Megan Fox Re-teams With Michael Bay for Ninja Turtles

Recently rumored to begin production this April, Platinum Dunes’ Ninja Turtles looks to have locked its first cast member. Michael Bay himself just posted the following on his official site:

“TMNT: we are bringing Megan Fox back into the family!”

The news comes as a bit of a surprise following Fox’s departure from the Transformers franchise in 2010. It now seems that, if there ever was bad blood between the actress and the director, all has been forgiven.

Although Fox’s specific role in the reboot has not been named, it’s likely that she’ll be playing April O’Neil, reporter and ally to the sewer-dwelling heroes Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael as well as their master, Splinter. Check back for confirmation as soon as it becomes available.

Bay’s use of the “TMNT” acronym is also of interest as, last year, he himself had indicated that the film would be released as simply Ninja Turtles and that the heroes would now be of extraterrestrial origin. Fan response was not entirely in support of that move and it’s possible that the script and even the official title has now changed.

To be directed by Jonathan Liebesman, Ninja Turtles features a screenplay by Josh Appelbaum, Andrew Nemec, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway and John Fusco, based on the characters created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. It is scheduled for release on May 14, 2014.