M. Night Shyamalan has found the cast for The Last Airbender, his upcoming live-action film based on the popular anime-inspired Nickelodeon series. The youthful group is mostly filled with unknowns who are likely to be household names by the time Paramount opens the first in its potential three-film franchise in July 2010. After an open casting call in Texas, Shyamalan discovered karate star Noah Ringer and offered him the part of Airbender’s 12-year old hero, Aang, an Avatar with superpowers who must stop the Fire Nation from destroying the world. Twilight’s Jackson Rathbone has been asked to play Aang’s pal Sokka, while Nicola Peltz (Deck the Halls) will star as his sister Katara. Genial singer Jesse McCartney, meanwhile, is negotiating to play against type in the role of the Fire Nation’s evil prince Zuko.
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Those names don’t sound Asian. They better be asian kids with non asian sounding names, or else this is HIGHLY OFFENSIVE!!
hahaha i wish man, but they arent. shame huh? zuko’s dark skinned and sokka and katara are white!
ok i just googled those names and NOT A SINGLE ONE IS ASIAN! I understand when adapting things for an American audiences not all the kids would be Asian, but not a single one! Are you freaking kidding me! Has Shyamalan ever seen the show. So now we can teach a whole generation of children that stories about Asian fantasy lands are great but White children are better to look at on screen. That is EXTREMELY OFFENSIVE!
I cant believe Zuko is played by the kid from slumdog millionare. That just hurts my feelings.
Offensive? Did you see The Happening?! That sh*t was offensive! Shyamalan is going to f*ck this up for sure.
Hey Anonymous: I hate to break it to you, but The Last Airbender is an American show…yup, voice actors, writer and director (who came off of Family Guy), all American. The voice actress for Katara was on “Ghost Whisperer” at the same time, as a matter of fact.
Oh, I forgot. I agree with Jordan. I hate M. Knight Shamalamadingdong. I wish someone would break his hands so that he can never touch a camera again. He is going to ruin “Avatar” (which was such an awesome show.)
If they ain’t Asian, I ain’t watching. It’s a wonderful cartoon. I don’t need a misguided self-inflating artiste to ruin it.
I was hoping it would be a multiracial cast. It was an American show but it was based off Asian cultures and themes… sigh… They really messed up with the casting. I mean in no way does Jesse McCartney=Prince Zuko! They should have just had Rufio play him in the movie even if he is old now.
hey john, I that has to be the dumbest response ever. No sh#t it’s an American Show but the entire culture was based in an Asian setting. I guess the clothes, the names of the characters (i.e. AANG, Kitara, Sokka), or the WAY THEY DRAWN wasn’t a big clue enough for you?
I’m sorry I guess me stating “I understand when adapting things for an American audiences ” was me implying I thought this show was Asian, I meant to say “adapting things for an American movie audience.”
Avatar is the best cartoon series ever, & the fact that it’s embedded in Asian culture makes it more rich. M. Night’s pick of the cast is offensive, as i’m sure he could’ve found plenty of Asian actors to stay true to the chars. Also, M. Night being a minority & knowing the scarcity of minority roles makes this even more offensive (this is nothing against the actors chosen, however). In addition to this, M. Night is the worse director for this series (a horror director for Avatar, WTF??). They should’ve got Alfonso Cuaron or Speilberg, who understand teen aganst. Also, M. Night’s last movies, e.g., the Happening, the village, have been HORRIBlE. Yes, i’m greatly disappointed in the cast & M. Night’s being the helm of this great series. UGGGHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Wow, but i’m really not so surprised that none of those actors are asian. Shyamalan is just asking for it. Avatar fans are not going to be happy. lol..cause i know im not. Although i’m a big fan of twilight, and completely shocked that Jackson Rathbone will be Sokka…never would i have ever guessed that.
Please please please have Shyamalan drop out! And oh.god.no. NOT jesse mccartney!!!!! Why do they have to ruin the GREATEST animated show of all time?! They should have just made an animated feature film with the writers and creators of the original.
um? why are they all white?!?!? i expect more coming from this director. ugh!!!!!
and, there was an opportunity to show different types of asian people. ones with different skin tones. to educate american audiences that all asians are not the same. its bad enough i have to see a white guy as the prince of persia.
and, wow. this pisses me off. i…wha? how can you comodify a culture and then not give credit where credit is due? i guess thats the american way.
Oh My God! Why is everyone CAUCASIAN?
I know it would be hard for everyone to be cast as Asian, but having the principle cast as very, very, very, white people will pretty much ruin Aang’s and Zuko’s themes (since they’re really Asian-influenced). Stupid M. Night Shyamalan vision!
I’ll be laughing if everyone’s family members turn out to be racially mixed! “Why in Uncle black???”
Jackson Rathbone was born in Singapore. I’m thinking that may be in Asia???
I was born in Chicago. That doesn’t somehow make me white.
Hahahahahaaa, no more horror movies,eh? Switching gears, eh? Has M. Knight thrown in towel? He’s adapting to where the money is – action/comic/anime films. Smart move. With this project, we’ll see if he’s a one note director or not. The real question is, has he given up on the horror genre? It’s like announcing Alfred Hitcock is set to direct Star Wars, or Wes Craven to direct Spy Kids, LOL!
*spoiler*
the avatar was dead the entire film.
Uh, I don’t see why this is surprising that these actors are white. The show was made by white people for white people. I’m shocked that any asians would like it, all it does is rip off your culture and adapt it to fit our tastes.
So far I’m liking the casting Sokka and Kitara are great (older than I expected, but at least the actors aren’t going to age much.
I don’t think that Jesse McCartney will be a good choice for Zuko though.
BTW does anyone have a picture of the Aang kid?
uh, hate to break it to yous, but avatar is only INSPIRED by the oriental arts – not a direct product.
and by the way, not all of the characters in avatar are supposed to be of some sort of asian ethnicity. it concerns different lands, and thus people of different ethnicities.
that said, jesse mcarntney as zuko? HELL NO!
Oriental Arts? What are you from the 1900s? Sigh. . .just so you know, put oriental on your list of stupid words used by people who don’t know better. (its a tad racist too.) Oriental means foreign, not Asian and should not be interchanged, it just makes you look stupid not intelligent. And using the word “inspired” does not make the lack of asian characters less offensive, no more than me saying I “liberated” someone of their possessions make it less like stealing. it just does not feel good to find out that a really good, well thought-out and detailed cartoon that appears to celebrate the rich history of many cultures, gets “white washed” in order to fill in seats. Sorry, I would be bothered by why the director did not feel “americans” were progressive enough to watch asians playing. . . I don’t know. . asian characters?? I mean if they casted the movie with all latinos or african americans, you would be hollering about how unbelivably lame that would be but somehow a cast that is allegedly mostly white would not? What, because white is the new clear? Please I am not even asian and I am offended. I was hoping for a teen version of crouchning tiger and I have to sit through avatar HSM4 And for the record, there is enough diversity in the Asian community to demonstrate ethnic and regionally diversity in the avatar world. And just so you know. . . all latinos are not from Mexico and Africa is not a country.
Oriental means Eastern, as opposed to Occidental. It is more general than Asian.
O HELL NO
John- It may be an AMERICAN show but it’s not set in AMERICA you idiot.
You know there are a lot of young Asian actors who can also act. They should’ve chosen some asians for some of the roles. Too bad, it’s just another western movie for western audiences. Tsk. I like Shyamalan (i actually thought his movies were good such as The Village and Sixth Sense, though i havent watched The Happening) But my brothers who are avid fans of this animated series are going to be greatly disappointed with this…
Well, this has convinced me to skip out on seeing this movie. I hope people will watch the series before giving the movie a shot!
Total disrespect for the material. They’ve already lost my money. This may end up being an okay movie but it will not be real Last Airbender. Thanks Hollywood for being racist!
“Jackson Rathbone was born in Singapore. I’m thinking that may be in Asia???”
He might have been born in Singapore but that does not make him any less Caucasian.
Jasper as Sokka!!!! YEAH!!!
HAHA WUT.
NO.
Jesse McCartney? Are they freakin’ kidding me?
This movie is going be to be joke…and the anime is very well done, it deserved a better movie.
okay I’m conscious again. This is a prank post, right? Right?