TMNT: Mutant Mayhem’s Seth Rogen So Committed to the Turtles He Cracked His Head Open With Nunchucks

TMNT: Mutant Mayhem writer and voice actor Seth Rogen once cracked his head open with nunchucks while imitating the Ninja Turtles.

During an interview with Empire Magazine, Rogen revealed that long before he co-wrote Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem he was obsessed with the heroes in a half shell.

“Part of the reason I did karate was because of the Ninja Turtles,” he explained. “Me and [co-writer Evan Goldberg] both did karate together. My dad got me nunchucks that I cracked my head open with, because I was obsessed with the Ninja Turtles, and Michelangelo specifically.”

Goldberg revealed other shenanigans too. “Seth had just got these nunchucks He was like, ‘Yo, check this out, I want to show you this awesome move’, and just immediately shattered a huge chandelier from his parents’ house into a billion pieces. It took us, like, five hours to clean. On a sitcom, you’d be like, ‘This is too broad’.”

“It was instantaneous,” said Rogen. “It was as though what I was trying to show him was my ability to destroy a lamp.”

Rogen and Goldberg have collaborated on plenty of projects — famously bringing Superbad, The Interview, and Sausage Party to the big screen. However, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were always a big part of their childhoods.

“It’s hard to discern how much of Turtles created who we are, but it’s not a small amount,” said Goldberg. “We were the absolute perfect age, and comic nerds, and animation Saturday-morning guys. It was a heavy influence on us.”

The upcoming animated movie is more of a coming-of-age movie than previous takes on the characters, a perfect vehicle for Rogen and Goldberg.

“I started on a high-school TV show [Freaks And Geeks],” said Rogen. “The first thing we wrote was a high-school movie [Superbad], our company [Point Grey] is named after the high school we went to — we are deeply rooted in a high-school theme. The idea of doing a Ninja Turtles movie really focusing on the teenage side of it felt original.”

As well as co-writing the script, Rogen will also voice Rocksteady. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem debuts in theaters on August 2, 2023.

Want to read more about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem? Check out the many villains of Mutant Mayhem as well as our exclusive new character posters and trailer.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.