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The Last Airbender (film)

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For the television series the film is based on, see Avatar: The Last Airbender.
The Last Airbender
File:Lastairbenderposter.jpg
International Poster
Directed byM. Night Shyamalan
Written byM. Night Shyamalan
Produced byM. Night Shyamalan
Frank Marshall
Sam Mercer
StarringNoah Ringer
Nicola Peltz
Jackson Rathbone
Dev Patel
CinematographyAndrew Lesnie
Edited byConrad Buff
Music byJames Newton Howard
Production
companies
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
July 2, 2010 (2010-07-02)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Last Airbender is an upcoming 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 primarily East Asian art, mythology, and Chinese martial arts. The first of a planned trilogy, the film, starring Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone, and Dev Patel, will be marketed and released in North America by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies on July 2, 2010.[1][2]

Premise

See also: Avatar: The Last Airbender

In a world where the elements Water, Earth, Fire, and Air 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 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 brother Sokka (Jackson Rathbone), Aang begins a perilous journey to restore balance to their war-torn world. Standing in their way are the Fire Nation's Admiral Zhao (Aasif Mandvi) and Prince Zuko (Dev Patel), the banished prince of the Fire Nation who seeks to capture Aang to regain his honor.

Cast

See also: List of Avatar: The Last Airbender characters
  • Noah Ringer as Aang,[3] a 12-year-old, though technically 112, "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.

Production

Development

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 the first season of the show. The film was in a dispute with James Cameron's film Avatar regarding title ownership,[6] which resulted in the film being titled The Last Airbender.[2] Paramount Pictures has budgeted an estimated $250 million for the entire trilogy.[7]

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."[8] He added he was attracted to the spiritual and martial arts influences on the show.[9]

Avatar co-creators Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko voiced their opinion within an interview regarding 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.[10] M. Night Shyamalan said he will write the second film while preparing to shoot the first.[11]

Casting

Shyamalan originally offered the roles of Aang to Tae Kwon Do-trained Texan Noah Ringer; Sokka to Jackson Rathbone; Katara to Nicola Peltz; and Zuko to Jesse McCartney.[12] The casting of white actors in the Asian-influenced Avatar universe triggered negative fan reaction marked by accusations of racism, "racebending", a letter-writing campaign, and a protest outside of a Philadelphia casting call for movie extras.[13][14][15] Rathbone and producer Frank Marshall dismissed the complaints. [16][17] Movie critic Roger Ebert was one of the ones critical of the casting.[18] In February 2009, Dev Patel replaced McCartney, whose tour dates conflicted with a boot camp scheduled for the cast to train in martial arts.[19][20] 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 father.[21] 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.[22] Isaac Jin Solstein is playing an earthbending boy.[23]

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, 2009.[24] According to Frank Marshall, as of June 27, 2009, principal photography had finished. The film is currently in post-production.

Music

On May 13, 2009, producer Frank Marshall announced that 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.

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.[27] The trailer shows Aang airbending in a temple which is being attacked by a multitude of Fire Nation ships.

A theatrical trailer was to be released around Christmas 2009 but it was pushed back until February 2010 because not enough visual effects shots were completed.[28][29]

Advertising Age reports that Paramount Pictures has bought a Super Bowl spot for the film. Super Bowl XLIV will air on February 7, 2010. The full trailer will be attached to the upcoming Percy Jackson film. [30]

Test Screening Reviews

On February 3rd 2010, the producers had a test screening of the film, in Phoenix, Arizona.[31] There were two highly divergent views.

For the positive, was the reviewer who thought highly of Noah Ringer as Aang and as they hadn’t gotten around to doing a face replacement yet, found it fun to watch Ringer’s stunt double, identified as a woman with a shaved head, (Jade Quon), performing the fight scenes. The best thing in the movie was Shaun Toub as Uncle Iroh and Dev Patel was also good casting. Unfortunately, Jackson Rathbone is accused of over acting.

For the negative review, found that the film had some of the most wooden acting. The lead child actor was the main culprit and he seemed amateurish compared to some of the others, his two friends (Peltz and Rathbone) weren't much better. Coming across unscathed were Cliff Curtis and Dev Patel.

References

  1. ^ Sarafin, Jarrod (June 10, 2008). "Paramount and M.Night Shyamalan Previews LAST AIRBENDER". Mania Entertainment. 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. 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. Retrieved December 10, 2008.
  4. ^ Michael Fleming (February 1, 2009). "Shyamalan cast floats on 'Air'". Variety. 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. Retrieved March 13, 2009.
  6. ^ Pamela McClintock (January 8, 2007). "Shyamalan's 'Avatar' also to bigscreen". Variety. Retrieved January 9, 2007. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ Fernandez, Jay A. (March 15, 2009). "Four more land 'Airbender' roles". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 3, 2009.
  8. ^ "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". 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  9. ^ Mike Szymanski (October 7, 2008). "Shyamalan Unveils Airbender Secrets". Sci Fi Wire. Retrieved October 7, 2008.
  10. ^ Mike Szymanski (March 17, 2007). "Avatar Creators Praise Night". Sci Fi Wire. Retrieved March 17, 2006.
  11. ^ Larry Carroll (November 5, 2008). "Shyamalan Eager To Transform Image With 'Last Airbender' Franchise". MTV Movies Blog. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
  12. ^ Nicole Sperling (2008-12-10). "Shyamalan lines up his cast for 'The Last Airbender'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
  13. ^ Naomi Tarlow (December 29, 2008). "Protesters oppose "whitewashing" in new Shyamalan film". Daily Pennsylvanian. Retrieved December 29, 2008.
  14. ^ Jeff Yang (2008-12-29). "'Avatar' an Asian thing- why isn't the cast?". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
  15. ^ Michael Klein (2008-12-27). "Inqlings: More zzz's for CBS3 newsies". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
  16. ^ Larry Carroll (2009-01-15). "'Twilight' Star Jackson Rathbone Hopes To 'Show His Range' In 'Last Airbender'". MTV. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  17. ^ Third twitter update
  18. ^ Roger Ebert (December 23, 2009). "Answer Man". Roger Ebert. Retrieved December 26, 2009.
  19. ^ Michael Fleming (2009-02-01). "Shyamalan cast floats on 'Air'". Variety. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
  20. ^ Slumdog Millionaire Star Joins The Last Airbender| /Film
  21. ^ "More are cast in M. Night Shyamalan's Last Airbender". Sci Fi Wire. 2009-03-13. Retrieved 2009-03-13.
  22. ^ "Inqlings: For Manuel, a job he can phone in". Philly.com. 2009-04- 09. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Text "http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20090405_Inqlings__For_Manuel__a_job_he_can_phone_in.html" ignored (help)
  23. ^ Connelly, Brendon (June 9, 2009). "New Last Airbender Casting Stays On Right Side Of Racebending Debate?". /Film. Archived from the original on January 7, 2010. Retrieved January 7, 2010.
  24. ^ George Hatza (April 1, 2009). "'Sixth Sense' director shooting new movie in Reading beginning Thursday; Pagoda to get a close-up". Reading Eagle. Retrieved April 1, 2009.
  25. ^ http://twitter.com/LeDoctor/
  26. ^ Sciretta, Peter (April 28, 2009). "The Last Airbender Teaser Trailer Attached to Transformers 2". /Film. Archived from the original on January 8, 2010. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
  27. ^ Sciretta, Peter (June 20, 2009). "A Brief First Look at The Last Airbender Teaser Trailer". /Film. Archived from the original on January 8, 2010. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
  28. ^ Sciretta, Peter (August 24, 2009). "The Last Airbender Trailer For Christmas". /Film. Archived from the original on January 8, 2010. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
  29. ^ Sciretta, Peter (December 3, 2009). "The Last Airbender Trailer Delayed Until February". /Film. Archived from the original on January 8, 2010. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
  30. ^ Steinberg, Brian (December 21, 2009). "Who's Buying What in the Super Bowl 2010". Advertising Age. Archived from the original on January 8, 2010. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
  31. ^ http://aintitcool.com/node/43869
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