Steve Barron (director): [Hong Kong production company] Golden Harvest didn’t know whether to use creature suits or hand-drawn animation like Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The cartoon series was becoming quite popular so they thought: “Maybe the cartoon characters could come into a live-action film?” I thought: “No. This has to be real and in the sewers where it’s moody.” I didn’t get anything cinematic from the cartoon. I did from the comic book.
Josh Pais (Raphael): They flew us to London to get body casted. I was in the back room of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop with my arms out to the side suspended by ropes. They started covering my body in plaster and did the back of my body first. Then they started my front, neck and my face. They put straws in my nose so I could breathe. The plaster gets warm as it sets and everything was heating up. I couldn’t hear and things started accelerating so I went inward. Later, they said they kept me in longer than they needed to see if I’d freak out.
