Alan Ritchson Opens Up About Hating His Role in This Superhero Franchise

Alan Ritchson, best known today for his role in Reacher, recently opened up about his difficult experience filming the 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot.

In a 2019 interview with Collider Live, Ritchson admitted he wasn’t eager to take the part of Raphael, the tough and aggressive Turtle. He recalled, “I’m going to waste years of my life, the best years of my career, on something that nobody’s going to even know I’m a part of.”

Ritchson was initially hesitant due to a low offer from Paramount and the fact that the role required full motion-capture performance, meaning he would be in a suit and not immediately recognizable on screen.

He eventually agreed to play Raphael under the impression that the actors would be more prominently featured in publicity materials and that it would be a fun project, especially for his young son.

However, once production began, Ritchson says the studio failed to follow through on these promises.

He described long, exhausting workdays and a lack of proper overtime pay. He recounted one day where the cast had finished shooting but had to wait for hours for transportation, while the crew was allowed to leave first. “They won’t give us a ride home, what the f*** kind of production is this?! Get us home! We shot for 14 hours today. I wanna go home,” Ritchson said.

The 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, directed by Jonathan Liebesman and written by Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec, and Evan Daugherty, featured Megan Fox, Will Arnett, William Fichtner, and Danny Woodburn alongside Ritchson, with voice work from Johnny Knoxville and Tony Shalhoub.

The story follows the Turtles as they team up with April O’Neil to fight Shredder and his Foot Clan in New York City. Despite behind-the-scenes challenges, the film was a commercial success, grossing $485 million worldwide on a $125–150 million budget, making it the highest-grossing film in the franchise.

While the movie performed well at the box office, critics were largely unimpressed. Reviews targeted the screenplay and character development, although action sequences and visual effects received praise. A sequel, Out of the Shadows, arrived in 2016 with slightly better reviews but did not match the first film’s box office earnings.

Ritchson’s experience highlights the struggles actors can face in big franchise films, especially when their work is heavily masked or motion-captured.

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