Ahead of the DVD release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles this week, we were lucky enough to chat with William Fichtner – who plays the villainous Eric Sachs in the film – over the phone. Here he speaks about working on a film with a huge amount of special effects, why smaller parts can be better parts, and more. Have a read below.
How close were the actual turtles to what had been described to you and the mental picture you had in your head when you were filming?
It was absolutely spot on, 100 % exactly what I thought it was going to be. I knew from the beginning as I had seen some of the artwork and what they wanted to do. I’d also seen the commitment of the guys in the motion capture suits, so it’s not like we were acting with cardboard cut-outs. You had real actors, very good actors, right there with us playing moments and then the wizards put all of the magic on it. Also, knowing that it was Michael Bay’s company Platinum Dunes, the production was gonna be as high as they could be anywhere on the planet. When I saw the film for the first time at the premiere I was absolutely not surprised at where it ended up at all.
You’re really great at turning what could be small throwaway roles into memorable performances. As an actor, which challenge do you enjoy more; making an impact with only one scene or crafting a character over the space of a movie or tv show?
It’s different all the time. Sometimes I’ve been excited about one scene parts where I’ll call my agent and I’ll be like “Wow that’s really cool, I’d love to do that”. Crash would be an example, or The Dark Knight. Very small roles but I loved what that piece of the puzzle was for that movie. I don’t look at it as more favourable to one or the other. You never know until you read something. A lot of times I’ve been asked “Read this, look at this role” and I call my representation back and I go “That’s not the role, this is the role” and it might be a smaller role or a bigger role.
You’ve played a few villains in your career, including in this film. Is there ever a fear that you’re going to like the villain you’re playing?
I don’t really look at it like I’m playing a villain or not a villain or whatever. The journey is more to figure out who the guy is and what makes him tick. I’m much more interested in finding out that, because once you find out that whether it’s villain or not villain or whatever then you can start to seriously think about creating a real guy.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is available on DVD and Blu-Ray now.
