Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles star sensationally slams blockbuster

It turns out, being a teenage mutant ninja turtle isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Actor Alan Ritchson, who played the part of Raphael in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) and its sequel Out of the Shadows (2016) spoke with Collider Live! about his experience creating the films.

Ritchson noted it was "the worst production experience I've ever had," according to Fox News.

"It made me hate life so much, so much," said Ritchson, 34. "They were so bad to us, and they broke so many promises. I said no, I didn't want to do it because I'm going to waste the best years of my career on something that nobody's even going to know that I'm a part of."

Ritchson initially had worries about doing the film, but the studio assured him that they wouldn't limit his character to "just a guy in a mask".

"They're like, 'No, no, this is a whole new, live-action, one-to-one, you move, they move, you're just as much a part of this as anybody else. When it comes time to get you out there, you're going to be in every country in the world, premieres all over the place. We're really going to get you out there'," he said.

Ritchson in another screen role in the TV series Smallville. Photo / Supplied

"Not only would they refuse to allow us to talk to the press to talk to people, (but) we found out after the fact that they told people we were refusing interviews, which isn't true," Ritchson said.

The actor also noted a time where he sat in an empty parking lot, not being allowed into his car just so the studio wouldn't have to pay overtime.

"They wouldn't let us in the cars to go home (from the set)," Ritchson claimed. "The turtles. They wanted to get the crew out of there to get them off the clock. If they stayed, they had to pay them. If we stayed, they don't. We're sitting on our backpacks in an empty carpark."

Ritchson did learn one thing from his time working on the films: "When I produce things now, I treat people with the respect that I want to be treated with, that I didn't get on some of these projects," he said.