At the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday night, there were plenty of stars from the big films of the past year, including The Avengers.
But among the seasoned superhero actors was Alan Ritchson, who will star in an upcoming film as a different type of hero — in a half shell.
Ritchson, whose credits include TV’s Smallville and Blue Mountain State, will play Raphael in the upcoming live-action/CGI film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
“There’s just a lot of technology involved. So there are kinks to work out,” says Ritchson of the process of shooting a hybrid of live action and CG for the Michael Bay-produced project.
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The film, directed by Jonathan Liebesman, also will star Megan Fox as April O’Neil, the human friend of the Ninja Turtles.
“We’re running around Manhattan, me and Megan Fox, her looking wonderful and me looking like some kind of ant with cameras all over my face,” says Ritchson of the process of shooting the film.
The film already has gotten a lot of attention for rebooting the beloved comic book characters. It’s more of a curse than a blessing for Ritchson.
“The frustrating thing for me since I’ve signed on is that you hear that it’s already got a reputation,” he tells THR. “I think people assume they know what it’s going to be about, and those people are wrong. The assumptions, everything you read online is wrong.
“You want to tell everybody how great it is, and you can’t really say why, but it is,” he adds.
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Ritchson says he’s been doing a lot physically to prepare for the role as one of the teenage anthropomorphic turtles.
“We’re learning a lot of the fight choreography,” he said. “We’ve got these unbelievable stunt trainers that work us every day to the bone. It’s been a great process.”
The Paramount film hits theaters June 6, 2014.
Watch THR‘s interview with Ritchson above.
Email: Rebecca.Ford@thr.com; Twitter: @Beccamford
