Kevin and I had been invited to visit the set, and we in turn invited pretty much the whole Mirage crew of that time. As I recall, Steve Lavigne, Eric Talbot, Mike Dooney, Ryan Brown, and Jim Lawson made it down, along with some of their wives and girlfriends, respectively. My wife Jeannine and our less-than-a-year-old daughter Emily also visited the set.
Here we are getting Em ready for her first visit to a movie set (actually, I think it was EVERYONE'S first visit to a movie set!).
Wandering around the back lot where many of the street scenes were filmed, with Steve Lavigne…
Steve tries to get into the dump truck (the one in which the Shredder later meets his "end") while Kevin looks on. Note fake wooden manhole cover in foreground…
This is one of the alley walls in the backlot street set. We were able to get some "Puma Blues" posters put up on this wall as set dressing…
Steve displays his awesome strength by lifting a fake fire hydrant. I think Eric also did this…
Here's Kevin taping on the back lot, using what was then a state-of-the-art consumer camcorder…
Ryan, Mike, Jim and Steve pose in front of a comic book store facade on the back lot street set…
Elias "Casey Jones" Koteas poses for a shot with me and Kevin…
Ryan chats with Elias (can you guess who has the REAL long hair?)…
Kevin talks with director Steve Barron during a night shoot…
… and the Mirage boys (and Emily) pose for a shot standing on a "rooftop" edge -- this was actually one of the interior sets, and I believe it was the one on which the rooftop fight with the Shredder was filmed.
As I recall, it was a fun trip. We saw lots of cool stuff and met some very interesting people. If I hadn't left a day before Kevin did, I would have gotten to meet Jim Henson, something I'll always regret. But it was certainly worth the drive down there. -- PL
P.S. I'd like to put a photo credit here, but I can't remember who took these photos.
Thank you thank you so much for putting these pics up. I know i have bugged you for a while now and boy did you deliver. did you ever get to shoot pics with the turtles?
ReplyDeleteI cant believe today is the 20th anniversary. Im so glad you decided to share this with everyone. This will always be my favorite movie of all time. Just the definition of an excellent movie..
This is possibly my favorite behind the scenes (shells?) set of photos you've ever posted on here. These are just incredibly cool beyond words, thank you so much for sharing! There are many die-hard fans, myself being one of them, who have hung on to every little fragment of info we can turn up on this film, so this was an amazing gift for the 20th anniversary of it's release.
ReplyDeleteEven though I was still a few months shy of being 5 years old at the time of it's release, I have a very distinct memory of going to see it in theaters and having it be one of the first movies I REALLY wanted to see as a kid. It truly was a milestone in the TMNT's history, and these pics, wow! What a way to celebrate! THANK YOU!!!!
Thanks for putting these up. It brings back some of my earliest mmeories.
ReplyDeleteI watched all three in honor of the 10 anniversary of the release,but plumb forgot until I saw the entry here being so busy. This weekend will have triple Turtle feature!:D
I had known that it was twenty years since but I had know clue the date so in honor I watched the 4 movies
ReplyDelete( by the fourth I am talking about TMNT) but the 1st and parts from the 2nd are still my favorites and I have something funny to tell you people I had my mom and dad over to check out my new place and I forgot my computer was on and I was on this but I had inproper grammer so my mom tells me " Spell with correct grammer you are writing to a Lengened.
Wow . . .20 years old.
ReplyDeleteNow, that makes me feel old! Yet strangely, it makes me feel young at the same time, in that I remember going to see that film like it was yesterday. I was 9 at the time. Liked it then, still like it today.
How involved were you with the development, and what did you like best about the compleated film?
Thanks for posting. This must have been such a thrill. Turtles 1 is still my favorite movie. I guess I was 5 or 6 when it came out.
ReplyDeleteThank you Peter. These are grand references to the journey that everyone has taken these past twenty (+) years. I enjoyed these not only for your comments about the behind the scenes (especially because i'm a director) but for showing us photos of you guys in the biggest leap into the public eye of the universe of TMNT with THE MOVIE!
ReplyDeleteThanks for putting these up Peter, an interesting look behind what went on set ;)
ReplyDeleteThis makes me feel old!!
ReplyDeleteCome on I'm two years older. That means I should have a cane.lol
ReplyDeleteDo you have any behind the scene pics of Secret of The Ooze? I just turned 3 and had to wait for the VHS release for the first one. The second was a different story though.
Man...I was only like one and some months when the first movie came out. I had to wait some more years before I became a fan of the Turtles... primarily thanks to the Words and Pictures Museum in NoHo and Turtles stuff you could buy there. LOL.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, these are great pictures, thank you for sharing them!
Great pictures.. I can still remember how much the movie blew my mind. Time flies too fast.
ReplyDelete"AGLIAREPT said...
ReplyDeleteThank you thank you so much for putting these pics up. I know i have bugged you for a while now and boy did you deliver. did you ever get to shoot pics with the turtles?"
You know, I'm not sure if I got to shoot any photos with Turtles except for the "official" ones that Kevin and I posed for with Leonardo. Maybe some will turn up. -- PL
"tearaeden@aol.co said...
ReplyDeleteHow involved were you with the development, and what did you like best about the compleated film?"
Kevin and I were mostly involved with the development of the script, and we also had approval rights over the "look" of the Turtles, Splnter and I think April and Casey. Of course, when we saw what the Henson people had done with the Turtle suits, we had nothing to say except "WOW!" -- PL
PL said...
ReplyDelete"mikeandraph87 said...
Do you have any behind the scene pics of Secret of The Ooze? I just turned 3 and had to wait for the VHS release for the first one. The second was a different story though."
I'm not sure. I know I went down to the set for that one too (it was also filmed mostly in North Carolina), but I can't recall at the moment any photos taken then. I'll keep an eye out for them, if they exist. -- PL
What awesome photos you've got on the set of the first TMNT movie! I wish I could somehow see the video footage Kevin was recording there. ;) Can't believe it's been twenty years! Makes me feel old. ;p
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel with missing Jim Henson. My family and I missed attending an autograph show with Dom DeLuise and figured we'd try seeing him at the next show. We went to it and found out he canceled due to not feeling good. Not too long after that, he died. :(
One positive way of looking at it is you've got the wonderful memories of walking around the movie set and you met other great people there like Elias Koteas. That itself is a dream come true!
Thanks for sharing those photos! I enjoyed viewing each one. :)
peter these photos are great to see ,20 years wow i was eight at that point with my friends acting out all the fights after i saw the movie ha ha good fun,i always love behind the scenes stuff of movies but this movie means alot to me today, i even have it on my ipod , i cant wait to see how the new movie turns out hope the guys get a great movie like this one its one of my faves movies.
ReplyDeleteWow. This is the kind of stuff that makes your blog so great, Peter...
ReplyDelete-->> .. Historical.
ReplyDeleteDamn .. - -
Wonder if you guys got tp\o meet James Saito.
Hmm --
(yeh please do keep an eye out for TMNT ii pix )