “Krang was the hardest part of this movie. With the Turtles, we figured out what they looked like. And for Bebop and Rocksteady, on some level you can imagine what a warthog and a rhinoceros might look like.
“But Krang was just so hard. Like, how do you make a giant brain look real? And also the balance of him being funny and scary. For us, that seemed the biggest challenge.”
Brad describes the TMNT2 experience as fantastic. But the most surreal moment happened at the US premiere, which also brought things full-circle in a funny way. “Vanilla Ice actually came to the premiere in New York, and performed the ‘Ninja Rap’ from the '90s Ninja Turtles movie for us before the screening of our movie. It was just unbelievable.”
‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows’ is released nationally 9 June.
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