The Last Airbender is an upcoming
2010 fantasy
film written, directed, and produced by
M. Night
Shyamalan. It is a
live-action
film adaptation of
the first season of the
animated television series
Avatar: The Last
Airbender created by
Michael Dante DiMartino and
Bryan Konietzko, which has its influences
from
Asian art,
mythology, and various
martial arts fighting styles. The first
of a planned trilogy, the film, starring Noah Ringer,
Nicola Peltz,
Jackson Rathbone, and
Dev Patel, will be marketed and released by
Paramount Pictures and
Nickelodeon Movies on July 2, 2010.
Premise
In a world where the
four elements
can be controlled by people known as "benders", the Fire Nation is
waging a ruthless, oppressive war to control the other great
nations. The only hope for stopping the brutal war led by the
Firebenders rests on the shoulders of a reluctant young boy named
Aang (
Noah Ringer). The last known
survivor of the peaceful Air Nomads and the Airbenders, Aang is the
Avatar. The Avatar is the physical re-incarnation of the world,
with the power to manipulate all four elements and draw upon the
power, knowledge, and experiences of the Avatar's previous
incarnations. The Avatar is responsible for maintaining balance
between the four nations of the world and the spirit world, hence
keeping the balance of the world. Aided by a protective teenage
Waterbender named Katara (
Nicola Peltz)
and her bull-headed brother Sokka (
Jackson Rathbone), Aang begins a perilous
journey to restore balance to their war-torn world. Standing in
their way are Fire Nation Admiral Zhao (
Aasif Mandvi) and Prince Zuko (
Dev Patel), the banished prince of the Fire Nation
who seeks to capture the young Avatar to regain his honor.
Cast
- Noah Ringer as
Aang, a 12-year-old "Avatar" whose duty it is to protect the world. He is
capable of bending all four elements, though at the beginning of
the film he has only learned to airbend. He is fun-loving and
carefree and gets distracted with fun which affects his
responsibilities.
- Nicola Peltz as
Katara, a
14-year-old and the last remaining waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe. She
is Aang's good friend.
- Jackson
Rathbone as Sokka, a 15-year-old
warrior from the Southern Water
Tribe and Katara's older brother.
- Dev Patel as Prince Zuko, a 16-year-old prince who travels
with his uncle and tries to capture the Avatar in order to regain
his honor and position as heir to the Fire
Nation throne.
- Aasif Mandvi as
Admiral Zhao, a hot-tempered Fire Nation Commander in pursuit
of the Avatar. He is Zuko's principal rival.
- Shaun Toub as
Uncle Iroh, an older man who is extremely
easy-going and friendly and often acts as a surrogate father to his
nephew, Zuko.
- Cliff Curtis as
Fire Lord Ozai, the leader of the war
and the Fire Nation. He is the primary antagonist in the
series.
- Jessica Andres
as Suki, a leader
of the young female warriors of Kyoshi Island, the Kyoshi Warriors.
She is a friend to Aang and one of Sokka's love interests.
- Seychelle
Gabriel as Yue, is a
princess and the daughter of the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe.
She is a friend to Aang and one of Sokka's love interests.
Casting
Shyamalan originally offered the
roles of Aang to Tae Kwon Do-trained Texan
Noah Ringer; Sokka to
Jackson Rathbone (
Twilight); Katara to
Nicola Peltz (
Deck the Halls); and Zuko to
Jesse McCartney.
The casting of mostly
white actors in the Asian influenced
Avatar universe triggered negative fan reaction marked by
accusations of racism, a letter-writing campaign, and a protest
outside of a Philadelphia
casting call for movie extras. Rathbone
dismissed the complaints, saying "I think it's one of those things
where I pull my hair up, shave the sides, and I definitely need a
tan. It's one of those things where, hopefully, the audience will
suspend disbelief a little bit." In February 2009,
Dev Patel replaced McCartney, whose tour dates
conflicted with a boot camp scheduled for the cast to train in
martial arts.
Aasif Mandvi will play
Admiral Zhao,
Shaun Toub will play Uncle
Iroh,
Cliff Curtis will play Fire Lord
Ozai and Keong Sim has been cast in the role of an Earthbender.
Katharine Houghton and
Seychelle Gabriel are expected to play
"Gran Gran", the grandmother of Katara and Sokka, and Princess Yue,
another of Sokka's love interests and princess of the Northern
Water Tribe, respectively. According to Paramount Pictures, Isaac
Jin Solstein is playing an earthbending boy.
Production
On January 8, 2007,
Paramount
Pictures and
Nickelodeon
Movies announced that they had signed
M. Night
Shyamalan to write, direct and produce a trilogy of live-action
films based on the series; the first of these films will encompass
the main characters' adventures in Book One. The film was in a
dispute with
James Cameron's film
Avatar regarding title
ownership, which resulted in the film being titled
The Last
Airbender.
According to an interview with the co-creators in
SFX Magazine, Shyamalan came across
Avatar when his daughter wanted to be
Katara for
Halloween. Intrigued, Shyamalan researched and
watched the series with his family. "Watching
Avatar has
become a family event in my house ... so we are looking forward to
how the story develops in season three," said Shyamalan. "Once I
saw the amazing world that
Mike and
Bryan created, I knew it would make a great
feature film." He added he was attracted to the spiritual and
martial arts influences on the show.
Avatar co-creators
Mike
DiMartino and
Bryan Konietzko
voiced their opinion within an interview regarding M. Night
Shyamalan writing, directing and producing the film. The two
displayed much enthusiasm over Shyamalan's decision for the
adaptation, stating that they admire his work and, in turn, he
respects their material. M. Night Shyamalan said he will write the
second film while preparing to shoot the first.
Paramount Pictures has budgeted an estimated $250 million for the
entire trilogy with $100 to $130 million budgeted for the first
film.
Filming
Pre-production began in late 2008, while
filming began in March 2009 in Greenland
. After two weeks, the cast and crew moved to
Reading,
Pennsylvania
to commence filming at the Pagoda on Mount Penn
on April 2. According to Frank Marshall, as
of June 27, official filming has finished. The film is currently in
post-production.
Score
On May 13, 2009, producer
Frank Marshall announced on
his
Twitter account that 8-time
Academy Award-nominated composer
James Newton Howard was recording music
for the teaser trailer. Howard has also composed the musical
score for
The
Sixth Sense and all of Shyamalan's subsequent films.
Marketing
The teaser trailer for the film was attached to
Transformers: Revenge of the
Fallen, released in theaters on June 24, 2009. The teaser
trailer was also shown on
Entertainment Tonight, June 22, 2009
as an ET network exclusive. The ad for the movie was attached to
Nick.com, the home for the original series. The trailer shows Aang
airbending in a temple which is being attacked by multitudes of
Fire Nation ships.
References
- Slumdog Millionaire Star Joins The Last Airbender|
/Film
- [1]
- http://twitter.com/LeDoctor/
-
http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/04/28/the-last-airbender-teaser-trailer-attached-to-transformers-2/
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