Posts Tagged ‘The Last Airbender’
Shyamalan embraces inner kid
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010 by Rohan
M.Night Shyamalan is known for spine-chilling thrillers with ghoulish final-frame twists like in The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and The Village. But director M Night Shyamalan says he loved getting the chance to be a big kid again when making his latest film ‘extravaganza’ The Last Airbender.
Based on a hit children’s TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender, the film in which the world is at war and its fate lies in the hand of one small boy. ‘I think each artist thinks of themselves at a certain period of their life and a little bit of me perceives me as a ten-year-old a lot,’ Shyamalan tells AAP from his home in the US.
‘You see it, even in my darker pieces – there’s always a perspective from that age group. Whether it’s Unbreakable when he sees his father in a certain way, obviously in The Sixth Sense and also in Signs which tells the kid’s point of view of what’s going on.
‘It’s always feathered in there. ‘The Last Airbender tells the story of a primitive world which is being threatened with extinction by the Fire Nation, who aims to annihilate the more peace-loving nations of Air, Water and Earth.
But then a ‘waterbender’, who is still learning to control her powers, discovers the long-lost Aang – not only the world’s last airbender, but an avatar sent to save the earth.
Shobha De’s reponse to Dev Patel
Saturday, August 14th, 2010 by RohanWho is Shobba De? – In the 1980s, Shobba contributed to the Sunday magazine section of the Times of India, she used to explore the socialite life
in Mumbai lifestyles of the celebrities. At present, she is a freelance writer and columnist for several newspapers, magazines and just recently she tweeted to Dev Patel and advising the “Slumdog” star on how and why some big Bollywood stars decided to stay in Bollywood and rejecting offers from Hollywood because Dev Patel calls Hollywood racist.
I don’t know much about Dev Patel, but based on his remarks about Hollywood being racist and him getting offers to play steriotypical roles is the voice of an amateur actor. He doesn’t know that his acting abilities isn’t much to talk about yet and in my opinion the actor should be careful before murdering his career. Hindustan Times published the article recently which puts the spotlight on Dev Patel’s remarks and what they think of Hollywood.
The 20-year-old actor from London, frustrated by the lack of decent roles on offer, called Hollywood “institutionally racist”, according to The Telegraph.
“Because Slumdog was such a big hit, there was a lot of pressure in terms of what I did next,” said the actor, whose latest film The Last Airbender was also caught in a racist row. “And all I was getting offered were stereotypical parts.”
“Asian actors tend not to be sent challenging Hollywood scripts. I’m likely to be offered roles of a terrorist, cab driver and smart geek… I want to show that I have versatility,” he added. Patel said he was still hoping to overcome prejudice. “I’m buzzing with adrenaline and raring to go, but I have to be realistic. Being an Asian actor, it’s never going to be easy. Hopefully the industry is changing and the casting directors will be less focused on colour, so that people like myself can get through the door.”
Meanwhile, author Shobha De tweeted in response to Patel’s comment, saying: “Bachchoo Dev Patel calls Hollywood racist. Why do you think SRK, Big B, Salman, Aamir have stayed away? Badshahs here, cabbies there. Got it, Dev?”
Shyamalan Will Be A Keynote Speaker at the 3D Summit
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 by RohanBob Dowling, President of The Bob Dowling Group, and Unicomm, LLC, a leading event management company, announced today that Writer 
Director M. Night Shyamalan (The Last Airbender; Sixth Sense) and Chris Cookson, President of Sony
Pictures Technologies, will be joining Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation SKG, as Keynote Speakers at the 3rd annual 3D Entertainment Summit presented in association with Variety. The two-day conference is scheduled for September 15-16, 2010 at the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City, CA.
“Using new creative techniques to tell stories with fierce and brilliant intelligence has been the hallmark of M. Night Shyamalan’s remarkable career,” said Dowling, “and we look forward to his insights into the immersive narrative possibilities of 3D as one of our Keynote Speakers.” M. Night Shyamalan wrote and directed the 1999 breakout hit Sixth Sense, which was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay; other notable films include Unbreakable (2001), Signs (2002), The Happening (2008) and the current box office hit, The Last Airbender.
“As President of Sony Pictures Technologies, Chris Cookson’s mandate is to oversee the use of hardware and software in the service of content creation and creators across Sony’s vast entertainment space,” Dowling said. “Few executives can speak more authoritatively than Chris about the critical importance of company-wide integration of technology and creativity to maximize audience response to 3D in all its platforms.”
Night talks Last Airbender, Facing Fears, Original Films
Monday, August 9th, 2010 by Specter
Night was interviewed by Wales Online and the topics featured a number of things. It’s a very good interview and gives us some more perspective on Night as a person. Soapbox: Regardless of how folks feel about him, and how he comes across to some, he is still a human being. He deserves to be treated with dignity and respect as all deserve to be treated. That should go without saying, but a lot of people just don’t care, and that’s very sad. End soapbox.
“There were two types of film that were my guilty pleasure when I was kid and they were horror movies and martial arts movies,” says the talkative Indian-born director.
“I’ve been able to do my version of scarier movies, so I started to think about martial arts, the philosophy involved with every movement and how you discipline yourself. It’s a great medium for entertaining but also talking about deeper things.”
Shyamalan was responsible for adapting more than 30 hours of stories into a feature-length film, and plotted the film on boards for a year prior to principal photography.
Producer Frank Marshall talks Night, Airbender
Monday, August 9th, 2010 by Specter
Producer Frank Marshall has worked on a few of Night’s films over the years, and has many great movies on his resume. He’s a great producer with a lot of insight into films that no many can see. Thirty years, 50-plus movies, and almost $5billion at the box office later, the man known as one of Hollywood’s “super producers” is here with the tale. Before we get to spaghetti, Indiana Jones, Bourne, or Marshall’s new project, a screen version of Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse, there’s The Last Airbender, out next week.
With an estimated production budget of $150 million, a lot is riding on M Night Shyamalan’s fantasy adventure, adapted from the TV series, about a young hero striving to unite a magical world. Starring Dev Patel in his first major role since Slumdog Millionaire, it is also Shyamalan’s latest attempt to regain the career high of The Sixth Sense after the lows of Lady in the Water and The Happening.
Marshall worked with Shyamalan on The Sixth Sense and Signs. “They like to put you up on pedestals so they can knock you down quickly,” he says of the critical reaction to Shyamalan’s recent movies. “I’ve seen that a lot, particularly when you don’t do the kind of projects they think you should do. This is not in his usual genre of horror and twists and scary movies. This is a family film that has a lot of heart and warmth.”
-via Herald Scotland
Jackson Rathbone says Art is subjective
Monday, August 9th, 2010 by RohanThough it performed respectably at the box office, grossing nearly $130 million since its July 1 release date, M. Night Shyamalan’s fantasy flick
“The Last Airbender” received an icy reception from critics — a reaction that star Jackson Rathbone says is undeserved.
“The critics in the U.S. … I just don’t think they really like M. Night Shyamalan anymore,” Rathbone told MTV News while on the blue carpet for the 2010 Teen Choice Awards. “I don’t know why. It’s sad because he’s such an amazing director and an amazing person.”
The film, written and directed by Shyamalan, is a live-action remake of the popular Nickelodeon animated TV series “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and the first installment in a proposed trilogy. It received mixed reviews from critics, many who said the film emphasized style over substance. Nonetheless, Rathbone stands by the film’s box-office performance, adding that Shyamalan’s popularity is stronger than ever in foreign markets.
“It was interesting, the reception with ‘The Last Airbender,’ because they did extremely well with the U.S. domestic box office and even better than expected overseas,” he said. “Overseas, internationally, they still love him and think his work is genius.”
In the end, Rathbone believes it’s just a matter of taste. “It’s just one of those things,” he said. “Art is subjective.”
Shyamalan’s mettle will next be tested with September’s stuck-in-an-elevator horror-thriller “Devil,” a story he conceptualized, while Rathbone will begin work on the two-part “Breaking Dawn” film this fall.
Source: www.mtv.com
M. Night Shyamalan, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone and Dev Patel on Last Airbender
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 by SpecterThe Last Airbender Interviews – M. Night Shyamalan, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone and Dev Patel talk about bringing the cartoon to the big screen with Reelz Channel.
Dev Patel talks Last Airbender role, Prince Zuko
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 by SpecterHitFix interviewed Dev Patel about The Last Airbender and he spoke very frankly about filming, including what it was like to be cast only a month before the start of shooting the film.
The Last Airbender DVD/Blu-ray to include cut scenes, but no Kyoshi Warriors
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 by SpecterLooks like our hopes of seeing the Kyoshi Warriors put into the movie have just been dashed. As well as hope for a “director’s cut.” However, we weren’t asking for a director’s cut, were we? We were asking for the Peter Jackson route of “Extended Edition.” Both the theatrical and the extended editions of The Lord of the Rings are considered to be the “director’s cut.” Therefore, if Night wants to, he could just create another longer cut (perhaps even using alternate takes here and there), that could stand apart from the original version.
MTV asked Night if we would see the deleted scenes later on, though, and here’s what he said: Read the rest of this entry »
10 Questions for M. Night Shyamalan
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 by RohanTIME’s “Gilbert Cruz” had the chance to sit with director M.Night Shyamalan one on one as M.Night Shyamalan answered 10 questions from fans around the United States. M.Night talks briefly about race controversy and why he directed The Last Airbender.
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