Michael Bay's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot has cast its first turtle

With Megan Fox confirmed as Woman In Jumpsuit Who Agrees Not To Talk Out Of Turn Again in the Michael Bay-produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, production has now moved on to casting the turtles themselves, because this film is really happening. First up among the turtles who are ninjas, no longer mutants, and only nominally teenage is the red-bandana-wearing, sai-wielding Raphael, who ancient songs tell us is “cool but crude,” a volatile combination that makes him easily the most emotionally rich of all the Ninja Turtles. Those characteristics will be embodied by Alan Ritchson, whose experience with wielding daggers as Gloss in the upcoming Hunger Games sequel, along with his time spent being an amphibian as Smallville’s Aquaman, apparently won him the role from the world’s most literal casting director. Deadline clarifies that Ritchson will be hidden behind a performance-capture suit for the role. Though of course, there’s no hiding the raw, young Brando-like vulnerability of Raphael, Ritchson is probably telling some girl somewhere.