Dev Patel joins Avatar: The Last Airbender

The Shamhammer has been laying low since his last few movies have not been hailed as the genius we started to hold him to. But he has been busy. Busy casting Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel in his new film.

In a radicle move, M Night Shyamalan turned away from his self crafted twist tales and is taking on the adaptation of the animated Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Latino Review shares:

In casting Patel and Ringer, a director accustomed to delivering plot twists to audiences got some surprises of his own. Ringer is a complete unknown who was tapped for the title role off an Internet audition. Patel, meanwhile, steps into a role that Jesse McCartney had all but locked up until the actor’s second career as a musician got in the way.

“Jesse had tour dates that conflicted with a boot camp I always hold on my films, and where the actors here have to train for martial arts,” Shyamalan said.

Patel was “already one of the guys I was interested in. Then I saw ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ and the kid just grew in my eyes,” he said.

Tyro thesp Ringer will play Aang, the film’s lead, who is the last of a race of people who can manipulate the elements of air.

This is good news indeed. At least now the film will be cast with martial arts talent and real actors instead of a dreamy teen popstar. The surprise talent will be joining the cast as a supporting role, but I think it will be a good fit.

I have seen a fair bit of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and though light and episodic the premise behind it was just begging for a feature film adaptation. I hope the Shamhammer hits it out of the park!

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65 thoughts on “Dev Patel joins Avatar: The Last Airbender

  1. Rodney, I bet you’re not a big fan nor watching full 3 seasons animated Avatar The Last Airbender, the animation series is a big hit. After watching full 3 season the animated series(again) and then watching the live action trailer, like hell I’m spending money to watch the movie(although the cgi is kaboom). Dev Patel is more suited to sooka. I think Syamalan just want to gain profit from the successful animated series, he does’t even care about the fan.(just like James Wong: Dragonball Evolution)
    the casting is sooo wrong :P

    #kayur,imamac,eRulasto, Betty :completely agree with u all

  2. I think that the casting for Zuko could have done alot better than Dev Patel. I mean when we look at Zuko, we see a eastern looking character, with a nice toned body, who’s had to work his way up, and is strong a fierce. Dev Patel isn’t any of this. The actor Rain from Ninja Assasins could play this part perfectly. He fits the category perfect. Strong, well toned, eastern, and fierce. I mean he was so good in Ninja Assasin

    1. Because clearly an adult TEN YEARS older than Patel should play this.

      You might want to think this through a little more.

      And give Patel a personal trainer for 3 weeks and he can be just as fit looking.

  3. I loved the cartoon. How could they get the casting of this movie sooooooo wrong? The person who would be a perfect Zuko would be Rain, the asian pop star who played in speedracer. Katara should be at least someone of color. What’s the deal with all the white face actors?

    1. i agree with you, Rain would be the perfect actor for this. I mean he was so fierce and hot looking and he has the muscle to play as Zuko, Dev Patel doesn’t

  4. I heard that Seychelle Gabriel is playing Princess Yue. I hope its true because she would be the best person casted for a role in the whole cast so far. I think Dev should be sokka not zuko.

  5. ok 1st, dev patel is a great actor, but he looks nothing like zuko!! i think dante basco (the actual voice of zuko) would actually do a pretty good job. hes filipino but hes been doing a good job with acting like other asians

  6. Well all I am going to say is. I just hope this movie does well. The show has many asian influences and on a greater note draws heavily upon Hindu and Bhuddist thought. As long as this movie stays true to the show it will put across a good message. Fine there are white actors but that just goes to show the power of asian thought and philosophy.

  7. first off,i dont think any of the characters match the actual avatar show, i feel most of the voice overs can do a better job for the part. i hope they show some of the original stuff in the movie.

  8. I’ve never really felt so concerned about how a movie is made (or cast in this case). When I first realized that an all white cast including jesse mcartney????????????????? was chosen to play the core characters, I was very dissapointed. The more I chewed on it, the clearer it became that MY main concern was that this masterpiece of a series (voice acting, AWESOME characters, animation, martial arts, cultural and artistic style, originality, momo, and the list goes on………) was not RUINEd. I do believe that the cast should not be all white especially Zuko, because of the clear VERY STRONG ASIAN INFULENCE in the style and culture of the fire nation. I’ve got nothing agianst Patel, but if he can’t channel Zuko’s/Dante Basco’s essence, he should not play him. Sokka’s comedic style on the other hand, would be a little challenging to recreate by someone who wasn’t born or raised in the U.S.. (I hope that doesn’t sound racist, i’m hispanic by the way). So i’m sort on the fence about this one. I completely agree with Betty in that these characters do not NEED to be played by Caucasians, and should not unless it’s absolutely necessary (especially FIRE NATION. I believe that out of respect for the unmatched voice performances by Mako or Dante Basco, and clear cultural juice that this original mythology is bursting with, the cast should be reconsidered. Tolkien was british, so his characters (the good guys) were white. Avatar owes its success to its diverse culture and characters and the film should be a reflection of that. That’s about as clear as I can make it. I can’t wait to experience the Four Nations from a different perspective.
    On a side note: I feel bad for the voice actors of avatar, becuase (if the movie version is successful), they will watch the film’s actors become famous (and maybe rich?), sort of like the Harry Potter cast. I hope that they’re performances are honored in some way in the films.
    That is all.

    1. The most glaring casting mistake is Dev. Don’t get me wrong Dev a fine new talent and has a bright future but he is simple wrong for part. I agree he is much better suited for Sokka – Anybody watch Skins? He’s a goof. As a matter of fact Zuko is prolly the hardest member to cast well. There is an obvious duality to his character which is not only reflected in his behavior but also in his look. Zuko is both good and bad. He is also unbelievably beautiful and horribly ugly all at the same time. I don’t see even a hint of that kind of complexity in the casting of Dev Patel. Sorry… just doesn’t work for me. This is just the first clue as to why this film won’t work. MNS is being true to himself at the cost of the story. And don’t even get me started on Sokka. What is he thinking? As for whether they should be asian or white or whatever – It doesn’t matter as long as it fits and they can act. Its a fictitious world with asian spiritual influences but not necessarily all asian people. When you get don’t to it though the cartoon was drawn with very caucasian looking characters or some kind of cross between the two. A lot of the time the look of a character is more flexible but in animation the creator/animator creates just the right look for his/her character and so should it be that carefully done in translating an animation to live action.

      1. I agree that the actors should at least have some resemblance to their character, but as for acting i feel differently. Dev Patel’s role in Skins was to be goofy, but he is an actor. And so he has to adapt to any personality of a character.

  9. And now for my rant
    Dev Patel Looks like Sokka!!!!!!!!!!!.
    Right now off the top of my mind I could cast this movie with people and actors that I know. C’mon, Rathbone swinging around a sword and boomerang. I know a guy who fences and ins funny and is asian and is the right coloring that could be Sokka. I know a guy that looks exactly like Aang and has done martial arts for a long time, he’s even acted in a movie before. I can cast Ty Lee right now too. Please Don’t tell me that you cant find Asian actors for this . If you couldn’t them shouldn’t you have let someone that could do the casting. And korean traditional is hanbok NOT kimono. That’s Japanese. You know the dress that Toph wears in the Blind Bandit.
    And the Zuko Thing Argggggggh!! Go get some nice Japanese or Korean boy who’s lived in the US for a while!!!! There are so many of those. And scout at international schools and do it during spring break , We all bilingual or trilingual you know! I refuse to believe that there is a shortage of those. And if the clothing isn’t done well it will look ridiculous on Caucasian actors. MNS. You had better get a good stylist. And watch Red Cliff by John Woo. It is awesome…..

  10. Actually it does matter. What does the casting say to the viewers of Avatar. Avatar was a cartoon based on asian culture with strong and well developed characters of color.
    Are you telling me that in all of america and the world that there are no asian actors that can play the four main characters. Jesse Mcartney was cast as Zuko before they changed you know. How do you think the Inuit and other Native people feel about the casting of Katara and Sokka. How do think the rest of the east asian-americans feel about he casting of Aang and Zuko. The casting calls called for “Caucasian and other ethinicity”. Why would they do that when the cartoon is clearly based on asian culture?
    The Avatar is supposed to be a movie about tolerance and this casting has shown that Hollywood is still prejudiced against Asian actors. Avatar could have been a chance, a big break for the Asian kids that aspire to be actors, something they might never get again when most of Hollywood casts Caucasian.
    A Vietnamese boy who auditioned for Aang now thinks that he is too brown. How can people just stand by and let M N.S shoot future talent down?
    It’s true that the looks of the actors don’t matte, but I think these actors were casted for looks, white looks, rather than talent.

  11. It will be very exciting to have a movie, Avatar, the last airbender. My son loves the animated tv series. Will the movie be animated? We sure would like to know. And I think it’s not the looks of the actors that matters, but what they bring to the role they are assigned.

  12. whoa,whoa………..,
    the whole point is Zuko is a sexy ,moderately well built hansome prince. even his voice is meant for the fangirls. Plus, his very surly nature itself is part of the package.
    Dev Patel look anyhting like that?

    1. You have never seen him do anything different.

      You assume that because all his previous films have had a twist that they are all the “same”. Have you even seen his movies? They are all different types of stories, just all with a twist.

      Jon, you assume too much.

    2. me personally i didnt really care for him in slumdog….same with the gitl….just didnt believe her…..dont get me wrong this is just my opinion….i thought the game show host was awesome and his brother was great but the only part i was convinced of was him as the outsourcing indian…the thing that sold the movie was the awesome story ans setting…..but again these where my opinions.

    3. Yea I said he “reminds me” of michael cera of him. sorry that i ruffled your feathers by saying a few words. Tell him I said sorry next time your on the phone with him since you seem to be close to the guy.

  13. Oh come on, I hate this fucking shit… Shym. is exactly here BECAUSE of his twist movies. So fucking do them already.
    The same thing goes for Bay. He’s here for fucking big Hollywood action blockbusters. I wouldn’t see any small one by him.
    There are thousands other directors who already are doing those “standard” movies.

    1. And what exactly is a “standard” movie?

      Besides, the Shamhammer has done enough “twist” stories, and they got progressively worse and worse. You anticipated the twist so much that having NO twist would just be written of as the twist.

      It is no crime for a director to do the same type of movies he is best known for, but there is no fault in trying something different as well.

      Its ignorant to say they cannot do it because your view is too narrow to accept them in anything else.

  14. funny how u say there not european in the show…..um i cant say im a expert on a disney cartoon series but im pretty sure its set in a alternate uneiverse…i never remeber them saying “hey this is china” or any other asian country…..some one yas asian fever i think lol

    1. This is something I keep repeating on here too. People cuss because they cast a white guy in Dragonball when the lead is an alien monkey boy.

      Why do people have to assume their culture is who they say they are instead of the fictional place from a story that they really are.

      Airbender doesn’t take place on earth, so attaching Earth cultures is irrelevant. The characters are not of a specific culture, so assuming their culture is irrelevant.

      As long as they capture the spirit of the character, that is all that matters.

    2. thats the same thing i keep saying about dragonball.just because the characters are among certian styled buildings and other things doesn’t refect on there race. both db and avater are not set on earth as we know it but instead on earthlike worlds with heavy easten influences.

    3. So that means you would have been cool with a cast of Hispanics or Africans as the main characters in Lord of the Rings right?

      I mean, heaven forbid we cast non whites in a movie based in a fantasy setting that has a European flair. But an Asian setting? Sure. Why not. Whites apparently play better Asians then Asians

    4. Jen, I would not have had a problem with a cast of Hispanics or Africans in Lord of the rings as many of the characters were not described as having any specific cultures.

      However those that are described as “fair skinned” like the elves would require a white to play them. Tolkien was painfully specific in his descriptions when they mattered.

      As far as Airbender, its NOT an Asian setting, nor is it even on earth. So your assumption that Whites play better Asians than Asians is your own racism and assumption.

    5. Rodney – so you’re saying that if Tolkien describes a character as “fair-skinned”, then they must be played by a fair-skinned, white actor/actress, but if a character in an animated TV series is depicted with dark skin, it’s okay to cast pale-skinned, white Jackson Rathbone/Nicola Peltz? I fail to see your logic.

      Zuko looked pretty Chinese to me. And I’m a pretty white-bread American girl, too. I don’t follow Asian pop culture and I definitely don’t have “Asian fever”. Dev Patel would make a better Sokka than Rathbone would and he would also make a better Sokka than Zuko. The Last Airbender is still horribly miscast.

    6. Yes, you are correct in the regard that the show was never promoted as “China,” or such specific matter.

      However, Nickelodeon HAS promoted the series as being set in an Asian-themed universe. Go look it up.

      Also, if you even watched the show (especially the second and third seasons), there is no way it’s NOT Asian. Can you not see the temples? The decorations, the way the towns look? The clothing?

      Honestly, it simply bewilders me how people can think this show ISN’T heavily Asian inspired. Ridiculous.

    7. @Nick The show is clearly Asian inspired, but the fact that it is NOT Asia means that the characters do not HAVE to be Asian.

      If the spirit of the characters remain the same, what difference does it make?

    8. I would just like to put my two cents in. I have been a dedicated fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender from the first episode to the last. I think Shamhammer needs to do some rethinking concerning his actors. Dev Patel is a very good actor, and while I prefer his skill over Jesse McCartney’s, I still see no rememblance between him and Prince Zuko. I would hate to see an entire series of movies with actors that look nothing like the cartoon. It’s not racist to say that in the cartoon, some characters have lighter or darker skin. They are not defined as Asian or any other race. The show is inspired by Asian and Inuit cultures, but no one character or group of people in the cartoon is European.

    9. To me, how much the actors look like their characters is only a small part of the big picture. As long as they can represent the characters correctly, I’m sure the movie will go smoothly, and most everybody will be happy.

      And they will most likely darken Jackson’s and Nicola’s hair. I’m pretty sure people would throw fits if they didn’t.

  15. I don’t think anyone is really going to miss Jesse McCartney, I know I won’t. I do think Jesse made a huge mistake as this could have been a serious role for him. The character Prince Zuko (forgive my spelling) is a pivotal role. A hero is only as good as the villain is evil, you always need a strong villain to make the hero look more impressive. Go sing Jesse and someday you’ll realize you screwed up.

    1. I agree. But Jesse would’ve been even MORE bitched out about by Avatar fans, if he had chosen to stick with his role.

      So yes, Jesse, go sing and be your over-hyped pop star self.

  16. I just want to say that you lost me on the new webdesign. We live in a fast society. There’s no time in clicking on a link to read the rest of the text which “might” be worthwile reading.

    Is it possible to change?

    1. Frid just go to the bottom of the page and click “read more” it displays the whole of each article. And pretty much all blog sites are doing this same thing now.

  17. Now lets stop to think about this. There going to make an Avatar: The last Air Bender motion picture and the best director for the job is a director whos film keep getting progressivly worse? On top of the this is suppose to be a film for the younger audience so why choose a director who did nothing but suspence, horror, thriller type films?

    1. the shamhammer approached the creaters with the idea of making the movie himself because while watching the show with his kids he enjoyed it and became a fan.

    2. It doesnt matter if he watched the show or is a fan. He writes and directs movies that have gotten worse as years pass by all of the same genre. Would you go see a kids movie if you knew it was made by Rob Zombie?

  18. The official movie name was changed to “The Last Airbender” just so nobody confuses the two movies.

    I didn’t mind Jesse McCartney in the role, since he actually looked like the Prince without the make-up. Dev Patel is somebody I can’t imagine in the role at all, but that’ll probably change when I see his performance. M. Night has a good history when it comes to finding young talent.

    1. And that one kid launched an amazing career which includes Pay it Forward, Artificial Intelligence: AI, Secondhand Lions… Country Bears… and Jungle Book 2… good find shamhammer…

    2. If you can see McCartney instead of this guy better, then you are simply not paying attention. These characters are not european. Period. I don’t why so many things are whitewashed these days. 21, Dragonball and this. The whole principle cast needs to be re-cast. Can we please get past yellow face?

      “…since he actually looked like the Prince without the make-up.” Holy Madam Butterfly. You’ve got to be kidding.

    3. I mean that the kids he uses in his movies are actually decent actors for the roles he casts. They’re not the usual over-acting brats I see in every other movie.

      And no, I’m not kidding, Chuck. Do a side-by-side comparison and set McCartney’s face on fire. There’s a resemblance.

    1. Umm sorry to offend any people who are fans of the casting but when i heard that they changed jesse mccartney to dev patel i cried. Not that i liked jesse mccartney that much to begin with but it just gets worse doesnt it? i mean zuko is meant to be east asian.. ok caucasian will do too. sokka and katara.. yeah they look indianish.. and aang can be wateva.. but zuko is so good looking in the anime(not to mention i love th voice dante basco does for zuko, its hot as…) and look wat have they done to him! sorry u just lost a fan of ur movie “shamhammer” Not going to see it and im like the biggest avatar fan ever

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