Johnny Knoxville to Voice Leonardo in Ninja Turtles, News About the Movie Continues to Sound Like a Cruel Joke

"What's the plan, Leo?" "Ride shopping carts and then get someone to eat something gross?"
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The guys who wore the motion capture suits for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are getting Darth Vadered out (seriously, they’re getting both someone else digitally reinserted over them and their voices replaced) in favor of Johnny Knoxville as Leonardo and Tony Shalhoub as Splinter, apparently.

It’s currently unclear whether all of the CG characters will have voice work done by new actors, but it looks like Knoxville and Shalhoub are a go for their parts to replace Pete Ploszek and Danny Woodburn respectively. A couple of the other Turtles talk in the trailer, but replacing voices from trailer to big screen is nothing new to Ninja Turtles movies, so don’t count anything as a certainty just yet.

Ploszek is a relative unknown, but Woodburn (Watchmen, Seinfeld) is a pretty recognizable actor, which kind of matches up with the caliber of their replacements. I mean, it’s hardly the weirdest casting decision in the movie, considering Shredder is now a white dude, so there’s that.

I’m not one to call out casting decisions, but the idea of Johnny Knoxville voicing Leonardo leaves me confused at the very least. I’ve said in the past that I’m cautiously optimistic about this movie, but I want to clarify that sentiment only stretches so far as, “I’m optimistic it won’t completely ruin everything in the universe.” That optimism is waning.

Don’t worry, though. If you’re bummed out, remember that at least you probably won’t be able to hear Knoxville over the sound of everything in the movie exploding.

(via Nerd Bastards, image via Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

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Dan Van Winkle
Dan Van Winkle (he) is an editor and manager who has been working in digital media since 2013, first at now-defunct Geekosystem (RIP), and then at The Mary Sue starting in 2014, specializing in gaming, science, and technology. Outside of his professional experience, he has been active in video game modding and development as a hobby for many years. He lives in North Carolina with Lisa Brown (his wife) and Liz Lemon (their dog), both of whom are the best, and you will regret challenging him at Smash Bros.