Writer/director M. Night Shyamalan will definitely be following up his June blockbuster contender, The Happening, with Paramount’s adaptation of the hit Nicktoons series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The ambitious live-action film is now due on July 2, 2010. Variety reported just minutes ago that the film’s title has been officially shortened to The Last Airbender, thus avoiding the 3D death ray of James Cameron’s AVATAR. Smart move, but as a standalone title The Last Airbender reminds me of Air Bud or something. It’s goofy. Shyamalan spoke with Empire recently about what drew him to the high concept children’s material and professed how difficult it will be to bring the philosophical aspects and [deep breath] deeeep action to the screen…
“Obviously [there will be] some breathtaking visual effects,” the director says. “Just imagine if you saw a little girl bending water out of a glass into the air as an extension of her own personal discipline. It’s three movies about the hero learning three elements. Live action.”
“It’s daunting on the level of not doing it properly,” he admits. “It can’t be special effects for the sake of special effects, it has to be [that you use] take seven because the girl breathes properly on take seven. I have to tell the animators that. Everything, has to have that detail. I can’t leave it. I have to make sure that I make it the same kind of storytelling, but with just one more tool.”
The title character is a young savior, comparable to a holy Llama (Carl Spackler grins), who possesses superpowers allowing him to “bend” the four elements, earth, water, fire and air, each of which is delegated to a respective tribe/nation. Like any young punk who’d rather play GTA than commit to charity, this airbender is reluctant to protect his world’s three tribes from the fourth warring tribe. Shyamalan tries to explain this better in the quote below. He also aspires to make The Last Airbender a live-action Hayao Miyazaki (Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away) flick. Right now in Hollywood, it’s safe to say that anime is here to stay…
“The story is about how, in this particular time, this avatar is born into the airbenders and disappears. Then all hell breaks loose and the fire nation basically commits genocide and eradicates the air tribe in the hopes of killing the avatar and taking over control of everything. … He reappears having been frozen in the ice a hundred years later and this world is all fucked up and he is the last airbender, but he doesn’t want this job. He’s forced into the position of putting the world back together again. It actually has a lot of Shakespearean overtones to it.”
With Spielberg getting behind Ghost in the Shell today, DiCaprio doing Akira, and the Wachowskis’ Speed Racer and Ninja Assassin on the way, it will be interesting to see how general American audiences receive these heavily stylistic films. What do you guys and gals think, is this Shyamalan’s The Matrix or, gasp, his Star Wars (he compares it to both)? If anything, it will probably be far more satisfying than the live-action Dragon Ball Z.
April 15th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
[...] “DiCaprio doing Akira” [...] wait, WHAT?!?
April 15th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Dragonball franchise is 100 times more popular than all these cartoons combined.
April 15th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Shyamalan compares his own work to “Star Wars” and “The Matrix”? Wow, he usually seems like such a modest, unassuming guy…
April 15th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
I seriously thought those Dragonball photos looked DTV.
April 15th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
My nephew loves this series. I usualy glanced over and would watch it sometimes when he had it on. I have to say, some of the stuff they did have in the show was pretty cool. The story isn’t bad either.
It’s not “obnoxious” like most anime series I’ve seen. It’s got a good design behind it. And a big fanbase from what I know. His comparison to either film isn’t too far off. I could see him pulling this off with lots of style. I don’t know, it’s not really something I’m looking forward to in terms of films. But if he does it well, im sure the fans will eat it up.
April 15th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
“The Last Airbender reminds me of Air Bud or something”
jeeez you’re kidding, right?
April 15th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
@ user
Slashfilm thinks the new title is a little iffy. The studio could come up with something catchier.
I wasn’t comparing the content of Air Bud to the content/themes of Airbender.
April 15th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
DragonballZ might be many times more popular than Avatar, but it is also many times shittier. I liked dragonball when I was in middle school. I liked avatar when I started watching it a few years ago (now 24). If he sticks to the storyline and the cgi isn’t crap, it is hard to mess this one up. Avatar is one the most well thought out and executed animated shows I’ve ever seen (and I’m a pretty moderate to heavy anime fan). Whereas I do hate M. Night, I can at least attest that, of all the sources listed above, Avatar is by far the superior one (and yes, you read that right, I just said Avatar is better than ghost, akira, and jesus fucking christ, speer racer… god that movie looks like technocolor shit…)
April 15th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
I think this movie will be pretty kool. My little brother watches it, and I have seen a couple episodes. It’s a pretty awesome show. The look and tone are really neat. Some of the things that Ang can do are pretty amazing. Plus, I am a huge Shyamalan fan, I have loved all of his movies, except The Village, but we don’t talk about The Villiage.
Am I more excited for this movie than I am DBZ? Not at all.
Even if DBZ sucks ass, which it probably will, it will be one of those movies thats so bad its good.
April 15th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
I watch this with cartoon with my daughter and have
thoroughly enjoyed the story. It’s well told and each
character has evolved and grown throughout the
series. I hope the live action version of this won’t
come off too cheesy; the CGI will have to be just
right. And as long as M.Knight doesn’t screw with the
story I think a lot of peoples will be pleasantly surprised.
I wish they hadn’t shortened the title, but I understand
the decision. The Last Airbender sits fine with me, but
perhaps that is because I am a fan of the show.
April 15th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
One of the things that will make this movie great is the cartoon is so well written and detailed it will translate into a good movie. Im 19 and I will admit I watch Avatar on a regular basis. Even thought the show is on Nick it has a dark tone to it at times. The creators know that the show is watched by all ages and since they will be contributing to the movie, I expect the same tone for the live action.
What I am a little disappointed in is that they will basically be retelling the show just in live action. I wish they could of expanded it but im not complaining. It will just be like if Avatar was a book and it was being made into a movie.
April 16th, 2008 at 12:12 am
so he’s making a kids movie. will it amount to anything? will the happening?
April 16th, 2008 at 1:40 am
“Scott Says:
April 15th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Shyamalan compares his own work to “Star Wars†and “The Matrixâ€? Wow, he usually seems like such a modest, unassuming guy…”
I’d say he’s shooting low if those are his bench marks of quality.
April 16th, 2008 at 3:45 am
I only started watching this series last week, but it’s so addictive I’ve just finished watching the first two seasons. The plot and mythology of Avatar is great and much better conceived than most live-action TV shows around. Plus the magic system is stunning, yet at the same time “believable”. The way they manipulate Earth, Air, Fire and Water is the best I’ve seen so far. It has really convinced me that this would be a great format for fantasy book adaptions. TV adaptions just end up looking corny because of the low budget and movie adaptions always cut too much out the plot. I think we need more cartoons like this and hope to see some great stuff in the future.
Enter Shyamalan, who wants to do the exact opposite! Let’s take a story that already works perfectly as a cartoon and mess it completely up. I can hear him going: Because it has to be seen as a Movie. Cartoons are too low for Us. Let’s take the story and world and magic and everything and make a Movie out of it, then it will be worth Our time.
At least that’s how it feels like. Why bother with a “remake” of something like this? It’s completely unnecessary.
April 16th, 2008 at 7:29 am
“The Last Air Bender”, don’t know if the slang word Bender is used in America but the title is going to conjure all sorts of images in the heads of UK readers. Most of them, I’m sure, they do not want to think about.
April 16th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Why is there so much hate for the Dbz movie? The trailer isn’t even out!
April 16th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Agree with Drew. Love the show. Hopefully M. doesn’t screw this one up.
“Ah, what a twist!”
April 16th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
AIr bender is a pretty cool cartoon.. Lots of cool action. Which makes me wonder why M.night is doing this. He may be an interesting story teller… but his films are usually only interesting because of the script/dialouge he wrote. Not because he is such a great director… All his films are basically the same, shot wise. What makes him think he can just all of a sudden become an action film director?
April 17th, 2008 at 10:24 am
With the right promotion and release date anything is possible. I also believe that anything will be better than Dragonball Z movie. The photos look horrible.
April 25th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
I honestly think that “The Last Airbender” will turn out great. First of all the show was so well written that it appeals to all kinds of audiences. And I think that Avatar is safe in the hands of M. Night Shyamalan, his is after all, fairly good at portraying complicated plot lines. So I have faith in him. Not only that, but with the creators of the show so involved in the making of the movie, it’s bound to be good. I don’t think they’d let someone mess up Avatar.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:06 am
One of the things that makes the avatar universe so consistent is how each “nation” has it’s own distinct feel, if you will. Each bending technique is so unique and consistent with the different cultures…. the hand movements, arm motions, rooting… it all has a place,
Well, i just hope that feeling and attention to detail stays with the movie… those are the things i will be looking for
June 11th, 2008 at 9:05 am
in all seriousness i cannot wait for this film to come out. I have been a huge avatar fan ever since the series was introduced, so to see it come to the big screen and in live action will be so awsome.
But this movie is going to be different that anything that M.Night has done before, so i really hope he doesn’t screw the pooch on this one. And as for the DBZ movie, i don’t think that should even be made at all. Dont get me wrong i am a really big DBZ fan as well, ive seen mostly all the saga’s(except for the GT series) but i just dont think think that it should ever be a live action film(just my opinion). If i had to choose between both shows, Avatar and DBZ, i would for sure choose Avatar!
June 14th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Believe it or not about a month ago I actually was telling my 65 year old uncle who has become a fan that this story was good enough to make into a live action movie. This is a good idea, although I’m not sure that they have the right director. The storyline of the Avatar cartoon is better told and makes more sense than most of the live-action movies coming out of Hollywood these days. Shyamalan must be sure not to get too caught up in cgi effects. Don’t get me wrong, the cgi will definitely be needed to do the adaptation. But what drew me personally as a 30 year old man to this cartoon was not just the fighting and bending, there are plenty of other cartoons that have characters who use kung fu inspired super-abilities(Dragonball, Naruto, etc.), was the way this story is told. All the characters have a well developed background, we are never taken off of the main track of the story, and the theme of the conquering empire relates well to the present state of the real world. They even have a group of freedom fighters, viewed as terrorist by the fire nation(Jet and his crew)who in one episode try to blow up a dam to flood an earth village that is occupied by the fire nation even though this will hurt innocents(made me think of Iraq). So, I am excited about the possibility of this being a great movie, but after viewing a few other Shyamlan movies I’m just not sure that he can hit the homer.
June 15th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Great input prime. I absolutely agree.
June 21st, 2008 at 4:27 am
This will suck beyond comprehension. The Last Airbender is an amazing series and just from reading Shyamalan’s comments it’s clear he doesn’t comprehend the most important character concepts of the series. The show isn’t about action, it’s about actions.
June 25th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
I have watched every episode of this show with my son. It is a great series. It has a sequential plot and great deeper meaning and soul searching that some of the kids probably don’t even get. The show is interesting and addictive. I hope Shyamalan stays true to the story and the characters. The main characters are all teenagers, he needs to remember that when casting. They are all struggling with loss and learning about themselves through their adventures.
June 26th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
has it been realesed yet who will star in the movie? like how could you have a different voice for aang, katara or any of the main actors? so do you think that they will just use the people from the show?