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TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (2014): Megan Fox cast as April O’Neil

Megan Fox Michael Bay

Megan Fox cast in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The casting of Megan Fox in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) answers the question of who will play April O’Neil in the Jonathan Liebesman directed, Michael Bay produced film. Who would play computer programmer (Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird‘s original comics) or the television reporter (the animated TV show) had long been a point of speculation for the production.

Director Micheal Bay formerly made the announcement via his website, saying: “TMNT: We Are Bringing Megan Fox Back Into The Family”. Trade magazines picked up the story, adding that Megan Fox would in fact be playing April O’Neil after auditioning the actresses such as Jane Levy, Anna Kendrick, and Elizabeth Olsen for the role.

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A Megan Fox, Michael Bay photograph:

Megan Fox Micael Bay

Megan Fox Michael Bay

On April O’Neil (from the comics):

In the original Mirage Comics storyline, April O’Neil (who originally sported a jumpsuit) was a skilled computer programmer and worked as an assistant for Baxter Stockman, helping to program his Mouser robots and demonstrating their operation. After she discovered that Baxter was using the Mousers to burrow into bank vaults and steal from them, she attempted to flee Baxter’s workshop and found herself in the sewers running for her life, with several Mousers in pursuit. Three of the Turtles happened to come across her and save her; they later successfully fended off a Mouser invasion after Baxter programmed them to attack the Turtles.

April began to run an antique shop, which came under attack by The Shredder and the Foot Clan (who had come for the Turtles), and which was destroyed in the ensuing battle. She and the Turtles retreated to a farm house in Northampton, Massachusetts where she later had dreams about the Foot Clan’s attack. During the mid-90s, April became romantically involved with Casey Jones and the two eventually adopted a child named Shadow.

In Volume 2 of the TMNT comics, April was attacked and injected by a huge robot controlled by Baxter Stockman’s brain (apparently, Baxter having escaped capture, had placed his brain in the body of a robot and sought them out in order to get revenge on April). It wasn’t revealed until Volume 4 that April was injected by nanobots that seemed to have caused sterility as well as nearly killing her from the inside. With the help of the Utroms, the turtles sent turtle versions of nanobots to stop Baxter’s versions and saved April before they would reach her brainstem. Despite this, April remained sterile.

This put an emotional strain on April, and she became a female version of Nobody until she was discovered by Casey Jones. It was with the help of Renet taking her back in time that revealed that April was really a living drawing, brought to life with the help of Kirby’s crystal, drawn by her father, who at the time really wanted a daughter. This was before their own biological daughter Robyn O’Neil would be born. Unlike Kirby’s drawings drawn with pencil that would vanish after a while, April’s father used a pen, so it might explain why April lived past thirty without vanishing so far. Questions such as if she was real or not, whether she could live or die, or when she would eventually vanish were too much for her to handle. April bid farewell to Shadow and Casey and went to be alone with her thoughts in Alaska.

On the possible incarnation of all the storylines that will reach the screen:

an older draft of the script that made its way to a TMNT fansite indicated that the protagonists of the film would be not Leonardo, Michael, Raphael, and Donatello, but Casey Jones, a security guard and amateur hockey player. (Think of how Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky led the Transformers series.) If that’s still the case, April would likely serve as the love interest.

The love interest will probably be Casey Jones. Hopefully he has the same characteristics found in the Casey Jones (2011) Short FilmTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles production will begin in April 2013.

What do you think of Megan Fox as April O’Neil? The choice will certainly put butts in the seats but I think Jane Levy would have been the better choice after seeing her work in Evil Dead.

Leave your thoughts on Megan Fox’s casting in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the comments section. For more Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles photos, videos, and information, visit our Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Page, subscribe to us by Email, follow us on Twitter or on FacebookTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will be released in US theaters through Paramount Pictures on May 16, 2014.

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Source: Wikipedia, Michaelbay, Slashfilm, Tmntnottant

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Rollo Tomasi

Rollo Tomasi is a Connecticut-based film critic, TV show critic, news, and editorial writer. He will have a MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in 2025. Rollo has written over 700 film, TV show, short film, Blu-ray, and 4K-Ultra reviews. His reviews are published in IMDb's External Reviews and in Google News. Previously you could find his work at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and AltFilmGuide. Now you can find his work at FilmBook.
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