'TMNT: Mutant Mayhem' Director Jeff Rowe on Making the Film 'Emotional' and 'Relatable' (Exclusive)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans can rejoice as the new film, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem is now out in theatres. The movie has been well-received by fans and critics, and that has to make director Jeff Rowe very happy. PopCulture.com spoke exclusively to Rowe who explained how this film stands out from the previous six movies. 

"First and foremost, it's the first time teens have ever played the turtles in this way," Rowe exclusively told PopCulture. "But before focusing on the action set pieces and before focusing on making it visually cool, we just focused on wanting it to be emotional and relatable and make the characters so grounded and dimensional. And we put a lot of work in that upfront and hopefully, it landed with really likable versions of these characters."

Rowe is no stranger to working on animation projects as he was a writer on the series Gravity Falls and Disenchantment. Additionally, Rowe made his directorial debut in the 2021 movie The Mitchells vs. The Machines which he co-directed with Mike Rianda, and the two were also writers on the film. For TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, Rowe teamed up with Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg to come up with the story that focuses on the four turtles (Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo) trying to win the heart of New York citizens while battling an army of mutants. 

"They're so funny," Rowe said about Rogen and Goldberg. "You're like, 'Oh yeah, Seth, he's like a professional, funny person. I guess that makes sense that he's funny.' But he's so funny. And they're really smart. And I think I'm a similar age to them and we have a lot of the same references just pop culture-wise. So it's like we speak the same language. But they also really love film and movies and have really good tastes. So it just made for a lot of easy conversations where it's like, 'We want to try doing it like this.' And they'd be like, 'Yes, that's great. I'm familiar with that film and I love it. Please do it.'"

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise has been around for nearly 40 years and was very popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. With the new film being loved by nearly everyone, Rowe knows that the franchise has the ability to only get bigger in the foreseeable future. 

"I think it's because the Ninja Turtles, however, you come to them, they feel like you're friends," Rowe said about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles staying power. "They feel like just fun people that you want to hang out with. And that's been there in every iteration. So yeah, I think people are just drawn to the reliability."

TNMT: Mutant Mayhem stars, Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Hannibal Buress, Rose Byrne, Nicolas Cantu, John Cena, Jackie Chan, Ice Cube, Natasia Demetriou, Ayo Edebiri, Giancarlo Esposito, Post Malone, Brady Noon, Paul Rudd, Maya Rudolph and Rogen.