Ladies and gentlemen, we may have found our new Shredder. While nothing has been confirmed at this point, Deadline is reporting that famed character actor William Fichtner has signed on to the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in "a lead [role] with iconic stature in the Turtles’ mythology." And we think it could be the movie's big baddie.
Considering that all of the Turtle roles are taken (Alan Ritchson will play Raphael, Pete Ploszek will play Leonardo, Jeremy Howard will play Donatello, and Noel Fisher will play Michelangelo) and that Seinfeld's Danny Woodburn will be playing Master Splinter, that just leaves Shredder (the Turtles' greatest enemy) and Casey Jones (the hockey mask-wearing vigilante). Given Fichtner's recent run of antagonist characters, starring in movies like Drive Angry and the upcoming Lone Ranger and Elysium, we're willing to bet that he's playing the former.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot is being directed by Jonathan Liebesman (Battle: Los Angeles) and produced by Michael Bay. Production has already begun on the film, with Transformers' Megan Fox playing April O'Neil and Will Arnett playing her cameraman/director Vernon Fenwick. Paramount Pictures will have the movie in theaters on June 6, 2014,
Fichtner was most recently featured in the submarine thriller Phantom with David Duchnovny and Ed Harris, and was also featured in writer/director Quentin Dupieux's utterly bizarre Wrong. His next film, The Lone Ranger, which co-stars Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, will be making its way to cinemas on July 3rd.
