If M. Night Shyamalan’s infamous The Last Airbender movie (2010) proved one thing, it was how not to create a live-action adaptation of Nickelodeon’s beloved animated series Avatar: Last Airbender. Between the massively condensed story, lackluster CGI, and the casting misfires, this movie was pretty much a disaster. All these years later, and star Dev Patel (Prince Zuko) still has strong feelings about it.
Recently, Patel has been receiving rave reviews for his stellar portrayal of Gawain in The Green Knight. But the Slumdog Millionaire star was also willing to talk about The Last Airbender during an interview with GamesRadar. “After Slumdog, I didn’t really get anything. When that came around, it was a total no-brainer on the page,” the 31-year-old actor said. “You know, may he rest in peace, Andrew Lesnie, the DoP of Lord Of The Rings. You’ve got M. Night and Frank Marshall and all these big names. I’m a big martial arts fan, so I was like, ‘Oh, wow.’ I was probably miscast, and the film didn’t hit the mark. It was a really hard process for me because… It was such a bigger machine than what I was used to from Skins, that I felt a bit adrift at sea.”
"I could see that the studio was worried that I wasn’t really performing well. It was quite a torturous experience in that sense where you know you’ve maybe possibly been miscast in something, and you’re not right for it, and I didn’t have any confidence, and I didn’t know how to apply what I now know are my good tools as a performer, and the truth I can bring to a part. And it kind of showed."
I actually thought Patel’s performance in the movie was one of the better ones, especially considering the sub-par nature of the script he had to work with. Of course, a huge part of Zuko’s character was his long-running redemption arc, something that’s continuously referred to as one of the best in TV history. The Avatar movie didn’t come close to touching the heights of that story.
Avatar: The Last Airbender remakes and expansions are coming
Perhaps the biggest criticism of the movie was the whitewashed cast. Original series creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko have previously voiced their concerns on the controversy. The animated show is heavily influenced by Inuit, Chinese, Japanese, and Tibetan cultures, but the casting of big parts like Aang, Katara and Sokka did not reflect this.
Fans are still hoping for a wonderful live-action Avatar adaptation. Netflix is developing developing its own Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action show. However, last year Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko famously quit the series, leaving fans worried. In fact, a petition has been set up to ensure Netflix casts culturally and age-appropriate characters. It has already reached over 35,000 signatures!
Rather than pursue Netflix’s endeavors, DiMartino and Konietzko have joined Nickelodeon’s Avatar Studios, which plans to create animated movies and series set in this world. And then there are fan groups creating their own (super impressive) live-action fan films based on the franchise.
Shyamalan’s movie was an obvious misfire, but hopefully, lessons have been learned.
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