MUTANT MENAGERIE

Lead character designer Woodrow White tells us how the movie’s cast of mutant characters evolved for a new generation.

Splinter

“We wanted to lean into the dad aspect of Splinter in Mutant Mayhem. He’s very disheveled looking from the stresses of parenthood. But he’s still a ninja master, so he wears a kataginu that he cut from a discarded bathrobe. This reflects his improvisational, D.I.Y. way of life. He’s working with what’s available in the sewers to create a comfortable environment for him and his four sons. And then there’s the sweatpants, which are a common staple of stay-at-home parents. Jeff Bridges’ The Dude character from The Big Lebowski was a big fashion inspiration. Splinter’s build was partially inspired by Danny DeVito, with his short stature and long arms. One gripe I had with Splinter in many different versions of TMNT was that he wasn’t ever quite authentically ratlike enough. So I studied a lot of photos of rats.”

Leatherhead Genghis Frog

“I didn’t want to make Leatherhead muscular because I felt like I was leaning too much into Killer Croc territory, the Batman villain…. I just started sketching out an alligator, and I started asking myself what an alligator would look like if it could stand on two legs. And so that’s how you get that upside down L structure to the character composition…. I feel like a more humanoid alligator wouldn’t look quite as funny carrying a shotgun the way an almost-alligator looks carrying a shotgun and hunting goggles.”

“Our production designer Yashar Kassai helped out a lot with this one. I knew one of my desires in creating Genghis Frog was to make him a pixie frog [another name for the heavy-set African giant bullfrog]. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen one before. But one of my goals was to use a pixie frog as a basis for Genghis. I did some sketches, and Yashar did some sketches. And I think Yashar really tied that one together himself.”