A Sneak Peek at M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender

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A Sneak Peek at M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender

Source:Edward Douglas

June 23, 2009

Last night, the first teaser for M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender, based on the popular anime-style cartoon on the Nickelodeon Channel, debuted on "Entertainment Tonight" and now, you can watch it here or see it in front of Michael Bay's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen starting tonight.

Last week, ComingSoon.net/Superhero Hype! had a chance to visit the set of the production which had roughly two more weeks of shooting in Shyamalan's hometown of Philadelphia, most of it taking place in an enormous warehouse that's been turned into as soundstage as well as other sets being built within an even larger naval yard warehouse. We even saw one amazing set that's reportedly the largest indoor set on the East Coast, taking up the entire expanse of an airplane hanger.

We can't say too much more about what we saw, because the movie doesn't come out for over a year and we want to save some surprises, though it was one of the better set visits we had done. We basically had a chance to talk to just about everyone involved with the movie, including Shyamalan himself, producer Frank Marshall, and most of the cast including Noah Ringer, who plays Aang the titular "Last Airbender," actor Dev Patel from the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire who plays Prince Zuko, as well as Jackson Rathbone and Nicola Peltz, appearing as brother and sister Sokka and Katara. We also spoke with Shaun Toub (Crash, The Kite Runner), who plays Zuko's Uncle Iroh, while Aasif Mandvi ("The Daily Show") is Commander Zhao, the closest the film comes to an antagonist. We also spoke with production designer Philip Messina, a regular Steven Soderbergh collaborator, about how they came up with some of the amazing sets we saw (as well as the ones they built on location in Greenland), as well as costume designer Judianna Makovsky.

The film is the first of a planned trilogy, each one centering around a different element, as Aang, Sokka, Katara and Appa, Aang's giant six-legged flying bison creature, travel this mythical world in hopes of stopping the war that's brewing between the four tribes as the Fire Nation advances on its neighbors for land. Aang is an Airbender, thought to be the Avatar who can stop the war and maintain peace by learning the powers of the other tribes. Patel's Zuko is a prince of the Fire Nation who's been banished, so he wants to get his hands on Aang to prove himself and earn back his father's respect.

Obviously, it's going to be a big movie filled with FX-driven martial arts action, but more importantly, the world and mythology created in Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko's animated series is giving everyone involved an opportunity to find or redefine themselves.

It's been well-documented that Shyamalan's daughters were the ones who introduced him to the cartoon, and since he'd been interested in doing a franchise that would allow him to tell a story over two or three movies, but also one that would allow him to "say something about himself" where his "accent could be complimentary to the piece," it seemed like a perfect fit.

To realize the fantastic mythology from the series, Shyamalan assembled an extremely diverse cast with the biggest name actor being one making only his second film appearance! Coming off the huge success of "Slumdog," Dev Patel has the daunting task of taking on a role that's far more filled with anger and angst than anything he's done previously, even admitting he wanted to do something as different from the Danny Boyle Oscar winner as possible. With even less film experience, 12-year-old Noah Ringer is making his film debut, coming from a martial arts background with a number of championships under his black belt; the eloquent young man was also a fan of the cartoon, which made him perfect for the role of Aang. Nicola Peltz and Jackson Rathbone (best known from the "Twilight" movies) will also have more of a chance to show their stuff as the two most important characters in Aang's journey, two of the Southern Water Tribe who find the avatar encased in ice. (You can see from the teaser that Ringer looks just like Aang, but Rathbone's personality is very similar to his character, too.)

Everyone we spoke to had a lot of enlightening thoughts about how Night was bringing the magical characters and situations from the cartoon to life with a number of large-scale martial arts fight sequences that incorporate the powers used by the different characters. To be involved with such demanding scenes, the entire cast went through rigorous training to be able to take part in the martial arts and swordplay the film requires. Once they finish filming, there will be at least nine to ten months of FX work by Industrial Light and Magic, helmed by Pablo Helman (War of the Worlds).

Unfortunately, Night doesn't think they'll have anything new to show at Comic-Con in San Diego next month, being that it's in such close proximity to the premiere of the teaser trailer. Night wouldn't even give us a hint of what to expect when we asked him, although he said that it was one long take that he filmed himself. Hopefully, we'll be able to share more from the set of all that we had a chance to see, because it's certainly going to be an exciting movie whether or not you've ever had a chance to watch the cartoon.

The Last Airbender opens in theaters on July 2, 2010. Be sure to check out the newly-launched official website as well!

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Posted by: kkoskl on June 23, 2009 at 12:02:55

cool.

Posted by: west52usc on June 23, 2009 at 12:06:13

What a twist!!!

Posted by: bryan on June 23, 2009 at 12:06:43

even with the controversy early in this already looks 100 times better than Dragon Ball.

If I end up being first cause I know as a type someone has probably already posted please cut it out with the first bs its not funny/cool. is just silly and spend time actually adding in comments instead of just typing first for the hell of it.

Posted by: Lycosyncer on June 23, 2009 at 12:12:40

As they said, they can't sugarcoat a piece of turd if it's still a turd.

Posted by: jasonocas on June 23, 2009 at 12:19:04

i'll be getting this on dvd, since no one i know has an interest in it, yet!

Posted by: Phire on June 23, 2009 at 12:25:03

I hope for his daughters' sake he does this right.

Posted by: oklahoma fan on June 23, 2009 at 12:26:12

9 to 10 months of special effects work to be done? that sounds really excessive. Movies can have all the special effects in the world, but still be lousy if there isn't any real story. Considering M. Night's motivation for doing this movie (one of his kids, wasn't it?), lets hope he is inspired enough to make it really good.

Posted by: Taylor on June 23, 2009 at 12:33:53

doesnt look horrible.
if they character's dont end up too far from the original i may actually get excited about this.

Posted by: Bill on June 23, 2009 at 12:52:13

I am a huge fan of the cartoon (as is my wife and kids) I really hope that Shyamalan doesn't mess up what is a GREAT story line, GREAT writing and GREAT characters.

Posted by: punisher91 on June 23, 2009 at 12:55:01

that looks...... GREAT!!!!

Posted by: Chujong on June 23, 2009 at 13:02:56

So far the movie looks good. I hope the final product is as good as the original series.

Posted by: i eat babies on June 23, 2009 at 13:03:42

Ok, while i hate anime translated to movies, mainly when it almost doesn't have anything to do with the anime it's based on :Cough*DragonBall*Cough:, i think that this might pull it off for me. Granted i only seen the teaser, but i think this might be really good....The logo for the movie is a little iffy on though.

Posted by: SmokinBandit on June 23, 2009 at 13:09:12

Appa is going to be in it, awesome! I hope Momo makes it in too. I also hope that Aangs' staff turns into a glider like the show.

Hell, if Night plays his cards right, this could be a really big and pouler movie.

Posted by: Walter Kovacs on June 23, 2009 at 13:22:45

Wow, this guy might actually put out a movie worth watching.

Posted by: what if superman were a black midget on June 23, 2009 at 13:26:17

WHAT SINCE WHEN IS ANG WHITE?! WHATEVER ILL PASS

Posted by: Lycosyncer on June 23, 2009 at 13:30:31

The concept would have even be better if they would just casted more appropriately than it would have been alright. I mean, sure there was controversy over what happened with Memoirs of a Geisha but they are still East Asians. If they cast white actors for that movie, it would have been much more bigger uproar over what happened then.

If only Hollywood would pull it's head out its ass and just let Asians be cast in a movie that is heavily based by their culture, then we would have something truly unique and special but alas, it's turned into a big budget version of Earthsea instead.

Posted by: Joe on June 23, 2009 at 13:42:26

Do yourself a favor and get over the ethnic changes. You're just insecure because you're not white. You'll be whining all the way to the theater seats.

Posted by: TonyBoy on June 23, 2009 at 13:43:09

I loved watching the showing and my only the only problem I see with the kid playing Aang is that he has pudgy cheeks. Other than that, I really dont care much that he's white, heck I didnt see Aang as an asian kid anyways.

Posted by: TonyBoy on June 23, 2009 at 13:44:34

show*

Posted by: Franky M on June 23, 2009 at 13:51:10

This could smell worse than when I've eaten baked beans. Invincible and that otherwasiznamefilm are the only ones I've liked so far, didn't even make it past 20 mins for the Lady paddles in the water one... So I'll reserve judgement till I see a full trailer!

Posted by: Sam on June 23, 2009 at 14:54:30

sooo why didn't dragonball, best anime ever, not get this kind of support budget wise...total bull crap

Posted by: Brand-O on June 23, 2009 at 15:11:49

Posted by: Joe on June 23, 2009 at 13:42:26

Do yourself a favor and get over the ethnic changes. You're just insecure because you're not white. You'll be whining all the way to the theater seats.

-Dang, Joe. Way to be come off like a total white supremacist. What're you doing on the computer, anyway? Don't you have a couple dozen inbred kids to look after with your bucktoothed cousin/lover?

Posted by: Mr. Artist on June 23, 2009 at 16:55:26

I checked youtube. There are alot of Indian actors & actresses cast as parts in this movie. They might not be asian, but their is plenty of roles & lead roles, including Zuko, that aren't white. Thank you.

I'm ok with all of this because to me the water tribe looked Indian anyway. The Water Tribes never looked Asian to me. They look like eskimos to me. They also live in egloos, (if that's how their ice homes are spelt). I could be wrong, but I don't think eskimos are asian. I think their closer to Indian.

That's my look on it so far.

Posted by: madd because im not white! on June 23, 2009 at 16:58:49

ummm indians are asians...... there not white or black then there asian theres only 3 true races in the world white.....black.......asian........everything else comes from the 3 hello!

Posted by: Lion-Turtle Fan on June 23, 2009 at 17:27:57

To take a show that is deeply rooted and influenced in Asian culture and tradition and make it into a movie that has thus far only served to perpetuate the aversion towards Asians in American cinema is utterly disgusting. It is blatantly disrespectful to the creators of the show and all those involved, to the fans of the show, and to the true spirit of the show. The anti-casting movement is us telling Hollywood that we are not fools and that we will not buy into a product simply because it is stamped with a familiar title.

Who cares if the effects are awesome or the costumes look great when the casting process was racist? Boycott this movie if you hate Hollywood racism towards Asians in cinema and if you're willing to not spend $10 on reinforcing an obsolete and stereotypical tradition of white good guys and ethnic bad guys.

Visit racebending.com and the aangaintwhite livejournal account for details. If anything, just so that you can say that you've read these sites and still think that we're a "bunch of whiny non-white" people. At least afterwards you'll be well-read on the subject and informed.

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