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Were you a fan of the Ninja Turtles before getting involved in this project?
I became a fan as a kid when I watched the 1991 movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, which had (rapper-actor) Vanilla Ice in it. Since then I have been in love with the turtles and the franchise.
How did you get to be in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, this new take on their adventures?
I knew they were planning to make a new live action movie about the turtles because there has been talk about it for years. Eventually it went over to Platinum Dunes, Michael Bay’s production company, and I was lucky to have the doors open for me there and had a meeting set up. I really wanted to be a part of the project so I fought really hard for it and wrote a lot of emails. I really wanted to be in this movie! Actually, I think I have never been so excited to be a part of something before precisely because of what it represented, as it brought me back to my childhood.
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Of the four Ninja Turtles — Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello and Leonardo — which one was your favourite growing up?
Michelangelo! When you are a little girl you can kind of have a crush on cartoon characters, as ridiculous as it may sound. Mikey (Michelangelo) was also my favourite because he brought the comedic relief to the group and he was the one that never took anything too seriously. As an adult I can see that his personality in a way echoes my father’s (Franklin Fox), so maybe I had also taken to him for that reason.
Have you ever had a pet turtle?
I have never had one at home, but when I go to Hawaii there is this sea turtle I always visit that I named Franklin. I know who he is because he has this oozy left eye.
Why do you think these Ninja Turtles are so beloved all over the world?
My theory is that each one of them is based on our temperaments, so this way we can all see ourselves in one of them. I don’t know if this formula was intentional or an accident, but it is perfect to draw everyone in. Of course, Michelangelo is the one I identify with the most, although Leonardo can be a little melancholic and I have a bit of that in my personality too; he represents the part of me I don’t want to explore whereas Mikey is in the forefront.
You play journalist April O’Neil in the movie. What kind of a woman is she?
When you first meet her, she seems to be one of those interviewers you see on the red carpet doing fluff pieces for her network, but her aspiration is to be taken much more seriously. So you see she is unhappy and trying to find a real story to break through. Her life changes when she comes across the turtles and the Foot Clan (the ninjutsu clan in the TMNT films) and she gets sucked deeply into this story.
Do you think you would make a good reporter in real life?
I don’t think I would thrive in that industry because I would never want to cover frivolous things like celebrity news, but at the same time my psyche is very sensitive and I get a bit overwhelmed by the news of what’s really going on in the world. So, neither end of the spectrum is a good one for me.
How physically demanding was this role for you?
I did quite a lot of action. There is an enormous choreographed scene with Will Arnett (as TV cameraman Vernon Fenwick) fighting the Foot Clan, which we only learned about an hour before we went on camera. That scene was crazy and chaotic and that made us both feel like total badasses. It was so exciting!
Whoopi Goldberg plays your boss. What can you say about her?
I love her so much! She is amazing, has such good karma and is just a very special human being. Whoopi is one of those people that opens you up as an actor and makes you feel great in the scene. I feel I was able to be so much better with her next to me.
You worked with Michael Bay on the first two Transformers movies — Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen — and other films with special effects before. How was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles different with Bay as producer?
There were less large explosions and stunts on this film than on Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.... Also, the way I interacted with the turtles was different to how I did with the giant robots. Here I was interacting with actors playing the turtles through motion capture technology instead of giant robots that were never really there. Also, having a dialogue with someone that is physically in front of you saying his lines changes everything you do and just makes it easier.
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