Street Fighting Man

Stephen Amell takes a break from wielding a bow and swings Casey Jones’ hockey stick

How does it feel to be a part of the Turtles film universe?

It’s still sort of surreal. I’m used to immediate gratification. We film an episode of TV and it airs a couple of months later. It’s very strange; because I’d finished season three of Arrow, I had six days off, I went and filmed Turtles, and we wrapped Turtles five or six days before I went back for season four. So I can’t figure out if I just filmed it or if I filmed it a decade ago.

Is it better than the first one?

I’m gonna say absolutely. It feels like a more fun movie, a bigger movie, a funnier movie, and we are pulling out all the stops in terms of beloved characters from the Turtles universe. We’ve got Bebop and Rocksteady, we’ve got Krang, Casey Jones… All the things that people know and love from the Turtles universe I think they’re gonna get in this film.

How would you describe your take on the character of Casey Jones?

We meet him and he is a corrections officer. He’s never wilfully broken the law in any major way. So it’s fun because you get to play him going, “Alright, I tried to be a corrections officer. I tried to operate within the system. It’s not working for me. So I’m gonna do it differently. I’m gonna take the law into my own hands.” But of course when you first start doing that you mess up all the time. And Casey messes up in ways that are funny… There was a different fighting style than I’m used to on Arrow. He’s a brawler. There’s no elegance or finesse.

Do you have a favourite scene in the film?

There was this one scene that we shot where I’m questioning a bartender, because I’m looking for some people. And I got to – pardon my language – totally lose my shit in the bar, and just start trashing it. If there’s a fun therapeutic thing you’re looking to do, I highly suggest whipping pint glasses at bottles of booze. It’s amazing. [Er, SFX doesn’t condone trashing bars, even if you hang out with Ninja Turtles – Ed]