Avatar: The Last Airbender Movie

Mark Hamill

imdb has a casting list up for The Last Airbender film. An unknown is playing Aang, some kids from films I've never heard of are playing Sokka and Katara, Dev Patel is playing Zukko, Cliff Curtis is playing Firelord Ozai and Shaun Toub is playing Uncle Iroh.

Apparently, to compensate for having only white leads (as the heros), Shyamalan wants people of different ethnicities for other parts in the film. I think it will be pretty weird if Sokka and Katara are white, but the other people in their village are not (Link)

LuvSpudz

I have to agree, I've been a big fan since a friend introduced me to the show, and part of the appeal was definitely the mix of cultures, mainly eastern in origin. Air benders? Okay, I can see them as white, but the water and fire nations certainly shouldn't be. I understand that cinema is a different media and some changes have to be made, but this particular one seems to be unnecessary.

Still, been looking forward to this for over a year already, I'll hold my judgement until later. Changes that fans saw as heresy were made for spiderman and x-men franchises and look how they turned out.

Mark Hamill

LuvSpudz wrote: »

I have to agree, I've been a big fan since a friend introduced me to the show, and part of the appeal was definitely the mix of cultures, mainly eastern in origin. Air benders? Okay, I can see them as white, but the water and fire nations certainly shouldn't be. I understand that cinema is a different media and some changes have to be made, but this particular one seems to be unnecessary.

I always saw the fire nation as japanese, air nomads as chinese buddhists, water tribe as eskimos and earth kingdom as mediteranean. Having a mostly caucasian cast in avatar wont work imo.

LuvSpudz wrote: »

Still, been looking forward to this for over a year already, I'll hold my judgement until later. Changes that fans saw as heresy were made for spiderman and x-men franchises and look how they turned out.

By the third spidey and xmen film both franchises had turned sh*t, (although thats was more for them being sh*t in general then for any changes they made from the source comics (IMO anyway, as i had never read the comics)). I have a feeling that this will end up like the His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman: Brilliant source material, with first one made into such a bad film that the sequels would never be made.

Demonique

The Earth kingdom Mediterranean?

No way, they were definately Eastern Asian, the bending techniques of the different nations were based on various martial art techniques which are definately not Mediterranean

The only characters I could possibly see as Caucausian are the Swamp Water Benders who scream US swamp hillbillies to me

Mark Hamill

Demonique wrote: »

The Earth kingdom Mediterranean?

No way, they were definately Eastern Asian, the bending techniques of the different nations were based on various martial art techniques which are definately not Mediterranean

The only characters I could possibly see as Caucausian are the Swamp Water Benders who scream US swamp hillbillies to me

Yeah, i dont know where i got mediterranean from, maybe because some of them where tanned and looked vaguely european, but Eastern Chinese certainly fits better. Still nowhere near being caucasian though.

Trippie

Seems all the fire nation guys look of Indian extract. I really do hope its not the brave american good guys fighting the eastern evil guys