M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender

[GeneChing]

...but the colorization of Avatar is a new one on me.

Four more land 'Airbender' roles
M. Night Shyamalan's pic based on anime-inspired series
By Jay A. Fernandez

March 15, 2009, 05:50 PM ET
Aasif Mandvi, Shaun Toub, Cliff Curtis and Keong Sim have joined the cast of M. Night Shyamalan's "The Last Airbender" for Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies.

They join Noah Ringer -- who plays the title role -- Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone and "Slumdog Millionaire's" Dev Patel in the movie based on the popular anime-inspired Nickelodeon TV series.

The live-action feature is being produced by Shyamalan, Sam Mercer and Frank Marshall. The shoot is scheduled to begin in this month for a release on July 2, 2010.

In the film, the four nations -- Air, Water, Earth and Fire -- are in turmoil as the Fire Nation wages war on the others. Aang (Ringer) is the lone Avatar who can manipulate all four elements and possibly restore peace to their world.

Mandvi is set to play the Fire Nation's Commander Zhao, Curtis will play the Fire Lord Ozai, and Toub is Uncle Iroh, a retired Fire Nation general. Sim will play Earthbending Father.

Shyamalan has signed to shoot the first feature in a planned trilogy, to which Paramount has budgeted $250 million. The martial arts-heavy series is set to film in Greenland and Vietnam.

Curtis ("A Thousand Words") and Toub ("Iron Man") are repped by Abrams Artists Agency, Mandvi ("The Daily Show With Jon Stewart") is repped by Endeavor and Sweet 180 Management, and Sim is repped by Judy Boals in New York.

[SimonM]

Hold on...

Aasif Mandvi is playing the badguy?

This might be such a titanic piece of crap that it's worth watching.

I'm trying to picture the sparkling eyed daily show jokester as a cruel villain...

and I'm completely failing.

[doug maverick]

well he film has already started shooting in philly, i'm training most of my stuntmen friends in bagua zhang, for the big battlke at the end of the film, because water is bagua, not tai chi in this film. i heard in the second part the earth kingdom is suppose to be mostly people of african american decent and the fire will be people of indian or middle eastern decent. idk how this film is going to turn out, but i hope at least the action is decent.

[SimonM]

I just know enough about Mandvi's acting style to question if he will be able to keep a totally straight face. His style tends to include a certain self-recognition of the rediculousness of the premises he participates in.

And he's is a comedian.

Don't get me wrong, I think he's an excellent comedian. I'm just uncertain of his fitness for playing a martial arts villain.

It'd be about as bizarre as Hulk Hogan playing a serious dramatic part.

[Zenshiite]

Definitely not seeing this one. If they are lucky I'll got see it at the 2 dollar theater after it's left all the other theaters...

Sounds to me like they are butchering the whole Avatar world here.

[SimonM]

Well let us not forget:

At the end of the day one of America's most consistently awful directors is at the helm of this movie.

M. Night Shamylan has yet to make a movie I've liked.

Now, mind, I haven't seen them all and it is possible that I would like Unbreakable. But still...

The guy is directorial poison to everything he touches.

[Zenshiite]

^Indeed.

Actually, I hope it's an epic fail of the sort that Hulk was... and that someone with some cajones says "we screwed that movie from the beginning, let's do it right this time" and they do it all over again.

I know, I know, the chances of that happening are basically nil... but I'd still like to see it happen.

[Wood Dragon]

From what I saw of the show (I used to watch it on my PC, while doing paperwork), it was a "Asian/Oriental-inspired" world/universe, filled with people of "nonspecific" ethnicities (some looked caucasian, some asian).

The culture was "asian", not the people (plus they could control the elements, so it's not like they're actual humans).

So, while it may be a bit stupid to cast the live-action with caucasians from wall to wall, it is also not correct to do it the other way around.

There is a middle ground that fits the original story. Especially given the desire for inclusiveness in a kid's movie.

Seriously, though: Philadelphia? Yeah, that place just screams "Fire Kingdom". Recast the Director.

[Raipizo]

Pretty cool fight scenes though i think was a good show. It had some unique fighting styles.

[Zenshiite]

From what I saw of the show (I used to watch it on my PC, while doing paperwork), it was a "Asian/Oriental-inspired" world/universe, filled with people of "nonspecific" ethnicities (some looked caucasian, some asian).

The culture was "asian", not the people (plus they could control the elements, so it's not like they're actual humans).

So, while it may be a bit stupid to cast the live-action with caucasians from wall to wall, it is also not correct to do it the other way around.

There is a middle ground that fits the original story. Especially given the desire for inclusiveness in a kid's movie.

Seriously, though: Philadelphia? Yeah, that place just screams "Fire Kingdom". Recast the Director.

That's probably the biggest fault of the entire film. Why the hell would you get a director who rarely works outside of the Philadelphia area for any of his movies?

Honestly, I couldn't care any less about this movie anymore.

[doug maverick]

while the film is being shot in philly it is not based in philly. they actually have a huge sound stage where they built the sets and let me just say it looks amazing. also they are shooting scenes in ice land, to represent the northern water tribe.

[dajanerz]

Here's your first look at Noah Ringer as Aang and Dev Patel as Zuko.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/...rst-look_N.htm

There is so much fail to the images and journalism in this article.

[Lokhopkuen]

http://www.spike.com/video/last-airbender/3193349

Looks kindda cool.

[冠木侍]

http://www.spike.com/video/last-airbender/3193349

Looks kindda cool.

Not bad but part of it reminds me of Warriors of Virtue...

[Lokhopkuen]

I was talking about the special effects from ILM.