Movie Musing: Megan Fox as April O'Neil in Ninja Turtles Movie

Megan Fox Reveals Red Hair for April O'Neil Role in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie

Megan Fox has decided to set fire to her hair, deciding to go with a red color, not because of any personal predilection but due to her upcoming role as April O'Neil in Ninja Turtles, the upcoming 2014 movie which centers on the household favorites Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. April is a journalist who plays friend and occasional savior to the turtles, but people familiar with the franchise already know that. Rather than being a sequel to the previous installments, this film will be a reboot produced by Michael Bay, master of mass destruction.

Then how did Fox land the role as April O'Neil? If you recall, when asked about working with Michael Bay on Transformers, Fox compared the director to Hitler. It was the wrong call as the next time we saw a Transformers movie (Dark of the Moon) Fox was not in the picture, replaced by a similarly seductive Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Anyway, it must be all water under the bridge for Fox to land a role in a Michael Bay movie or the man must be extremely professional, thinking Fox to be the optimal choice.

On the topic of the movie, according to IMDb aliens invade earth and go on a mighty orgy, starting up a breeding spree, giving birth to an army of mutated reptile warriors (OK, it's only a quartet) that the ninja turtles must put an end to. As always, controversy surrounded the movie's development with many fans clearly infuriated by Bay's choice of words. He wanted to introduce the turtles as originating from an alien race. This clearly deviates from the comics and TV shows and caused a riot amongst zealots and hardcore fanatics. Robbie Rist who voiced Michelangelo in the first 3 films accused Bay of “sodomizing the franchise.” Subsequently, plot changes and so on halted production, but finally, the film is set on a 2014 release and apparently filming began last month.

This happens to be the reason for Fox altering her trademark hair color. While most people were excited over her new look, I didn't see anything exceptional in it. This is hardly red hair. It's hardly the red we saw with April O'Neil in the original cartoon TV show. Besides, April is a smart, ambitious and headstrong journalist in the TV run. I'm sure Fox can capture headstrong, given her bullheaded performances on-screen and off (I'm talking about the Michael Bay drama) but it requires a different sort of actress to capture that friendship and innocence April shows with the Turtles themselves. I'm not dehumanizing Fox in any way saying that she's incapable of compassion on and off screen, but come on, there had to be other, more pertinent choices available to the producers.

It's probably a prototype hair color.

Fox may be up for it but 2 names of possible actresses just keep clobbering my mind. Jessica Chastain and Bryce Dallas Howard. I have no doubt that they can pull off the role to perfection, especially Chastain given her Oscar-nominated performance in Zero Dark Thirty. What's more, they are actual red heads, just like April O'Neil. Even in terms of physique, they emulate her to perfection, in my mind that is. When I think about it, it's like Robert Downey Jr. playing Tony Stark, the two synonymous with each other. Not sure if Chastain would even consider the role, given her penchant for indie and more critically respected movies, but Bryce Dallas should have been a sure contender.

I was dead wrong, though. None of the above was even considered. The front runners were Jane Levy, Anna Kendrick and Elizabeth Olsen. I'm only familiar with Kendrick's work, so I can't make a comment on the other two. Kendrick would have worked but to me, it all comes down to the bloody hair for some reason. It shouldn't matter so much as Fox herself has proven by changing her hair color, but it makes so much more sense to get a natural red head to play the role, especially when there are actresses who have the potential to nail the character in addition to their already apt physical attributes. This may be a minor qualm to some, If not most, but come on, think about the bloody hair! My mind is fixated on a candidate that I deem ideal for the role, so maybe I'm prejudiced in this instance... OK I am, so I might as well bury my argument for good.

A reboot needs to start off on the right foot, and so far, Ninja Turtles hasn't with the possible plot controversies and now casting concerns. Megan Fox has a colossal task ahead of her. Appearances can be fixed as her now quasi-red hairdo suggests but the feel of the on screen character will be more challenging to actualize. She has millions of Ninja Turtle fans scrutinizing her every move now.