Stephen Amell Was Determined To Have Fun With Ninja Turtles 2
For the latest sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, filmmakers tapped into another fanbase, casting Arrow's Stephen Amell to play the turtles' human cohort Casey Jones.
Amell says that the film is in many ways Casey's origin story, a police officer whose clean-cut life changes when he meets the sewer-dwelling heroes. Amell had never read the comic books. "I'm a fan principally from the movies, actually," he says "The three movies that came out timed up nicely with me in elementary schools. And I actually remember going to three successive birthday parties where we would go see the Turtles movie and then we would just go home and eat cheese pizza until everyone was sick to their stomach! So when I booked the job, my wife, who was also a huge fan and had a turtles-themed birthday party, actually remembered Casey Jones much more than I did. I think she was more excited about this role than I was!"
But Amell threw himself into the role. "I just wanted to have fun. I wanted to bring an edge of humour, and not take myself too seriously," he says, laughing off comparisons with his action training for Arrow. "I wouldn't say this is a new skill set, but I would say that Casey's certainly a different type of fighter than I am on television. He has different skills. I wanted to make sure that, especially the first time we see Casey Jones, that he wasn't necessarily a super-polished fighter. He's more flying by the seat of his pants, which is a departure from what I'm used to."
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