10 Movie Characters Totally Changed During Production

4. The Shredder - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Character

The Shredder (Tohoru Masamune), the leader of the mysterious Foot Clan, who is in league with Sacks Industries CEO Eric Sacks (William Fichtner) in order to decimate New York City and destroy both the Turtles and Splinter.

What Changed?

It was originally announced that Fichtner would in fact also be playing The Shredder, with the name Eric Sacks clearly serving as a whitewashed, westernised version of The Shredder's original Japanese moniker, "Oroku Saki."

But after word of this leaked online and Turtles fans registered their outrage, Fichtner's role was substantially altered in re-shoots, with Sacks simply serving as a businessman antagonist linked to the Foot Clan.

Ultimately an actual Japanese actor, Tohoru Masamune, was brought in to play the Shredder, even if the bulk of the character was achieved through CGI regardless.

It's a terrible movie, but given how representation still continues to be an issue in Hollywood, the producers definitely made the right call here. Fichtner's a terrific actor, but this whitewashing was just too blatant to abide.