‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ Director Jeff Rowe Talks Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem writer/director Jeff Rowe is a lifelong Turtles fan. “Like, I have thoughts that I remember. Like, knowing how to think – and then I remember loving the Ninja Turtles. They’re just married together,” joked Rowe during Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies’ 2023 San Diego Comic-Con panel in Hall H.

Rowe’s vision for the 2023 theatrical film sprang from concentrating on the “Teenage” portion of TMNT. “It really started with focusing on the teenage part, which, in early conversations with Seth [Rogen], always felt like the most underserved of the four descriptors,” said Rowe. “And we wanted to cast actual teenagers and create something that felt authentic. And then we decided to reflect that in the art style.”

That desire to adopt a different style of animation for the new TMNT project was accomplished with CG animation that looks less perfect and precise.

“We looked at the way we used to draw when we were in high school when you’re like so passionate and you just don’t know how to draw, but you don’t know that you don’t know how to draw yet,” explained Rowe. “So, you know, like you’ll lovingly draw a hand and like every fingernail and every wrinkle on the knuckle – but the hand is horribly misshapen.”

Rowe added: “There’s no formal art training to encumber your pure expression. And then we’re like, ‘Let’s do that. Let’s make the movie look like that.’”

An early piece of concept art featuring two characters convinced Rowe this approach might actually work. “There’s an early drawing of Bebop and Rocksteady that I’m just like, ‘I have not seen characters in animated films look like this before. If we could pull this off, it would be really, really exciting.’”

Rowe joked that they tried and failed for many years before nailing the visuals.

Writer/director Rowe earned a hearty round of applause from TMNT fans attending the SDCC panel when the discussion turned to his entry into the franchise.

“I guess the other thing is when I think back, so much of my love of Ninja Turtles…I love the live-action movies, I love the show…but the toys are really how I connected with it. I spent a lot of time with those toys. They’re so inventive. They were such wonderful designs with so much work put into them. And they were weird. They were gross sometimes. And we were like, ‘We should let this movie be as gross and as weird as that whole bevy of stuff in the early ‘90s that kind of shaped my taste and childhood.’”

The actors who lend their voices to the Turtles – Nicolas Cantu as Leonardo, Brady Noon as Raphael, Micah Abbey as Donatello, and Shamon Brown Jr. as Michelangelo – recorded together. That’s highly unusual, and while it lent authenticity to their interactions, it wasn’t necessarily ideal from an audio recording standpoint.

“It’s awful! It’s a horrible thing!” said Rowe, laughing. “No, it’s really bad for sound because everybody just talks over each other. But you we got all four kids together, and we went in with a script. We had this idea of like, ‘Okay, this is the joke that the teens will say, and they’ll sound like teenagers.’ And it felt alien and weird because Seth and I are not teenagers.

So we immediately threw the script out and would just have them improv everything. It would be like, ‘How do you say that? How would you say that? How would you express this to your brother? Talk about a YouTube video that you saw.’

They would say tons of things, and we’d have to fact-check them to make sure it wasn’t like super offensive or some code that we didn’t understand yet. But so much of the banter between the Turtles just came from recording the ensemble, and then also letting the tape roll in-between takes and just hearing them talk about their day and then editing it into the film.”

Rowe also touched on the score of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem during the panel, confessing he never imagined they’d be able to bring two-time Oscar winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Soul, The Social Network) on board.

“I love the score in this film. I don’t know why they said yes to doing this. I still don’t believe it. But they were so wonderful and collaborative. They were like, ‘We think the score should sound like a garage rock band or something.’”

Rowe continued: “They really embraced the film. It’s really beautiful at points and emotional, and also really exhilarating. It was very exciting to work with them.”

The panel included a special surprise guest who’s familiar to any Turtles fan. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman joined Jeff Rowe on the panel and showered praise on the latest adaptation of TMNT.

“I’m so excited. I’m so proud of what you guys have done. This movie is brilliant on every level,” said Eastman immediately after taking a seat next to Jeff Rowe. “When you first showed me footage, 15 minutes in I go, ‘When are you starting the sequel?’ But, no, I look at it and just the way it’s come to life, it reminds me a lot of the underground comics style that Peter [Laird] and I started with the project. It just has so much life and energy and weight. It’s beautiful.”

Kevin Eastman is a regular at the San Diego Comic-Con, and 2023 marks his 38th year attending the Con. Eastman and Laird first came to SDCC way back in 1985 when the organizers were hoping for 7,000 attendees. That number’s dwarfed now, with 130,000 attendees.

Eastman loves being among TMNT fans. “It’s a chance for me to say thank you for giving me such a great life, such a great job. Almost 40 years later, I’m still drawing Turtles, thanks to you guys.”

Eastman also had a special treat for TMNT fans, including those who didn’t make it to the SDCC.

“This is really exciting. You guys are going to love it. We just found out today – this is breaking news, seriously. Nickelodeon and Paramount have secured the rights to broadcast next year the original cartoon series. All episodes, the whole series, so stay tuned. […] This is the first time those characters came to life with voices and movement. And Chuck Lorre wrote an amazing theme song for us back in the day before he was Chuck Lorre. The whole thing is so fantastic, so we’re excited to announce this.”

The Plot, Courtesy of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon:

After years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers through heroic acts. Their new friend April O’Neil helps them take on a mysterious crime syndicate, but they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem opens in theaters on August 2, 2023.