The Last Airbender

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For the television series the film is based on, see Avatar: The Last Airbender.
The Last Airbender

Teaser poster
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Produced by M. Night Shyamalan
Frank Marshall
Sam Mercer
Written by M. Night Shyamalan
Starring Noah Ringer
Nicola Peltz
Jackson Rathbone
Dev Patel
Music by James Newton Howard
Cinematography Andrew Lesnie
Editing by Conrad Buff
Studio Nickelodeon Movies
Kennedy/Marshall
Blinding Edge Pictures
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) July 2, 2010 (2010-07-02)
(United States)
August 6, 2010
(United Kingdom)
Country United States
Language English
Budget $100-130 million

The Last Airbender is an upcoming 2010 adventure-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.[1][2]

Contents

[edit] Premise

See also: Avatar: The Last Airbender

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.

[edit] Cast

See also: List of Avatar: The Last Airbender characters
  • Noah Ringer as Aang[3], 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[3], a 14-year-old and the last remaining waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe. She is Aang's good friend and love interest.
  • Jackson Rathbone as Sokka[3], a 15-year-old warrior from the Southern Water Tribe and Katara's older brother.
  • Dev Patel as Prince Zuko[4], 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[5], a hot-tempered Fire Nation Commander in pursuit of the Avatar. He is Zuko's principal rival.
  • Shaun Toub as Uncle Iroh[5], 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[5], the leader of the war and the Fire Nation. He is the primary antagonist in the series.
  • Jessica Andres as Suki[3], 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[5], 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.

[edit] 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.[6] The casting of mostly white actors in the Asian influenced Avatar universe triggered negative fan reaction marked by accusations of racism and white-washing, a letter-writing campaign, and a protest outside of a Philadelphia casting call for movie extras.[7][8][9] Movie critic Roger Ebert called the whitewashing of the cast as wrong and said, "Why would Paramount and Shyamalan go out of their way to offend these fans? There are many young Asian actors capable of playing the parts." [10] 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."[11] In February 2009, Dev Patel replaced McCartney, whose tour dates conflicted with a boot camp scheduled for the cast to train in martial arts.[12][13] 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.[14] 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.[15] According to Paramount Pictures, Isaac Jin Solstein is playing an earthbending boy.[16]

In a recent interview with Variety (magazine), in which the magazine touted his resemblance to Aang. "Night wanted me to be natural," says Ringer whose first stab at acting came when prepping for the audition. "He didn't want me to be Aang; rather, he wanted Aang to be me." [17]

[edit] 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,[18] which resulted in the film being titled The Last Airbender.[2]

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."[19] He added he was attracted to the spiritual and martial arts influences on the show.[20]

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.[21] M. Night Shyamalan said he will write the second film while preparing to shoot the first.[22]

Paramount Pictures has budgeted an estimated $250 million for the entire trilogy[23] with $100 to $130 million budgeted for the first film.[citation needed]

[edit] 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.[24] According to Frank Marshall, as of June 27, official filming has finished. The film is currently in post-production.

[edit] 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.[25] Howard has also composed the musical score for The Sixth Sense and all of Shyamalan's subsequent films.

[edit] Marketing

The teaser trailer for the film was attached to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, released in theaters on June 24, 2009.[26] The teaser trailer was also shown on Entertainment Tonight on June 22, 2009 as an ET network exclusive. The advertisement 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 a multitude of Fire Nation ships. A theatrical trailer was announced to be released around Christmas. However due to lack of time to work with ILM, the trailer was pushed back until February 2010.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Sarafin, Jarrod (June 10, 2008). "Paramount and M.Night Shyamalan Previews LAST AIRBENDER". Mania Entertainment. http://www.mania.com/paramount-mnight-shyamalan-previews-last-airbender_article_58631.html?campid=0&ssns=29&. Retrieved June 29, 2008. 
  2. ^ a b Stephenson, Hunter (April 15, 2008). "M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender Gets Release Date, Director Update, “Avatar” Dropped From Title". /FILM. http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/04/15/m-night-shyamalans-the-last-airbender-gets-release-date-avatar-dropped-from-title/. Retrieved June 29, 2008. 
  3. ^ a b c d Nicole Sperling (December 10, 2008). "Shyamalan lines up his cast for 'The Last Airbender'". Entertainment Weekly. http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/12/shyamalan-casts.html. Retrieved December 10, 2008. 
  4. ^ Michael Fleming (February 1, 2009). "Shyamalan cast floats on 'Air'". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117999413.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2562. Retrieved February 1, 2009. 
  5. ^ a b c d "More are cast in M. Night Shyamalan's Last Airbender". Sci Fi Wire. March 13, 2009. http://scifiwire.com/2009/03/more-are-cast-in-m-night.php. Retrieved March 13, 2009. 
  6. ^ Nicole Sperling (2008-12-10). "Shyamalan lines up his cast for 'The Last Airbender'". Entertainment Weekly. http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/12/shyamalan-casts.html. Retrieved 2008-12-10. 
  7. ^ Naomi Tarlow (December 29, 2008). "Protesters oppose "whitewashing" in new Shyamalan film". Daily Pennsylvanian. http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2009/01/29/News/Protesters.Oppose.whitewashing.In.New.Shyamalan.Film-3602449.shtml. Retrieved December 29, 2008. 
  8. ^ Jeff Yang (2008-12-29). "'Avatar' an Asian thing- why isn't the cast?". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/28/DDMU15ICE4.DTL. Retrieved 2008-12-29. 
  9. ^ Michael Klein (2008-12-27). "Inqlings: More zzz's for CBS3 newsies". Philadelphia Inquirer. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/38440434.html. Retrieved 2008-12-29. 
  10. ^ Roger Ebert (December 23, 2009). "Answer Man". Roger Ebert. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=ANSWERMAN&date=20091223. Retrieved December 26, 2009. 
  11. ^ Larry Carroll (2009-01-15). "'Twilight' Star Jackson Rathbone Hopes To 'Show His Range' In 'Last Airbender'". MTV. http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1602757/story.jhtml. Retrieved 2009-01-16. 
  12. ^ Michael Fleming (2009-02-01). "Shyamalan cast floats on 'Air'". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117999413.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2562. Retrieved 2009-02-01. 
  13. ^ Slumdog Millionaire Star Joins The Last Airbender| /Film
  14. ^ "More are cast in M. Night Shyamalan's Last Airbender". Sci Fi Wire. 2009-03-13. http://scifiwire.com/2009/03/more-are-cast-in-m-night.php. Retrieved 2009-03-13. 
  15. ^ "Inqlings: For Manuel, a job he can phone in". Philly.com. 2009-04- 09. 
  16. ^ [1]
  17. ^ http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118012147.html?categoryid=3834&cs=1
  18. ^ Pamela McClintock (January 8, 2007). "Shyamalan's 'Avatar' also to bigscreen". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117956950.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2564. Retrieved January 9, 2007. 
  19. ^ "Nickelodeon's Avatar Returns to Restore Peace to The Four Corners of the World and Prepares to Face Off With the Fire Nation Once and for All". January 2009. http://www.viacom.com/NEWS/NewsText.aspx?RID=1048320. 
  20. ^ Mike Szymanski (October 7, 2008). "Shyamalan Unveils Airbender Secrets". Sci Fi Wire. http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=0&id=61081. Retrieved October 7, 2008. 
  21. ^ Mike Szymanski (March 17, 2007). "Avatar Creators Praise Night". Sci Fi Wire. http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=3&id=40610. Retrieved March 17, 2006. 
  22. ^ Larry Carroll (November 5, 2008). "Shyamalan Eager To Transform Image With ‘Last Airbender’ Franchise". MTV Movies Blog. http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/11/05/shyamalan-eager-to-transform-image-with-last-airbender-franchise/. Retrieved November 5, 2008. 
  23. ^ Fernandez, Jay A. (March 15, 2009). "Four more land 'Airbender' roles". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i68061ff8eae6a637ce15f10f7be4da48. Retrieved April 3, 2009. 
  24. ^ George Hatza (April 1, 2009). "'Sixth Sense' director shooting new movie in Reading beginning Thursday; Pagoda to get a close-up". Reading Eagle. http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=131944. Retrieved April 1, 2009. 
  25. ^ http://twitter.com/LeDoctor/
  26. ^ http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/04/28/the-last-airbender-teaser-trailer-attached-to-transformers-2/

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Episodes
Characters
Aang · Katara · Sokka · Toph · Appa · Zuko · Iroh · Azula
Feature film
The Last Airbender
Franchise/Games
v • d • e
Nickelodeon Movies
1996–1998
2000–2009
2010–2011
The Last Airbender • Rango
v • d • e
Films directed by M. Night Shyamalan
1990s
Praying with Anger (1992) · Wide Awake (1998) · The Sixth Sense (1999)
2000s
Unbreakable (2000) · Signs (2002) · The Village (2004) · Lady in the Water (2006) · The Happening (2008)
2010s
The Last Airbender (2010)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Airbender"