CASEY JONES : LAWBREAKERS BEWARE! (a TMNT fan film by Chris .R. Notarile)

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With his relationship once again on the rocks with April O'Neil, Casey Jones finds himself in the proverbial dog house. But can he get his act together and amend things with the woman in his life, or will he sink further into his violent hockey masked persona?

A WORD FROM CHRIS

This short could pretty much act as a pilot to kick off a very dark Casey Jones series that could easily flourish on Netflix or HBO Max. The direction I specifically took this short in was definitely a darker tone compared to its predecessor. I spent a good amount of time going over the character with Heath Harper and we came to this conclusion that Casey (when he puts his mask on) is part Jason Voorhees. He becomes a monster. And we really wanted to show the dichotomy of Casey, the loving but immature boyfriend, the homicidal hockey masked monster he becomes on his nights out, and the toll it has taken on his relationship with April. This poor woman is in love with a goon who is too toxic for his own good, and when you put that all into perspective, it makes for an incredibly unhealthy situation.

Blinky newcomer, Kelli Kickham gave a hell of a performance as an "I'm fucking done" April O'Neil, and her contention with Heath's oblivious Casey was the right amount of toxicity I wanted. I firmly believe their relationship is the key to making a believable Casey Jones. Because without her as his emotional anchor, Casey would have virtually no redeeming qualities.

We put a lot of effort into their dispute, and we also came to the conclusion that the "breakup" needed to be real. A lot of movie arguments, as well as real life arguments usually have people screaming at each other and slamming doors, but they always go back to each other. But real detrimental arguments, ones that could actually kill a relationship never end with yelling. They end with exhaustion. They end in defeat. And when rehearsing the scene, Heath, Kelli and I all agreed that April had to truly be "over it". She needed to leave in defeat.

I wanted to get as close to 1990 Casey Jones' look as humanly possible, from the wardrobe and hair, down to his accent and golf bag. Elias Koteas has NOT been surpassed by any other portrayal of Casey Jones, so if it ain't broke, don't fix it. April on the other hand was sort of a mixed bag. I love Judith Hoag's April, and we tried to get as close to that as possible, but I also wanted to pay homage to the comic and cartoon. Thankfully Kelli was able to score that amazing yellow leather jacket for the shoot, which really helped accentuate her look.

So as I'm sure you noticed, there was a tiny cameo from two of everyone's favorite quartet of reptilian ninjas. That was me doing both voices. I would love to one day get a turtle costume in one of my shorts, but a quality Jim Henson level suit is waaaaay out of my price range. So I settled for a phone call cameo. It was simple and effective.