Sam Rockwell Commands Attention in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cameo

Sam Rockwell has a knack for drawing attention even in small parts, as his work in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Iron Man 2 demonstrates. In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles he’s credited as the Foot Clan’s “head thug.” Rockwell doesn’t meet the heroes, but he appears in two brief scenes that stand out: one in a warehouse-turned-skatepark where he quips “Regular or menthol?” and another late-scene interrogation where his presence lifts the material.

During that police scene he tells the chief to “go check out the east warehouse over at Lairdman Island,” a shout-out to creators Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. Eastman also has a small on-screen turn in the film as the trash collector whose truck crushes Shredder, while Laird declined a cameo.

The film spawned two sequels that didn’t feature Rockwell or match the original’s success.

sam rockwell, ninja turtles, foot clan, head thug, warehouse, skatepark, menthol, interrogation, kevin eastman, peter laird