Welcome Turtle fans! With me today is the director of TMNT II - Secret of the Ooze, Michael Pressman.

Welcome Michael and thank you for taking the time to do this interview with me. As a lifelong fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I really appreciate it!

My pleasure Rutger, let's get started.

Did you always wanted to be in the movie industry and become a director or did you maybe had other plans as a kid?

At first I wanted to be an actor, and was lucky enough to act professionally as a child in the theater in NY. But I also fell in love with the movies and, at the age of 14, made my own little ten minute silent film comedies with my father’s 16 mm movie camera. It was a simple wind up primitive camera, and I made spoofs like ‘The fall of Count Dracula’ and a James Bond spoof. I played Dracula and my younger brother who was 13 played James Bond.

How were you first approached to helm the second installment of Ninja Turtles, and was it something you wanted to do right away?

I had directed the successful sequel to the ‘Bad News Bears’ called ‘Breaking Training’ and at the time, sequels were not all successful, so they approached me because of my credits. I was very hesitant at first, but did my research and watched the first movie and heard how much kids had fallen in love with the Turtles.

So you weren't a fan of the Turtles before that. Did you read the comicbooks?

I had never heard of the Turtles or the comic books. Now I do!

The Secret of the Ooze is a much lighter film in tone and violence compared to the first film. I wonder if initially the film was supposed to be just as dark as the first one. Were the complaints from the parents about the first movie the main reason to make the tone lighter and more towards the classic cartoon, or were there other sources involved as well?

I think the company, Golden Harvest, felt that there was a bigger market in the younger audience, and we all agreed to make a lighter, funnier and hopefully equally entertaining film.

If I’m not mistaken, the original plot was supposed to have more of an environmental theme, with April doing an environmental report. How much of this was eventually cut or altered?

I don’t remember if anything was cut. It was a little over advertised.

What were some of the challenges in staging action scenes that were required to keep things fairly light and playful?

I worked very hard on keeping the fast pace, and having comic bits play in master shots, because I had studied with a brilliant film teacher –film director named Alexander MacKendrick who directed the great British Comedies with Alec Guiness, like ‘The Lady Killers’ and ‘The Man in the White Suit’, and he always said comedy worked best in the master shot.

OK! So was that change in tone also the reason Casey Jones was not in Secret of the Ooze?

No! Not really. I just think Casey didn’t fit in when the writers wrote the script. I was disappointed because I loved Casey and I had given the actor Elias Koteas his very first job in a television movie about 15 years before.

That's too bad indeed. He's a great Casey Jones. The designs of the TMNT also changed a little from the first film. Were these design changes requested by Golden Harvest or more from your direction or maybe the Jim Henson studios?

The design changes were done by me, and I worked closely with the production designer and my brilliant cameraman, Shelly Johnson. The changes were made in the desire to make the film funnier and more for younger children.
I embraced that idea and worked closely with the production designer and cameraman to make colors more vibrant and give the look a more dynamic palette from the original movie. We actually found that much of the color elements we were looking at were from the original comic books themselves.

I really like Tokka and Rahzar. Is it true that they were created because Eastman and Laird didn’t want Bebop and Rocksteady in the movie?

I was never aware of that.

I know you’re a huge football fan and I love the references you placed in the movie. Did you wanted to put any more in it and did Golden Harvest gave you enough creative freedom during the production?

Yes they did! In fact, my parents played the old couple on the street reacting to the damage done by Tokka and Rahzar. And I, as you know, played April’s boss. My wife was also in the movie. We were dating at the time and she played the dancer being grabbed by the Shredder. And my cousin, Susie Essman, now a famous comedian, played a neighbor to April at the beginning of the film.

Do you remember any deleted scenes that were filmed? From Michael Norris I remember a tennis match with Raphael and of course the end scene where Prof. Jordon Perry lifts up his shirt to reveal an Utrom. Was that scene even filmed?

It was never filmed. I don’t even remember if it made the screenplay. And as far as deleted scenes, I think there were no scenes that ended on the editing room floor. In fact, we were all worried that the film would come in too short, so we added the phone call at the Newspaper office.

It would have been neat. Looking back, is there anything from the film that you’d change if given the chance?

I would have liked more story complications.

Last question. Did you by any chance see the new TMNT movie?

Sorry, didn’t see it. I have heard very little that was positive.

I can't blame you. Thank you so much for your time!