Last week we brought you the first teaser trailer for this years TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, a reboot of the iconic eighties sewer-dwelling heroes. The trailer has received a reasonably positive response given the backlash the film received when first announced. We at THN were as dubious as anyone else but then we got the chance to sit down with Shredder himself, William Fitchner who reassured us that the film will be something very special.
The film is currently in post-production but has announced that both Johnny Knoxville and Tony Shalhoub are to lend their vocals to the Jonathan Liebesman movie. PAIN AND GAIN’s Shalhoub who has previously done vocal work for Disney’s CARS will be voicing the turtles adoptive father and sensei Splinter, whilst Jackass creator Knoxville has landed lead turtle Leonardo.
Both parts had already been cast with Danny Woodburn and Pete Ploszek in the roles, however Liebesman and studio Paramount have stated that they always considered the possibility of bringing in different people to provide the voices. The pair will still get a credit though as they have performed the ‘physical’ aspect of the characters.
Now given Knoxville’s reputation for pranks and partying surely he would be better suited to Michelangelo and not Leonardo who was always the more pensive of the quartet in the cartoon series. Whether the other three turtles vocals will be re-cast has not yet been released though given this change it seems like a likely option.
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES will be released on 7th August in the US with the UK having to wait until October 17th to catch a glimpse of the heroes in a half-shell.
Source: Deadline
