The pressure is on this weekend for M. Night Shyamalan and the cast of The Last Airbender not just because they’re hoping the film is a financial success, but because they’re eager to please the longtime fans of the show, hope to attract crowds unfamiliar with the source material, have become engrossed in their characters and are hoping to make two more films. Factor in the $150 million production budget and the $130 million spent on marketing and a little anxiety at this point is understandable, so it’s a good thing Shyamalan and his stars, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz and Jackson Rathbone are in particularly high spirits.
All four participated in a series of roundtables during which the gang was eager to fawn over the subject matter, each other and the final product. The film was adapted from the popular Nickelodeon animated series and focuses on a young boy named Aang (Noah Ringer), a member of the Air Nomads and the one believed to be the Avatar, the only person capable of manipulating all four elements. Peltz’s character, Katara, is a water bender and with her older brother Sokka (Rathbone) by her side, accompanies Aang on his journey to protect the Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom from the oppressive Fire Nation. That’s where Patel comes in. He plays Prince Zuko, the son of Fire Lord Ozai (Cliff Curtis), who was banished by his father and only permitted to return if he captures the Avatar.
And that’s just the least of it. The Last Airbender is packed with back story, character development, action sequences, unusual animals and a whole lot of element bending. Like the film, the director and cast members were bursting at the seams with information about the project. So, like Shyamalan’s effort to include the most pivotal parts of the television show in his film, I’m going to bring you the best of the interviews in a format that permits you to soak in all of the details in as organized a fashion as possible.
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