'Hunger Games: Catching Fire' star cast in Michael Bay's 'TMNT' as Raphael

Credit: Toby Canham/Getty Images for Cedars-Sinai

Alan Ritchson better get used to pizza and bad attitudes.

The 'Hunger Games: Catching Fire' star has been cast as Raphael in the Michael Bay-produced "Ninja Turtles," the new live-action adaptation of the comic book series created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. The rebooted series has caught hell from the fan community, as rumors often circulated about Bay's desire to change crucial elements to the series (such as getting rid of the whole "Mutant" and "Turtles" part, and simply making them aliens). Whether any of that is true or not remains to be seen, but at least Ritchson's casting isn't cause for concern in itself like the last bit of casting news to come out about this film.

Raphael, among the most popular of the four turtles (although I was always a Donatello man, myself), sports a red bandanna and the twin sai as his primary weapon -- unless you count his surly, aggressive nature as a weapon (Raphael is "cool but crude," after all. Unless you were one of those kids on the schoolyard who insisted the lyric was "Cool, but rude." In which case, you and I have nothing to discuss). The moody vigilante, named after the 16th century Italian painter, has a rebellious streak a mile wide, which generally brings him into conflict with Master Splinter every bit as often as it does with Shredder...or Krang...or Rocksteady and Bebop (anthropomorphic pet shop turtles make a lot of enemies, I guess).

Ritchson will step into the role upon wrapping production on "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," in which he plays Gloss, a dangerous tribute from District One. The film, and Ritchson's performance, will utilize motion capture technology, such as what was used to create the unique look of the Na'vi in "Avatar". While this will likely look awesome on film, I have to give a plaintive sigh at the fact that we won't be seeing full body suits, such as the badass look created by The Jim Henson Company for the live-action trilogy in the early 90s.

The strapping young actor has an interesting body of work under his belt, including a role as Aquaman on "Smallville". Also, randomly enough, he auditioned for Season 3 of American Idol, which you can see in the video below. (Paula could hardly contain herself.)

"Ninja Turtles" will go into production this spring with an eye toward a June 6, 2014 release date. Jonathan Liebesman ("Wrath of the Titans") will direct.

Via: Yahoo! Movies