Mar 16, 2009 by Courtney O.

4 Join M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender

Aasif Mandvi, Shaun Toub, Cliff Curtis and Keong Sim have boarded the cast of M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender, joining Noah Ringer and Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel for Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the movie is based on the popular anime-inspired Nickelodeon TV series.

The live-action feature is being produced by Shyamalan, Sam Mercer and Frank Marshall.

In the film, the four nations -- Air, Water, Earth and Fire -- are in turmoil as the Fire Nation wages war on the others. Aang (Ringer) is the lone Avatar who can manipulate all four elements and possibly restore peace to their world.

Mandvi is set to play the Fire Nation's Commander Zhao, Curtis will play the Fire Lord Ozai, and Toub is Uncle Iroh, a retired Fire Nation general. Sim will play Earthbending Father.

Shyamalan has signed to shoot the first feature in a planned trilogy, to which Paramount has budgeted $250 million. The martial arts-heavy series is set to film in Greenland and Vietnam.

The shoot is scheduled to begin in this month for a release on July 2, 2010.

The Last Airbender was released July 1st, 2010 and stars Jackson Rathbone, Dev Patel, Cliff Curtis, Nicola Peltz, Randall Duk Kim, Jessica Andres, Noah Ringer, Seychelle Gabriel. The film is directed by M. Night Shyamalan.


Sources: The Hollywood Reporter

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Comments (14)

  1. Diaigma

    Your comment would be more viable without the "anime" comment, jim. It's not anime. Sorry. :P

    3 years agoby @diaigmaFlag

  2. st.jimmy

    this will probably stink, just like the dragon ball z live action movie............ they should not make anime into live movies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    3 years agoby @st-jimmyFlag

  3. T.Clark

    Aasif Mandvi is from the Daily Show...haha Awesome. That should be very interesting

    I have faith in this movie. M. Night, despite what people say, is still a dynamite storyteller.

    3 years agoby @insertusernamehereFlag

  4. Diaigma

    Black-Moon "im not racist either,i just think he is,cause more of them look like indians,so just me thinking here.

    I get what your saying, but, if the fire nation is all one type of race, in this case Indian, it would make sense that these three actors are all Indian-ish, since, you know, they are all from the Fire Nation, the SAME nation. This does not mean he's racist. I actually really like that the Earth Nation is going to be full on Asian. Makes me wonder who will play Toph :P

    And Crypt, not to be rude or anything, but tell that to the 30 million+ fans out there :P

    3 years agoby @diaigmaFlag

  5. CB Junior

    i amlost have no faith in M. Night anymore. afetr his three masterpieces Sixth Since, Unbreakable, and Signs, he went did straight up crap: Village, Lady in the Water, and The Happening

    3 years agoby @cbjuniorFlag

  6. Shelley

    I have to say I am interested and with that kind of budget it has every opportunity to be good. Hopefully it will be.

    3 years agoby @shelleyFlag

  7. The CryptKeeper

    Oh, it'll suck if it's based off that lame show. Not even Shyamalin will be able to save it

    3 years agoby @catwomanFlag

  8. Atreus

    You brought the point up well, Diaigma. While the show appears to take fashion and culture from various Asian nations, it is still a fictional cartoon world and bound to none of our own ethnic/demographic constrictions. For the love of God, the have PLATYPUS-BEARS in that world, having a martial artist from Texas play the lead does not sound so absurd next to that.

    And M. Night is a trusted director by me (though his last two have been less than stellar, the characterization and direction was still good), I have faith in his skills. BTW, black-moon, I am pretty sure he is trying to film the movies quickly and not necessarily sequentially (like LotR, albeit not quite so intense), so I don't think anyone is going to be recast once the filming starts.

    3 years agoby @atreusFlag

  9. black-moon

    Oh never mind about the whole Paparazzi thing cause they are shooting in Greenland and Vietnam..so there's not a chance that they would do that.

    3 years agoby @black-moonFlag

  10. black-moon

    And also,it says "Shyamalan has signed to shoot the 'first' feature",at the bottom,so there is a chance that Aang will be learning from and meeting Toph...and also if this sucks,they might replace him...and shooting this month so we will see some outfits and images,soon! because you guys know how paparazzi have been this past 2008-09,pictures have been flying!lol

    3 years agoby @black-moonFlag

  11. black-moon

    "Diaigma" you have given me hope again,THANK YOU!!
    And no,im not racist either,i just think he is,cause more of them look like indians,so just me thinking here.

    And im just wondering,when the synopsis said "is the lone Avatar who can manipulate all four elements",does that mean,he already knows the four elements,or what the f*ck?

    3 years agoby @black-moonFlag

  12. Diaigma

    I say this movie is going to ROCK! Why? M. Night is not a bad director. His original stories are questionable, but guess what? THIS IS NOT ONE OF HIS ORIGINAL STORIES!!! I'm one of the biggest Airbender fans out there, and, gee, I never categorized the people in the series as being Asian, Indian, what have you. Why? IT'S A FICTIONAL WORLD BASED ON EASTERN CULTURE!!! So if I make a story where everyone wears kimonos, does that mean they have to be Asian? Common! Don't let an unnecessary race card get in the way of the fact that the film is being made by very capable people. I guess the only reason why I'm not upset about the casting is because I'm not racist :P

    3 years agoby @diaigmaFlag

  13. Mmm_mmm

    i knowz how u feel about M. Night Shamamamamamalan screwin' dis up

    but i thought unbreakable wuz phurdy gud so i haves faith

    3 years agoby @mmm-mmmFlag

  14. SPetnAZ

    This movie is gonna suck. None of the actors look anything like any of the characters. Most of the cast are of some or other indian roots. The nations were meant to be portrails of existing eastern races. The fire nation - Japanese, The air nation were meant to be like the tibetan monks, etc.

    After M. Night Shyamalan's last few movies - Lady Of The Lake, The Happening - which sucked, I'm really worried about how much he is going to ruin this amazing story. I am a huge fan of the series but I will not spend a cent to watch this movie.

    3 years agoby @spetnazFlag

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