So, we’re left to wait to hear whether or not Fichtner will wear knife shoulder pads or a warthog, rhinoceros, or samurai rabbit costume. Keep in mind, he does have reasonable experience in dressing ridiculously.

Since saying, “These turtles are from an alien race, and they’re going to be tough, edgy, funny, and completely lovable,” a year ago, Michael Bay has changed his tune, this time offering up, “There was that quote saying that we’re making them aliens. We’re not. It’s the ooze!”

I like the exclamation point after “ooze.” It’s a nice touch, and makes this written quote seem as though it should be barked by Tom Cruise or Will Smith.

While it’s pretty likely that Michael Bay heard the rumblings of the internet and changed the script, it’s all a fool’s errand, as adults who are enamored of the Ninja Turtles will always be unhappy about something (their own lives), and will take it out on the easiest person on hand (always Michael Bay).

Embrace it, Michael, and make them Teenage Mutant Jewish Turtles, and have them solve a fictionalized version of the Boston Marathon bombing. Give them something that DESERVES to be criticized.

The Michael Bay-produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reimagining just keeps getting weirder and weirder. Danny Woodburn, best known for playing Mickey on Seinfeld and as the gangster murdered with a toilet in Watchmen, has been cast to play the turtles’ rodent mentor in the bizarrely cast film. Megan Fox and Will Arnett have recently joined as well, with unknowns Ian Ritchson, Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard, and Noel Fisher playing the turtles.

What remains unknown is whether Splinter will be brought to life via motion capture or prosthetic makeup but seeing as Woodburn is neither known for martial arts or being Asian, it’s an inspired and interesting choice. Plus we can all be happy that Bay showed restraint and didn’t cast Ken Jeong. (Deadline)

Oops. Megan Fox is April O’Neill. Splinter or Krang, perhaps? Anything but a lowly Foot Soldier! He’ll drown in anonymity!

He’s not a turtle, as they’ve all been cast, so conjecture might be a fool’s errand, as he could very well be playing a character that didn’t exist in the original mythology.

Or Casey Jones. He could be playing that hockey player-type thing, Casey Jones.

Whatever. The surprise will be nice.

Point being, this switch up in their mythos is wholly unnecessary and will only end as a mess. This is nothing new in the world of movie adaptations. Writers and directors are always providing small, unneeded tweaks to help make the projects stand apart from their earlier iterations. In some cases, it’s even welcomed. But in the case of Ninja Turtles it’s entirely unnecessary. Why not just make a movie about alien ninjas if you want to pervert the name recognition so badly?

Look at the below films and take notes, Mr. Bay, before you put more of your bad touch on the turtles.

Batman

Tim Burton took Batman’s arch nemesis The Joker into deeper arch nemesis-y waters with his take on the character in 1989′s Batman. In the film, Batman’s origin stays true to the classic storyline… for the most part. Yes, his parents are killed before his eyes by a mugger when he is just a boy. This sets Bruce Wayne on a path for vengeance, training and developing technologies to take back the streets of Gotham as the Caped Crusader, Batman.

In the original storyline, it’s a thug named Joe Chill who slays the Waynes. However in Burton’s take it is Jack Napier, who will later become The Joker, that pulls the trigger thus creating the Bat.

Spider-Man 3

In order to create the dark Spidey for Spider-Man 3, filmmakers had to do something to bring out Peter Parker’s anger. They chose to draw this rage from the mild-mannered photographer by rewriting the history of the sh*ttiest moment of his life — the murder of his Uncle Ben.

This version of the story sees Flint Marko, the man who becomes Sandman, as the partner to the carjacker who killed Peter’s beloved uncle. This sets Spider-Man on a path for vengeance that places a heavy burden on him when he gives in to his most violent impulses.

Also, the alien symbiote suit arrives to Earth via a meteorite that practically lands in Peter Parker’s picnic basket. Weak.

UPDATE: IT’S BEEN REPORTED…sorry. Caps lock was on…It’s been reported that Hazel has recently been offered $1 million to star in an adult film that will presumably feature both her vaginas. Hazel has shown off both her vaginas at sex clubs in the U.K., so taking up this offer isn’t outside the realm of possibility. Does this mean that the record for “most simultaneous penetrations” will be increased by one. Or two or three?

Only time will tell.

UPDATE II: If you want to see a medical video featuring the double vagina, you can do so on YouTube. Thanks to FilmDrunk for making the find.

Along with the presentation of her “gift” to the aforementioned fetish clubs and showing her double-barrel vagina to any woman who asks to see it, Jones recently posed, clothed, in Bizarre magazine, so she’s certainly owning this trait and not living in shame. So while you, dear reader, mull over the question of whether this makes her more or less appealing than a “regular” uni-vagged girl, please take a moment and review our list of the best mutants in film.

Three-Breasted Whore – Total Recall

Again, the extra breast thing is a matter of taste, but I can say that the third breast didn’t do much for me. That said, this list isn’t about me. Many, many Americans, and possibly Canadians, enjoy the tri-boobed hooker, so she makes the list. I find it a bit silly, as I never have thought to myself, “Gee, I wish this girl I was hooking up with had one more thing on her body I had to stimulate and negotiate. I’m not searching for degree-of-dificulty here. I would rather have a girl with nine tongues or a caterpillar clitoris or something that gave ME pleasure rather than yet another body part I need to focus on. Anyway, here’s your three-breasted whore. Enjoy.

Brundlefly – The Fly

Jeff Goldblum in mutated fly form is pretty much a lateral move from regular Jeff Goldblum, so I’m not phased at all by by the fact that he vomits on his food, or his ears fall off on the reg. It’s all good! I hope he doesn’t vomit on my hand, but there’s no need to single him out. I hope none of my friends vomit on my hand. That’s crappy behavior.

However, all of the blame shouldn’t fall squarely on that cheery little sponge. Cartoons have been warping minds for years by promoting violence, causing seizures, and creating young people naive to the ways of the world. These seven shows in particular are much more harmful to a growing mind than Spongebob.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

When I was a kid, this show was responsible for 98% of the groin-kickings on planet Earth. It was all but impossible to watch an episode with friends and not have the party end with someone keeled over cupping their budding gonads. Also, its essentially one big commercial for pizza which lead to a wave of overweight wannabe ninjas. Case in point, Steven Seagal.

Bambi

This one is on the list because it will wreck your shit. Remember how you felt when Bambi’s mom was murdered? Now imagine if you were a toddler and watching it by yourself. You’d think, “What a lazy deer,” and not learn the consequences of shooting someone. Then you’d be considered one of the dumbest toddlers in prison.

Tom and Jerry

Originally, Tom and Jerry featured some of the most violent imagery on television. And it was awesome. Then as kids began to hurt one another, producers were forced to have the cat and mouse bury the hatchet someplace other than Tom’s skull. That’s how Tom and Jerry and Friends came about.  I argue that the watered-down pussification of the material was actually more damaging. Living amongst rodents? That’s how plagues start.

Click ‘Next Page’ to continue…

I always buy mine in bulk.

Just pizza stuff.

Real Life Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

No word yet on how they’ll approach the reboot. Hopefully, it’ll be with awesome, Jim Henson puppet head costumes again, but I’ve got a sinking feeling that Krang’s gonna zap them all into the CG / live action mix dimension, which is far more horrible than Dimension X. At least in Dimension X, they don’t have Smurfs. (Deadline)

This is what industry insiders refer to as a “teaser” trailer. Consider me teased. They’re all there! Monet, Picasso, Van Eyck, and Rembrandt. Man, those crazy turtles haven’t changed a bit! What’s that food they all went crazy for? That’s right. Beef stroganoff. I can’t believe I remember that after all these years!

Nickelodeon is rebooting the series (with a 2012 air date, per this teaser) with 26 all-new episodes, and fortunately, from the few images we see, it still looks pretty cartoon-y. Entertainment Weekly aslo suggests it will be “funnier and ninja-ier.” That’s all well and good, but can the promise that it will be the funniest, and/or ninja-iest? Only time will tell.

Not much else is known, nor can be conveyed. It appears that, after 20 or so years, they still live in New York City. They didn’t really strike me as the type to move to Greenwich after making it big, so it’s nice to see that I was right on that one. This series is so rife with nostalgic meaning to so many that you can bet your bottom dollar that we’ll see Shredder, Splinter, April O’Neil (the part Lindsay Lohan was born to play), Foot Soldiers, Krang, and the rest of the gang.

(Teaser here, because EW is too selfish to share)

Expect the dynamic of the group to stay the same, with Leonardo the leader, Donatello the brains, Michelangelo the party dude, and Raphael the hothead. I bet other entertainment reporters had to “do research” and “fact check” those roles. Not this guy. Not this guy.

Some wives are better than others. That’s just a simple fact. This lucky bastard’s better half made him a moving, speaking Krang from "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" costume for Halloween. Do you realize how many awesome points that’s going to snag him at work today? The only way he’ll lose the costume contest is if this kid shows up:

Awww, he’s a little Robocop! (BuzzFeed, Gizmodo)

Paramount has forked over one million bones to Art Marcum and Matt Holloway to reimagine a new live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. The studio wants this to be their next massive franchise, like Transformers, and to get the ball rolling ASAP. Considering it’s been in development since last year, they’re off to a slow start. Paramount’s itching for a first draft by October so they can get it out to directors for a 2012 release. Never mind taking precious time to develop the story and characters. There’s money to be reaped!

Writers Marcum and Holloway wrote the first Iron Man and just finished the Highlander reboot. They seem like the perfect pair for a reimaging of films that are very near and dear to my heart. Except for the stupid third one where the TMNTs go to Japan. Who dare debate me on The Ooze being the best film in the 90s live action trilogy? Draw your sais in the comments section. Also check out Michelangelo giving SJ a shout-out after the jump. (Deadline)

TMNTs Michelangelo: Read Screenjunkies – Watch more Funny Videos

Paramount Pictures has purchased the rights to Last Man Standing, SlashFilm is reporting. No, not the 1996 Bruce Willis flop, but rather the upcoming graphic novel by Daniel LuVisi.

The comic, which isn’t due out until September, was purchased from Heavy Metal Publishing, which is owned by Kevin Eastman, co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The story chronicles the adventures of Gabriel, a genetically modified super-soldier who is framed as a mass murderer by a terrorist organization.

I don’t blame you if your natural inclination is to draw parallels between this story and the current Mel Gibson frame-up we’re watching unfold, but the book predates the Gibson incident, so any similarities are purely coincidental.

FREE MEL!

Michael Bay and his team of lovable misfits (Brad Fuller and Andrew Form) have inked a deal with Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon to produce a live-action reboot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. The group is scheduled to meet with writers in the next few weeks, although given that this is a Michael Bay production, the hiring of a "writer" is simply a formality to appease the WGA.

While casting details have yet to be determined, Twilight heartthrob Taylor Lautner should be a shoe in for the role of Master Splinter thanks to his peak physical condition and his rat-like facial features. However, it remains to be seen if Lautner is willing to let Michael Bay film him washing a car in a string bikini. (Deadline)

Speaking of Michelangelo’s voice, Screen Junkies recently had the opportunity to speak WITH Michelangelo’s voice.  Voice actor Townsend Coleman, the dude behind "The Party Dude" for 150+ episodes of the original animated series, sat down on the phone with us. 

Here’s what Townsend had to say:

On the origins of his legendary Michelangelo voice:

[The reference to Spicoli] pretty much hit the nail on the head.  For me, I moved out [to L.A.] from Ohio in ’84, so getting the series in ’87, I wasn’t so familiar with the surfer dudes and valley girls that were so popular at the time.  So when i got Michelangelo knowing he was that sort of surfer/skate dude party guy, i had to draw on something and it was very much the Sean Penn thing but it also had a lot to do with the voice director and the way they wrote the script.  They gave us a lot of input especially on the first season, when we were trying to get a grasp on the characters.  But yeah, the party dude thing… the guy who’s just a little burnt… came from Fast Times.

On creating a character, and how he almost voiced Leonardo instead:

I don’t really have a ritual; it pretty much hits me when i see the character.  And getting a sense of what the series is about.  But certainly when i hear the description and then look at a pic, that’s where my gut will take me.  Pretty much true for most of the characters I’ve done.

The audition process for "Turtles" was really no different.  In fact, I was working on Fraggle Rock [the animated series], and during one of the sessions, the voice director who was on that show was about to start voice directing Turtles, and we didn’t know it.  And one day, at the end of the session, he came up to us and pulls out of his bag a copy of one of the original TMNT comics.  And he says, "this is the new series I’m gonna be directing."  And we all laughed, because just the title alone was odd enough back then, back in the day when it was "My Little Pony" and "Transformers." So he said he’d bring us in on it, and that’s how that started.

I went and auditioned like everybody else, and was told I’d be auditioning for Michelangelo, Leonardo and i think maybe Raphael, and when I got cast, they had also cast Cam Clarke [who would go on to voice Leo], and they cast Barry [Gordon, who also voiced Bebop] as Don, and Rob [Paulsen] as Raphael, but with me and Cam, they weren’t sure about each role.  They decided to finalize it at the first session.  So the voice director had me do Michelangelo in the first read-through and have Cam do the second.  but after the first read through, the producers were still just getting to know each other… and i think there was enough going on in the booth to cause enough distraction that after the first read through… so they never switched the parts!  I don’t think it was a conscious thing.  I think they were concerned with other bigger issues. That’s how I ended up as Michelangelo.

On the Voiceover scene, circa 1993:

My days were nine to nine.  My big deal was the Home Depot account, but I was doing a lot of commercials, a lot of animation and in fact ’93 was the year i started a show called "The Tick," [he was the voice of the titular blue hero] and met Mickey Dolenz which was a high point for me because I was a huge Monkees fan.  And I also started doing comedy promos for NBC, so ’93 was a big year for me.  I was going to work at 9am and not getting home from NBC until 9 at night.

[When recording "Turtles," all the voice actors] were all in the studio at the same time, if there were eight voice actors, they’ll have eight chairs and copy stands and it’s always better to record as an ensemble.  You get a much better energy and vibe and interaction as opposed to recording wild, and picking up solo lines. 

[Voiceover artists are] a relatively small community. If you think of the community of actors, and then voice, and then animation, it gets smaller as you define the niche.  It’s a very small circle of people, and everyone knows each other and you see each other all the time, whether at auditions or sessions.  Most voice actors don’t do just animation.  Narration, commercials, and promos are in there too.  But there’s a rarified air – a stratosphere – with guys like the Rob Paulsons and the Jim Cummings‘s, and the Tom Kennys and Charlie Adlers, and Frank Welkers.  Its a real small group.

We were seeing each other every day.  and back in the early days – the mid-late 80s and early 90s – we were working under a SAG contract, not based on animation.  To be in a studio for 8 hours, especially with some voice directors who would take advantage and have you screaming al day… it would ruin you.  That’s why we went on strike, and got it cut it in half.  There’s also a limit to the number of characters you can do before you get paid extra.  But even four hours is a long time to be cooped up with insane, immensely talented, always-on voice actors.  [laughs]

At the turn of the millennium and feeling a bit burnt out, Townsend Coleman took a step away from voicing animation.  He let his commercial accounts and cartoon contracts work themselves out, and kept only his gig as the voice of NBC’s comedy promos, which he continues to do to this very day.  (Airings of "The Office," "30 Rock" and the upcoming Conan O’Brien-hosted "Tonight Show" are not complete without his vocal stamp).  in fact, the only regular animation job he maintains is the voice of Sentinel Prime on Cartoon Network’s "Transformers: Animated" series. 

Hear Townsend Coleman’s Michelangelo circa-2009 by playing the clip below: 

TMNTs Michelangelo: Read Screenjunkies – Watch more Funny Videos

Aaaah… my life is complete. 

A million thanks to Townsend Coleman for spending time with Screen Junkies, and to Lionsgate and Special Ops Media for making it happen.  Be sure to check out Season 7 of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" animated series, just released on DVD.

And read our interview with Turtles co-creator KEVIN EASTMAN here.
 

We’ve gotten the announcement that a new live-action feature is in the works for a 2011 release.  And just this week, Lionsgate released a brand new four-DVD collector’s set of the original TMNT animated series’ Season 7.  (Each box comes with a cool miniature reproduction of an original Turtle action figure, too.)

Much more is planned for the quarter-century "Shell-ebration," including some very special re-issues of classic Turtles comics, and new issues from familiar artists. 

Screenjunkies had the pleasure of speaking with TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman, who currently runs Heavy Metal magazine.  During our phone interview, Mr. Eastman chatted quite candidly about the release of Season 7 of the animated series, new Turtles material yet to be released, his take on the phenomenon that’s lasted a quarter century now, and the new Heavy Metal film in development under David Fincher and James Cameron’s guidance. 

ScreenJunkies: So, Happy 25th Anniversary first and foremost.  At what point did you say to yourself, man, this got bigger than I ever thought it would?

Kevin Eastman: By the time we were doing the second issue [of the original comic series] and we had gotten the orders from distributors… the pre-orders were for 15,000 copies.  And [co-creator Peter Laird and I] sat there and did the math in our little living room/studio, and we figured if we did about six of these comics a year, we could make about two grand each per issue, thus pay rent and buy all the macaroni and cheese we needed.  And for a kid who dreamed about that all his life, that was monumental on every single aspect and level.

SJ: Some of our readers might not know that the original comic book series was so tonally different and darker than the cartoon, which was aimed at younger audiences, but when the original cartoon series came to fruition, what was your involvement in it?

KE: After we went from 3000 comics to literally 100,000 comics within the year, we started attracting all this attention from different kinds of Hollywood agents – most of them slimy – but we found one guy we really liked, this guy Mark Friedman (sp?) who convinced us and said "Gimme 30 days and I’ll see if I can shop it and pick up a toy and animation deal," and he did, to our amazement.  And we continued on for many years, but because Peter and I not only created the first comic and published the first comic, we also owned all the trademark copyrights… so whatever was done with the Turtles, we got to put our whole stamp of approval on them, in the final designs, etc. 

The original comics were a lot edgier, and we wrote those for ourselves, but when we did the cartoon we knew it was being written for a much younger audience, so we came up with the ideas for different colored bandanas, or changing the origin story to make it a little softer, so there wasn’t so much blood and death [laughs].

Every season throughout was always a really exciting process because we not only got to work with writers and communicate directly with them.  We approved treatments, we made notes on scripts, we designed a lot of the characters – first and secondary – that were included in the animation and it was neat that the animated series as opposed to some of the bigger productions like the live action movies – the production time was much shorter and you were doing them a bit more like you were doing a comic book.  You were setting up a one-off story and you would start and end in the same episode, or you could do a 2-3 part story or you could set up a couple things in episode 3 or 4 that you could pay off in episode 10,11,12.  So we were lucky enough to be in the position of creators and, having the approval.  Pretty much everything you saw with a turtle on it, we had some say, or gave our signature of approval on it.  It was a pretty cool position to be in.  

SJ: Who’s idea was it for the first part of season 7 of the original cartoon series to send the Turtles on a European Vacation?

KE: [Laughs] That was our tribute to Chevy Chase and the Vacation movies.  No, we just wanted to explore different parts of the world.  It was fun to have the Turtles go – not just in the cartoons but also in the movies – to go back to Japan… but also to go visit some of their namesakes.  Going through Europe was a really fun thing, and we tried as carefully as we could to not offend anybody by doing some cheesy French accent [laughs]. 

That was the neatest thing about working with so many of the writers on the animated series.  We had our own visions and ideas and I guess boundaries – things that we thought the Turtles should or shouldn’t do – but these guys were looking through their own eyes and they were like, "Well, how about if we did the Turtles like that?" and we said "Well, I don’t know, we’ve never thought of that.  That’s actually cool."  So it was a very exciting process.

SJ: Back in 2000, you sort of separated yourself from the property; have you been working in a consulting capacity in any way, or are you participating in other events surrounding this 25th Anniversary?

KE: Yes and no.  The last thing I worked on was the live action show, and when Turtles came off the air, around that time, we had shot a production on the new Heavy Metal movie… and I said to Pete, "Why don’t you buy out control over the Turtles and a good chunk of my interest, and send me checks if it ever does anything down the road?"  Fortunately for us, and kids, and all the fans out there that brought it back to life, Peter started working with them on the new series, and I had no input in that, which Peter put together and crafted wonderfully.  And I have always participated behind the scenes.  I helped put together the Imagi deal for the animated film, because I was actually working on a Highlander animated movie for them at the time. 

But Peter and I spent about 15 years together, and out of that 15 years, probably the first 25 issues of the Turtles that we worked on together… that really was the foundation that built everything that’s been done with the Turtles up to this day. 

I have the rights to publish a variety of Turtle-related projects.  I’ve got my own 25th Anniversary book coming out, and Mirage has a 25th Anniversary book as well.  It’s fun to see it from afar and not have to spend every day eating, living, breathing Turtles.  And I still get to enjoy all the good stuff, like doing interviews.  Seriously, though, I enjoy it; it’s very flattering that I’m doing an interview here and talking about a new DVD collection coming out.  It’s pretty phenomenal that there’s an audience for that still. It’s awesome.

SJ: What’s the title of the book you’ll have coming out?

KE: Well personally I’m calling it "Kevin’s favorite Turtles Stories," but essentially "A Quarter Century of Green Style," is what it’s called.  I’ve gone back and taken the original Raphael story which introduced Casey Jones, and Turtles [issues] #14, #18, plus stories I did with Richard Corben, and a lot of one-offs that I pretty much did all on my own.  It’s essentially my favorite Turtle stories.  And that’s all coming up for the San Diego Comicon this year.

SJ: So it’ll be available this Summer?

KE: Yep.  I’ll be set up [at Comicon] with Heavy Metal, so you gotta come down and say hi.

SJ: Recently, I was in Hi-De-Ho Comics (in Santa Monica, California) and I was looking for the compiled editions of the original Turtles series and they said they were out of print.  Are there any plans to reissues the original compilations?

KE: Yep.  Actually there is.  It’s perfect timing.  It’s something that was sitting on the shelf.  It’s something Peter had been considering maybe re-lettering, or remastering and maybe doing something with it, but ultimately, for the sake of them being classic stories the way they were originally published, that was the only way they should be published.  I think possibly this May or June, he’s coming out with the original 549-odd pages, which features the original run of Turtles, which is Turtles #1-11, plus the four one-issue micro-series, where we did one issue featuring one single Turtle.  So the original 15 issues… that’s coming out in a trade paperback in June.  Then my collection’s coming out in July, and I know they’re doing another collection – we did a second series that ran parallel to the Turtles called "Tales of the TMNT," which was mostly worked on by other artists, doing their versions of the Turtles’ stories.  Everyone from Steve Bissette (Swamp Thing) to Rick Veitch (Aquaman) and many others, and that’s coming out this summer as well.  So there’s a plethora of 25th Anniversary collections.  What I’m happiest about is the fact that they’re re-releasing the 550-page collection; that’s the real meat and potatoes.

SJ: Are you in communication with anyone about the upcoming live-action feature film?

KE: Galen Walker [producer of the TMNT animated film, and with whom Kevin worked on the Highlander animated film] will update me occasionally on what’s going on, but I have no input beyond Galen occasionally bouncing something off me.  It’s pretty much Pete’s show.  They’ve got a lot of cool stuff going on over there, and when Mirage is ready to let that cat out of the bag, it’s going to be pretty awesome.

SJ: Out of all your creations within the Turtles universe, what is your favorite creation that you’ve personally had a hand in?

KE: I would have to say Casey Jones.  Out of so many Turtles stories that I’ve specifically worked on, I’ve always gravitated toward Raphael – I guess I could identify with him more than the others – but Casey Jones… who was in the first five or six issues we did, so it was very early on. 

I had this idea; it was kind of a parody of all these vigilante characters that were in comics.  You have the classics like Batman and Daredevil and all these characters where something tragic happened in their past that helped them choose the path to go out and fight crime on their own, and I thought it was really funny if we had a character who was inspired to do the same, but just from watching too much bad TV, like "TJ Hooker" and "A-Team" and all that stuff.  So I came up with the idea of this character who would be called Casey Jones and he would have two bats as his mai weapon, and he would wear a hockey mask and sweats – just something he cobbled together.  And at the last minute, Pete said, "Well why don’t you give him a golf bag and he’ll have all kinds of weapons in it?"  And I’m like, "Dude, that’s it!"  But that’s the kind of collaboration we had; it was always that kind of spontaneity, and how so many of the characters came together.  But Casey and Raphael – they’re fun.  And they’re a little retarded like me [laughs].

SJ: What are you currently working on?

KE: I bought Heavy Metal magazine back in 1990, and right now, we’re in pre-production on a David Fincher-executive produced, 50 million-dollar animated Heavy Metal feature film.  We have James Cameron as co-executive producer.  We have directors like Zach Snyder, Gore Verbinski, Mark Osborne, and I think there are two or three others that are big names, but who I’m not allowed to tell you about just yet.  It’s gonna be an anthology film; it’ll be in 3-D stereo in 2011, done in Blur Animation studios right down here in Venice.  James Cameron and David Fincher will each be directing a sequence.  There will be seven, maybe eight sequences within the movie itself. 

The entire Heavy Metal staff is basically four people.  I run the magazine, pick all the material that goes in it, answer all the letters, and pretty much run the entire program with our partner, Howard [Juurofsky] in New York.  But developing the movie with Fincher has been about the last 16 months of my life.  Working with these guys is just about the coolest thing I’ve ever been involved in, and we’re pretty excited to roll that sucker out, if you will.

SJ: Have to ask this, but have you seen any bits of Avatar?

KE: [laughs] Tim Miller, the owner of Blur Animation, teases me about it.  He goes over to Cameron’s and it’s always one of those things where I say, "I wanna go!  I wanna go next time to see Avatar!" and he’ll call me and say, "We’re going to Jim’s today!" and I’ll say, "Dude! I’m chest deep in something."  So I have not seen anything, but he’s taunted me appropriately about it.

SJ: Well, that’s all I got.  I’m sure you hear this all the time, but what you guys started and carried out was a massive part of my childhood and something that really brought me a lot of joy growing up, and being an only child for the better part of my youth… maybe it’s weird to say, but I kinda had friends in these characters, so thank you for that.

KE: Oh, dude.  Well, first, thank you and highest respects for the compliments. I take it very seriously, and you know, I was the same way.  I had three sisters and me.  And I hid in my room all the time and read comic books and drew, and I found I was so inspired and emboldened and really got strength out of reading [comics].  One of my favorites was reading Jack Kirby’s Kamandi the Last Boy on Earth, and I was like, dude, if I was Kamandi... but you know it helps you get through some pretty [messed] up [stuff].  And so, point well taken and I appreciate that. 

SJ: I used to fall asleep every night on my Donatello pillow. 

KE: [Laughs] Well, make sure you come and say "hi" in San Diego.  We’ll be at the Heavy Metal booth and there’s lots of cool stuff; and I look forward to meeting you in person. 

That goes for all of you readers out there, too.  If you have the opportunity to head to Comicon this year, stop by the Heavy Metal booth, and tell ‘em Screenjunkies sent ya. 

– PATRICK SCHUMACKER

Other Junk You Might Like:

10 TMNT Characters We’d Like to See on Film

TMNT 2: The Secret of the Ooze + Arcade Fire Mashup