New Pics from The Last Airbender

Written by Nix December 30, 2009 Posted In » Images, The Last Airbender (2010) Movie

One of /Film‘s readers sent them scans from an issue of Empire Magazine featuring a trio of behind-the-scenes looks at M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Last Airbender” (formerly “Avatar: The Last Airbender”, but that went out the window after James Cameron announced his own little movie called “Avatar”; you might have heard about it). Check out the pics below. The second (first full) trailer won’t be forthcoming until next year, with the film itself due out in July 2010. With the pics already on the ‘net, I’m guessing Empire will release them on their site soon enough, so look for the pics to get swapped with better versions soon.

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  • http://www.originalgeekspodcast.com/ Dedpool aka Jiinx

    Not really much to say. This movie is surrounded in shadows so not much info or pics are out. Probably because they’re scared all the haters will cry. ANYway, The poster looks good, and the teaser looks like they’ve got the right idea. I say one movie per book (Water, Earth, Fire) just like the seasons. Unless they want to stretch it out and do two per season.

    • http://www.timdiemart.com/ tripur

      I believe that is exactly what M. Night Shyamalan said he intended to do was to make the 3 movies off of the book.

      • Liberty

        whoa, You’re not kidding.., in Book 1 of Season one means first movie comes out on Summer. They not make all 3 book in movie together cuz if they hope people going to buy Cinemas more alot like millions then maybe next book 2 is 2nd movie of Earth for Toph would teach Aang how to learn Earthbender..or if 2nd movie not,so well :( just maybe i guess..

        Anyway, i can’t wait to see it cuz i was wondering what is about parts..:) The whole cast’s race isn’t really known then I would have to see the movie and how they patray their characters and only the makers of the show really know. It kind of worries me that there was very little dialogue from the characters. Hopefully the acting will be decent..

        I hope M.Night Shyamalan doesn’t screw it up.. hehe.^.^

  • Dedpool

    Not really much to say. This movie is surrounded in shadows so not much info or pics are out. Probably because they’re scared all the haters will cry. ANYway, The poster looks good, and the teaser looks like they’ve got the right idea. I say one movie per book (Water, Earth, Fire) just like the seasons. Unless they want to stretch it out and do two per season.

    • http://www.timdiemart.com tripur

      I believe that is exactly what M. Night Shyamalan said he intended to do was to make the 3 movies off of the book.

      • Liberty

        whoa, You’re not kidding.., in Book 1 of Season one means first movie comes out on Summer. They not make all 3 book in movie together cuz if they hope people going to buy Cinemas more alot like millions then maybe next book 2 is 2nd movie of Earth for Toph would teach Aang how to learn Earthbender..or if 2nd movie not,so well :( just maybe i guess..

        Anyway, i can’t wait to see it cuz i was wondering what is about parts..:) The whole cast’s race isn’t really known then I would have to see the movie and how they patray their characters and only the makers of the show really know. It kind of worries me that there was very little dialogue from the characters. Hopefully the acting will be decent..

        I hope M.Night Shyamalan doesn’t screw it up.. hehe.^.^

  • ulik

    Why is everybody crying about this kid looking Caucasian. He doesn’t look european at all. Even if he did I don’t think I’d have a problem with it as long as he did a good job. From what I see, he does actually look very similar to the character.

    • anne

      everybody is crying because here’s an opportunity to teach america about asian culture(s) and the movie is fetishizing east asian culture yet again! all the main characters are white in asian and inuit traditional clothes and all the bad guys are indian. how’s that not insensitive?

  • ulik

    Why is everybody crying about this kid looking Caucasian. He doesn’t look european at all. Even if he did I don’t think I’d have a problem with it as long as he did a good job. From what I see, he does actually look very similar to the character.

    • anne

      everybody is crying because here’s an opportunity to teach america about asian culture(s) and the movie is fetishizing east asian culture yet again! all the main characters are white in asian and inuit traditional clothes and all the bad guys are indian. how’s that not insensitive?

  • http://www.lastairbenderfans.com/ NightBender

    These photos are from LastAirbenderFans.com, not /Film!

  • http://www.lastairbenderfans.com NightBender

    These photos are from LastAirbenderFans.com, not /Film!

  • europa78

    IMHOl, the kid from Tropic Thunder would’ve kicked ass as Aang. anyway, the same thing is happening in the “King of Fighters” movie. how the hell is Sean Faris a logical casting choice for Kyo Kusanagi and Sam Hargrave as Ryo Sakazaki? those roles are obviously for Asian people, but there was an intended choice to ignore worthy Asian actors and just cast some white doods instead. Even Roger Ebert thought the casting choice was ridiculous (last question in the Q&A):

    http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=ANSWERMAN&date=20091223

    is it really too much to ask for an Asian person to actually play an Asian character anymore? well, i’d think white folks would have a problem if there was a Captain America movie starring an Asian man. black folks would throw a fit if the Jonas Brothers starred in a movie about the young Run DMC. those sorts of casting decisions would be unthinkable racial-wise so why is The Last Airbender an exception?

    whoever makes these casting decisions gotta get their brains checked. it just doesnt make sense, but a lot of hollywood cartoon-to-movie movies suck ass anyway. i wont hold my breath if this tanks along with Shyamalan’s fading career.

    btw, i’m still asking myself why the hell they made Terry Fitzgerald a white guy in the Spawn movie. makes me wonder if the execs thought there were “too many” black guys headlining or something….

    • ulik

      I do agree with you on that europa78 you are right, I degress, already there aren’t enough positive Asian actors getting out in the movies so why take a character who was created by Asians and is obviously Asian and make him white. He doesn’t look white in the picture but he doesn’t look Asian to me either. Most of the superheroes or heroic characters are white like 95% of them. This is mainly because the people who create them are white. So when it comes to something that really should have an Asian cast is it so hard to find an Asian actor who can pull it off or is Hollywood trying to send a subtle negative message. Every time you see a new hero especially if he’s a kid, he’s white. This is why movie directors like Tyler Perry, and other ethnic movie makers need to stop catering to ignorant movie goers who always want to see the same predictable and redundant crap they keep putting out. Yeah people pay to see those dumb movies but do something different dude!! How about some suspense,horror, epic movies,or sci-fi. This is one of the reasons why many ethnic people have an inferiority complex and want to be white. Look at Michael Jackson and Sammy Sosa for example.

      • http://www.originalgeekspodcast.com/ Dedpool aka Jiinx

        First I have to say this. Ulik it’s good to see you’ve joined us in this thread.

        Now on to the good stuff.

        Taken directly from the wikipedia entry:Avatar: The Last Airbender (also known as Avatar: The Legend of Aang)[1] is an American animated children’s television series that aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon and the Nicktoons Network. The series was created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who served as executive producers along with Aaron Ehasz. Avatar is set in an Asian-influenced world[2] of martial arts and elemental manipulation. The show drew on elements from East Asian, Japanese and Chinese culture, making it a mixture of an anime like and US domestic cartoons.

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_the_last_airbender#Premise

        Okay I put this up because I am reiterating the fact that the show NEVER Specifically says anyone is asian. Yes the show is heavely influenced by asian cutlutre, philosphy, etc, but the world is NOT ASIA!! The Water Tribe resemble eskimos or inuits, the Fire Nation is an asian/indian mix, the Earth Kingdom is like a Euro/Asian mix. The Air Nomads seem to have been the most asian, and yet Aang doesn’t look asian at all in the show. Getting an actual martial artist (who happens to shave his head already) was brilliant, but coudl back fire if the kid can’t act. As for the other casting in the film, well yeah they don’t look exactly the part but finding someone who does but can’t actually do the role justice is just as big an issue as casting outside of race.
        Also using Captain America as an example doesn’t work. Aang and the gang aren’t exactly Asian ICONS. They’re created by an american with a great love of eastern cultures and philosphies. That’s it. Now had you said casting a live action “Akira” film with a white cast I would have been behind you 100%. That film was based IN Japan, and to take it out of that setting and make the characters American just to adapt it would be sacrilage.

        I agree with what you said about “King of Fighters” too as they just took characters who are suposed to be JAPANESE and cast Americans. Kyo Kusunagi being a white guy is just wrong. And Hell even the American they got to play Terry Bogard is wrong. But with Airbender they never state “this is Japan, China, Korea, etc.” It’s just the Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, etc. And if you look at the show no one nation has a specific look. there’s always someone that looks a bit different than the rest of the group. Hell Toff SHOULD be asian as she looks the most asian, yet her clothes do not.

        And Ulik as for Tyler Perry, and stuff. Come on. He made his money off plays before he blew up with these movies. He writes what he knows…crazy black families. If he were to journey outside his niche he’d probably write the worst sci-fi/horror or whatever. I agree I’d love to see more ethnic directors and writers doing more genre films but it’s just like everything else, write what you know. We’ll have to settle for the Antione Fuquas, Tim Storys, and Robert Rodriguez’.

        • Sephina

          But, Akira is being completely westernized. It is being set in Neo-Manhattan and all the actors will be white. While Joseph Gordon Levitt (who could be a dead wringer for Heath Ledger) will be playing Tetsuo, Leonardo Dicaprio will be Producing, although the director had asked him to also play the lead character Kaneda. They set it in Manhattan and change them to white people for the same reason you are saying about The Last Airbender, that there is nothing inherently Asian about the storyline. That the book could be set anywhere, and isn’t necessarily set in Japan and portrayed by Japanese people just because it was written in Japan.

          And even the creators of Avatar have expressed their disdain for the casting, saying that it should have been Inuit and asians, not white people.

  • europa78

    IMHOl, the kid from Tropic Thunder would’ve kicked ass as Aang. anyway, the same thing is happening in the “King of Fighters” movie. how the hell is Sean Faris a logical casting choice for Kyo Kusanagi and Sam Hargrave as Ryo Sakazaki? those roles are obviously for Asian people, but there was an intended choice to ignore worthy Asian actors and just cast some white doods instead. Even Roger Ebert thought the casting choice was ridiculous (last question in the Q&A):

    http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=ANSWERMAN&date=20091223

    is it really too much to ask for an Asian person to actually play an Asian character anymore? well, i’d think white folks would have a problem if there was a Captain America movie starring an Asian man. black folks would throw a fit if the Jonas Brothers starred in a movie about the young Run DMC. those sorts of casting decisions would be unthinkable racial-wise so why is The Last Airbender an exception?

    whoever makes these casting decisions gotta get their brains checked. it just doesnt make sense, but a lot of hollywood cartoon-to-movie movies suck ass anyway. i wont hold my breath if this tanks along with Shyamalan’s fading career.

    btw, i’m still asking myself why the hell they made Terry Fitzgerald a white guy in the Spawn movie. makes me wonder if the execs thought there were “too many” black guys headlining or something….

    • ulik

      I do agree with you on that europa78 you are right, I degress, already there aren’t enough positive Asian actors getting out in the movies so why take a character who was created by Asians and is obviously Asian and make him white. He doesn’t look white in the picture but he doesn’t look Asian to me either. Most of the superheroes or heroic characters are white like 95% of them. This is mainly because the people who create them are white. So when it comes to something that really should have an Asian cast is it so hard to find an Asian actor who can pull it off or is Hollywood trying to send a subtle negative message. Every time you see a new hero especially if he’s a kid, he’s white. This is why movie directors like Tyler Perry, and other ethnic movie makers need to stop catering to ignorant movie goers who always want to see the same predictable and redundant crap they keep putting out. Yeah people pay to see those dumb movies but do something different dude!! How about some suspense,horror, epic movies,or sci-fi. This is one of the reasons why many ethnic people have an inferiority complex and want to be white. Look at Michael Jackson and Sammy Sosa for example.

      • Dedpool

        First I have to say this. Ulik it’s good to see you’ve joined us in this thread.

        Now on to the good stuff.

        Taken directly from the wikipedia entry:Avatar: The Last Airbender (also known as Avatar: The Legend of Aang)[1] is an American animated children’s television series that aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon and the Nicktoons Network. The series was created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who served as executive producers along with Aaron Ehasz. Avatar is set in an Asian-influenced world[2] of martial arts and elemental manipulation. The show drew on elements from East Asian, Japanese and Chinese culture, making it a mixture of an anime like and US domestic cartoons.

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_the_last_airbender#Premise

        Okay I put this up because I am reiterating the fact that the show NEVER Specifically says anyone is asian. Yes the show is heavely influenced by asian cutlutre, philosphy, etc, but the world is NOT ASIA!! The Water Tribe resemble eskimos or inuits, the Fire Nation is an asian/indian mix, the Earth Kingdom is like a Euro/Asian mix. The Air Nomads seem to have been the most asian, and yet Aang doesn’t look asian at all in the show. Getting an actual martial artist (who happens to shave his head already) was brilliant, but coudl back fire if the kid can’t act. As for the other casting in the film, well yeah they don’t look exactly the part but finding someone who does but can’t actually do the role justice is just as big an issue as casting outside of race.
        Also using Captain America as an example doesn’t work. Aang and the gang aren’t exactly Asian ICONS. They’re created by an american with a great love of eastern cultures and philosphies. That’s it. Now had you said casting a live action “Akira” film with a white cast I would have been behind you 100%. That film was based IN Japan, and to take it out of that setting and make the characters American just to adapt it would be sacrilage.

        I agree with what you said about “King of Fighters” too as they just took characters who are suposed to be JAPANESE and cast Americans. Kyo Kusunagi being a white guy is just wrong. And Hell even the American they got to play Terry Bogard is wrong. But with Airbender they never state “this is Japan, China, Korea, etc.” It’s just the Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, etc. And if you look at the show no one nation has a specific look. there’s always someone that looks a bit different than the rest of the group. Hell Toff SHOULD be asian as she looks the most asian, yet her clothes do not.

        And Ulik as for Tyler Perry, and stuff. Come on. He made his money off plays before he blew up with these movies. He writes what he knows…crazy black families. If he were to journey outside his niche he’d probably write the worst sci-fi/horror or whatever. I agree I’d love to see more ethnic directors and writers doing more genre films but it’s just like everything else, write what you know. We’ll have to settle for the Antione Fuquas, Tim Storys, and Robert Rodriguez’.

        • Sephina

          But, Akira is being completely westernized. It is being set in Neo-Manhattan and all the actors will be white. While Joseph Gordon Levitt (who could be a dead wringer for Heath Ledger) will be playing Tetsuo, Leonardo Dicaprio will be Producing, although the director had asked him to also play the lead character Kaneda. They set it in Manhattan and change them to white people for the same reason you are saying about The Last Airbender, that there is nothing inherently Asian about the storyline. That the book could be set anywhere, and isn’t necessarily set in Japan and portrayed by Japanese people just because it was written in Japan.

          And even the creators of Avatar have expressed their disdain for the casting, saying that it should have been Inuit and asians, not white people.

  • Hikaru

    At least this movie has a trailer. Tekken hasn’t release a damn thing!

  • Hikaru

    At least this movie has a trailer. Tekken hasn’t release a damn thing!

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