Old one is here: >>58061

(But click this so that you can just see the most recent 50: http://plus4chan.org/boards/a/res/58061+50.html )

>>65601
What the fuck is the picture and how is this movie related?

>>65605
It's the avatar state




....mebbie

It's from Avatar.

James Cameron's: Avatar

>>65607
Oh, the movie that is destined to fail?

>>65616
why? because nobody really know what it is supposed to be about outside the generic description of it being sci-fi?

>>hyamalan's highest budget so far has been about $75 millon (for Unbreakable) so yes, this is a huge production the likes of which he's never worked with.

>>I think the budget for the first movie is $150 mil?

That's one big and really expensive mistake...

>>65617
Don't try to argue with someone who frequents 4chan's /tv/. They say James Cameron hasn't made a good movie in centuries while they believe Shyamalan's Avatar movie is going to be a good re-imaging much like Star Trek was when it was released.

>>65617
Because James Cameron hasn't made a good film in years?

>>65626
He made a movie within the last decade?

Noah Ringer sure looks like a lot like Aang.

Uhmm only if "a lot" means "nothing at all".

>>65646
That picture doesn't look like Aang.

>>65648
It doesn't even look like Noah Ringer.

>>65649
But if it doesn't look like Aang, how would it look like Noah when he is portraying Aang?

>>65646

If you wanna be more accurate, you have to shift all that from his head, down to his cheeks, and make him look a *lot* sleepier...or scarier...more likely scarier...Noah Ringer looks scary in that one photo, come on.

>>65652
I don't get it.

>>65655

Noah Ringer has big fat baby cheeks, and in those head on bust shots from a bit ago, he looks either very sleepy or incredibly evil.

That is the joke.

>>65661

You're trolling our groove, man. Here's the deal: many Americas would like to think of themselves as living in an increasingly multicultural nation. This gives rise for the opportunity to break away from stereotypes and prejudices. In this case many of the fans of the show feel that the ethnic diversity of the show is not being represented by the target of your fanboy e-fellatio. The time for effectively changing the cast has long since gone, but talking about it informs Shammie how on notice he is with the core fanbase, i.e. the people who would most like to watch an Avatar movie.

>>65663
Who are you quoting?

>>65669

It was here a second ago. Trolls remorse strikes again.

>>65672
You do realize it probably wasn't a troll right?

There are a lot of people who support this movie right down to it's casting.

See Youtube for instance.

>>65674
>See Youtube for instance.
I think you can look at comments for *ANY* video on YouTube and find full blown debates heavily mixed with trolls trollin' trolls. Pic related. That said, the casting protest videos have attracted a special breed of ignorant and hateful commenters.

>>65676
I just realised that pic might be seen as an attack on >>65674 but that was not my intention, I was referring to stupid YouTube comments in general.

/clarification

>>65676
Well, why are there people making videos saying that everyone should relax and enjoy the movie? You fail kind sir, because of your assumption that everyone not on your side are trolls. Haven't you learned by now that Youtube, other than housing trolls, is full of retards who argue with bullshit "facts" on both sides of the debate?

  poof

>>65648
>>65649
>>65651
>>65652
Working in another shop of how would Noah Ringer look if he was in Avatar design style.
Getting the sleepy/scary eyes is probably the harder change to get right.

I think the shoop looks more like Noah Ringer and his sleepy stare than it did before

>>65688
Learn to not care that it doesn't resemble the show in any way and you will like it so much more!

Actually, I agree. It worked with The Spirits Within.

>>65696
didn't that movie make Square go bankrupt?

I agree that the casting for the movie is BS, but this "Noah Ringer doesn't look like Aang" business is stupid. Avatar is an animated show, and the characters all have pretty simplified features. Of course a real human being is not going to look like a character in the show.

Now, is it at all possible to have a thread about the movie without repeating the same arguments for and against the casting? Isn't there anything else to talk about?

>>65703

Like it or not, this is the stigma that is attached to the production. It's Kung Fu for a new generation.

>>65710

The facial structures look pretty good, I'd say. Work a bit of that Hollywood makeup magic to darken Katara and Sokka, and get Dev Patel's hair into the right style, and I think we might be cooking with gas here.

>>65703


Noah Ringer is a Caucasian North American. He looks like the shop in >>65693
Aang doesn't look like a Caucasian North American.
That's the point.
Of course, not to mention everything else being reimagined in the worst way possible, The Last Airbender will become the next fail!adaptation in the tradition of films like Scooby Doo, Flintstones, Gardfield...

>>This is the stigma that is attached to the production. It's Kung Fu for a new generation.
Too true. It wasn't a right thing to do back then, and it is not a right thing to do now.

>>65701

thatsthejoke.jpg

Like I've said before, if I, or any other Avatar fan in the audience has to *strain* and make an effort to separate it from the show I was already a fan of, then it's a poor job of an adaptation.

>>65730

No, not really, if you take an in depth look, they don't match up all that well, any of them.

Besides, look at the headshots up there, they didn't bother with anything of the sort and darkening an actors skin so they can portray a character of a different race is kinda a hideous race relations faux pas(blackface/yellowface/Inuitface, like in North) what have you.)

>>65730
>Work a bit of that Hollywood makeup magic to darken Katara and Sokka

Er yikes, you do know what you're suggesting there, right?

>>65811

If you think someone being made slightly darker is blackface-ing, you should start an anti-sunbed campaign.

Forget all of you, I'm looking forward to the movie and I'm Asian.

In b4 accusal of me being a troll.

>>65827

There's good reason to get on board for that too. Melanoma.

>>65828

Um...nobody cares. There were women that didn't care having the right to vote, doesn't change whether or not this was wrong.

>>65827

Tanning is not the same as using makeup prosthetics to allow an actor to play a character of a different race.

(Besides, when you're chosen to play a vampire partially because of how pale you are, I'm pretty sure that qualifies you as a burner. No tan there unless somebody *wants* to bring Guido-Sokka to life...)

Also, new rumors being tossed around, along with a little internet sleuthing! It seems on a IMDB, Nicola was listed as Katara. No surprise, but this was way back in January '08, a full year before the revelation of the cast (though it was later removed until the full reveal.) There was also apparently discussion about this over the summer on mnightfans.com (which may have become lastairbenderfans.com I'm not sure.)

How would it be possible for them to have Katara so early? Well, as it so turns out, Nicola Peltz is the daughter of Nelson Peltz, billionaire, and CEO of the Wendy's Arby's group.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Peltz

http://www.secinfo.com/dsvrh.vbr.d.htm
(The whole family's listed on page 41 of this legal document, here: http://www.secinfo.com/dsvrh.vbr.d.htm#41stPage)

Naturally, this makes me think the audition process for the role of Katara was some textbook Hollywood Nepotism.

But it's not the most tragic hilarious part. It seems the Peltz family, Nicola included, are class-A assholes.

http://cityfile.com/dailyfile/5478

The part that sticks out to me was this:

>According to our sources, this sort of behavior is nothing new. Peltz's youngest daughter routinely threatens maids that she will have her father fire them if they don't do as she asks. She's hardly bluffing. Her last nanny was reportedly hauled out of the house by two beefy bodyguards after the girl decided she didn't care much for her. Employee turnover at the estate is so high that new faces appear at the house on an almost weekly basis.

So this means, one, we might see The Last Airbender toys in Wendy's, and two, irony of ironies, Peltz would have been perfect for Crazula banishing her maids.

>>65855

Tinfoil? Please. More like Hollywood business as usual.

>>65856

Baleeted because I misread.

You guy's are going to love it when the sequel comes around and Azula is being played by Hannah Montana and Toph is a blond and played by Dakota Fanning.

Just to clear things up (even if the post was deleted) they *are* rumors, but it's not conspiracy theory-level, throw me a bone at least.

My main point was that there's some evidence that Nicola Peltz got signed on for the role far earlier than anybody else thanks to her family's connections (and that she seems to be a spoiled brat. I mean, cutthroat businessman may mean having some muscle around, but it doesn't mean you and your family get to be douches to your staff.)

If (as true as I think it is, it's still an "if") this is true, there are two implications. One, it means no other young actress, White, Inuit or otherwise, ever had a chance for the role, and even aside from the race issue, that's a damn shame.

Two, it means that Shyamylan may not have been the one who sought her out. He seems to have some success with child actors if Sixth Sense was any indication, and he did start wanting to do this because of his daughter.

But this may point to him having less control over the film than anybody initially thought.

Still stressing that it's my own speculation along with the little snippets of evidence, but there's a chance that just as this has become Avatar-in-name-only, it may well have been that and a Shyamalan-film-in-name-only right from the very start.

>>65859
Actually, it's been rumored that Miley Cyrus is auditioning for the role of Bat Girl in the next Batman movie.

>>65859
There will be no sequel.
I'm 100% sure.

>>65877
This. I can see this movie being made. I can even see people seeing it. But I really can't see it being successful enough for them to do another movie with the same director/cast.

There's so much negative publicity, and the movie isn't even close to being out.

>>65886

I don't think the "negetive publicity" is as widespread as you think. The only people really paying attention to this controversy are people like us, the hardcore fans. Casual fans make up the majority of the fanbase, and most of them are just happy a movies being made. Most casual fans don't spend time on fansites, and therefore probably aren't even aware of the whole "controversy" thing anyway. My friends (the ones who got me into Avatar in the first place) only know about this whole thing because I tell them, and they don't really care ("whatever, as long as the movies good).

It's one of those things that we're so mired in that we think everyone knows about it and/or has an opinion.
This film isn't even a blip on the radar for the general movie going public yet. As long as the trailers cut well and shows plenty of special effects, people will see it (Look at Transformers 2. It made all the money in the world opening weekend despite being terrible).

When it comes right down to it, we make up a very small percentage of the target audience. The Avatar fandom isn't going to make or break this film. I'm not saying that makes what they're doing ok, I'm just laying down the reality of the matter.

  >>65852

You know. Every day I look at this board I keep an upbeat spirit and open mind. Then things happen that just put it into slow-motion train wreck territory.

Here's what I think happened: we have a billionaire heiress teenage girl that has probably been watching Avatar from day one, hears about a movie being made and gets daddy to make a phone call.

"My daughter is a huge fan of that show, and to be in the movie, it would mean a lot to her, and it could mean even more for you."

This is me not wanting to talk about it.

>>65893

But then you have the protest movement pushing to get themselves published in newspaper articles (and in stuff like the Daily Bruin, UCLA's newspaper) and making appearances at cons. It's started a relatively unknown issue, but they've really pushed for publicity.

Shit they reached Margret Cho and the actor/filmmaker Perry Shen, and they've got a full year to tear the thing down, I wouldn't dismiss it so out of hand.

>>65861
I just threw up in my mouth a little

>>65617

Eh? What are you talking about?

I remember reading all about it a few years ago.

We're doing what we do best. Harvest resources, the area be damned. And in this case it's a planet.

Oh, damn...turns out there's lots of life here...well fuck it.


Hm, turns out some if it is actually sentient. Hey you, help me fight your people...we will have to merge together though in order to free this planet.

And so there you have it. Really, that's the movie.

Also, the teaser for it makes me smile. (Watch it on Youtube if you haven't) I hope it's fun. It already has mechs.(Cameron is a huge fan of those if you didn't notice.)

>>65926
Wrong movie dude.

It's gonna suck.

  Durp.

>>65931
Nick Jr?

All in all a good video. Good to see some anti-fandumb

<--- I know, not Asian and everything, but don't you think they'd make an interesting/funny/stupid Airbender movies with these guys instead?

Everytime I see Jessi, not sure why, but I think "AZULA!"

Actually, I'm pretty happy with this choice.

The only flaw here is the fact that Nicola is White.

To my surprise, Dev's head shape is like Zuko's head.

Ugh. Jackson has a very big chin and big head.

>>66069
you are zoomed in too close.

>>65710
...I can hardly tell that zuko has a scar.
What the fuck.

This is all I have about it.

>>66169

Well, human skin usually heals.

After three years if a scar looks like Zuko's he has something really wrong.

>>66178
He was burned dude.

Burn scars do not heal.

>>66198
A scar is a healed wound.

The burned skin should have started looking like any other piece of scar tissue (albeit slightly more stringy because of the burned flesh), but it should not look like it was done last week three years on.

>>65928
Um, no...not the wrong movie. I was describing Cameron's Avatar which is what was being discussed in those posts.

>>66205

Fair enough.

I propose we start talking about Cameron's Avatar and Shyamalan's The Last Airbender in the same posts, moving seamlessly from one to the other until eventually no one has any idea what anyone's talking about.

>>66199

It wouldn't be bright red, but it wouldn't be so subtle, either.

His ear was all crumbly, and he had some contraction of the skin that kept his eye from opening fully, and the hair follicles for his eyebrows are probably seared. Hell, in all likelihood, he can't sweat out of that side of his face, so it's probably hot, or feels like it's running a fever, constantly.

>>66219
The tear ducts in that eye are messed up, too. Zuko can only cry from one eye.

>>66199
Hypertrophic scars look very much like Zuko's, and can remain reddened for years after the original wound heals.

>>66344
I have a burn just like Zuko's and I could still cry dude.

>>66449
Well, tell the animators.

>>66455
Yeah, maybe you should.
>>58550

>>66458

Actually, I need to check the commentary, but that may have been an animation error. Also, what does it really matter? It's pretty obvious Patel!Zuko's scar is nowhere near as intense as the actual Zuko's is. His ear is still whole, he can fully open his eye, and he still has most of his eyebrow. It was simplified a bit, but it wasn't wholly unrealistic or anything, burns like that are possible.

(Edit: forgot my pic, but his burned eye can't tear up like the good one can.)

>>66460
real scars don't look like giant face vaginae.

check google. I do agree about the ear though but that is a really minuet detail.

I have no idea why people are complaining about the Northern Water Tribe being white. I mean why is this fucker white when he lives in the same region?

>>66493
But he's not native. He was born Turkey. Though by that logic, he's still unreasonably pale.

>>66493

>complaining about the Northern Water Tribe being white
>Northern Water Tribe
>white
>Seychelle Gabriel

wat?

>>66460
Is it just me or does the thumbnail of that shot always look like Zuko's wearing heavy eyeliner on his good eye?

Some shots of the Fire Nation set.

http://www.saiyanisland.com/2009/08/the-last-airbender-set-photos

I have mixed feelings. At least the Fire Nation symbol looks like the one from the show, and not from that movie poster.

>>66690

What's with the Greco-Roman pillars?

Why does the Fire Nation have Greco-Roman pillars? That shit's just silly.

>>66691

Cliff Curtis has mentioned in interviews that Fire Lord Ozai's garb for this movie has a lot of Greco-Roman influence, actually. They probably just tossed this in to fit along the idea.

>>66690

Oh God, it all looks so fake OH GOD IT ALL LOOKS SO FAKE

>>66691>>66692
Or it could be a filming trick. The pillars don't show up from a certain angle.
http://images.saiyanisland.com/index.php?n=11366

>>66697

Aaaah...trick photography. That makes sense.

I sure as fuck hope that's the case. For an Indian-American, you'd be forgiven for thinking Shyamalan hadn't the slightest clue what anything outside Pennsylvania looked like.

"Belgians wear lederhosen" indeed...

>>66698
To be fair, it wasn't M. Night who said that.

>>66697

I already figured the pillars are to be seen at a certain angle, which is why they don't wrap all the way around, but Cliff Curtis *did* say there's Greco-Roman influence to his outfit, so I'm assuming the same was given to some of the buildings (along with lamps/torches/whatever-those-spiky-things-are that look straight out of Mortal Kombat.)

http://lastairbenderfilm.com/2009/08/18/exclusive-journeys-the-spirit-world/

Apparently it's a summary of a couple script pages that were leaked to this site. Unconfirmed + early revision = shaky of course, but still interesting. Seems like the time until the Comet is being extended to ~3 years, which could be something to accommodate a longer filming time for three movies, or to age up Kataang. Also sounds like whatever the Spirit World dragon is, it'll be taking over some of the Guru. In addition, I don't know if this is right, but the summary makes it sound like Firebenders can only create fire when the Comet arrives... so are Firebenders normally going to be mere manipulators (like X-Men's Pyro or something)?

>>66746

Motherfucker.

Before departing, the Dragon explains that Aang must choose between being with Katara, and being the Avatar.

Not this shit again.

>>66749

Oh, come on. That was in the show, too, they just never said it that blatantly. And Aang never learned the lesson, which could make a deal of trouble down the road.

>>66758

Facepalm.jpg

>>66758

No, Aang had to choose between spiritual enlightenment and his worldly ties, including Katara. Nobody ever said or implied he had to choose between his duties and Katara, and Avatar Roku certainly never had to.

>>66746

>Fire Nation has forgotten that all elements are equal
>Solution: kill them with water

>>66746

>Sozin's Comet will return and give Firebenders the ability to create fire
>in 3 years

>>66746

>Aang goes into the Spirit World
>talks to a dragon

>>66775
Isn't that technically what happens in the show?

>>66779
He talks to his past life, and Roku has a dragon. He also gets like...some kind of "training" from dragons, that mostly consists of them blowing fire at him and Zuko.

At no point do any dragons talk back though.

>>66781

Ugh...

Dragons aren't supposed to talk!

Talking's beneath them! It's what makes them dragons! Their methods of communication are mighty and inconceivable to mere mortal men.

Damn fucking amateurs...

>>66782
Our next development is that Iroh has a pet dragon. That talks with a British accent. And, interestingly enough, it works.

"until he comes to a cave, from which a dragon (possibly Koh the Face Stealer, Roku’s dragon Fang, or Roku himself?) begins to speak to him."

lolwut
did they watch a different cartoon than the one we watched?

>>66799
>did they watch a different cartoon than the one we watched?

...I thought that much was obvious by now.

>>66816
That or they're making a movie based on the tv show with some changes to the plot. (GASP!)

>>66746
I think everyone seems to be forgetting this little part.

>As we are unable to confirm nor deny the authenticity of these pages, please read on with a bucket of salt close by.

If they really did have script pages, and only 2 at that, why bother with a summery instead of just posting the actual pages. Just seems like a massive troll attempt as far as I'm concerned*.


*translation: Oh please please please, for the love of God, let this not be real.

>>66822

WHAT

THIS IS AN OUTRAGE

I DEMAND MY MONEY THAT I HAVEN'T SPENT YET BACK

>>66758
Zutarian?

God, you people are worse than the LOTR fans who made a shit storm about no Tom Bombadil.

>>66850

Except that Tom Bombadil was a minor nitpick among a quite faithful adaptation. From what we've seen and heard so far about The Last Airbender, it only barely resembles the show, so small complaints are less nitpicks, and more complaining about a whole line of failures.

That said, I remain skeptical of the spoilers leaked. Though, the extended time does sound plausible seeing as Shyamalan isn't filming back-to-back.

Everything I hear about this movie makes me want to vomit with rage.

You know what? Rumors or fact, what was the last GOOD thing we've heard about this movie? Where's our "Optimus is being voiced by Peter Cullen" moment that surely must exist given the amount of blind hope that some people still have in it?

>>66887
If you look closely, AANG has an ARROW on his head!

Can you say FANSERVICE?!?

>>66887

Peter Cullen wasn't announced until 2 months before Transformers came out, and the movie turned out to be garbage, so the comparison is technically unfair.

We still have a long wait ahead of us. A lot of good things can happen in that span.

>>66856
>it only barely resembles the show

Aang, Katara, Sokka, Zuko, Four Nations, War, Genocide, Four Elements...What do you want?

>>65601

Everything else that made Avatar interesting?

>>66898
Needs more brown.

Seriously, this strikes me as Hollywood Racism at it's worst. they couldn't find a SINGLE young Amerindian actor who wanted to take a stab at it?

>>66887
Well, for me it was Shaun Toub playing Iroh and then later the pics of Dev Patel as Zuko.

But then, I guess I'm not as picky as some people. The only real "WTF" moment I've had casting-wise (which seemed to barely register for anyone else) was Aasif Mandvi as Zhao.

>>66904
>>66904
>Aasif Mandvi as Zhao

WTF? Really? I can't decide if that is crazy or kind of hot.

  >>66887
I found a better one.

Not sure if this is real, and if it is real, if it's the final version. But still, it's pretty cool.

>>66919

Sounds more like a bones only version. Nice find, though.

>>66919
Come on. Don't believe for a second that the movie would use the show's theme.

>>66889
...This is supposed to be sarcasm, right?

>>66904
I don't know. I think that Patel would make a good Sokka, and now that I think about it, Toub would be a good Pakku.

>>66892
I mainly made the comparison after reading the TVTropes page, "Cue Cullen". It just seemed like the most recognizable example.

oh look, it's the fire nation.

I'm feeling fire sage temple.

>Jason Isaacs (born 6 June 1963) is a British actor born in Liverpool, England


Remember when everyone wanted him as Zhao? Even though he is white?

>>66954

He's Zhao's voice actor.

>>66954
So what?

>>66956
And he actually looks a little bit like Zhao, despite being Caucasian.

>>66962
>And he actually looks a little bit like Zhao

I thought, looking "white" didn't mean anything, and that they're all Asian?

>>66898
STFU swan-swan.
self-righteous prick.

>>66975
I...what? I said "despite being Caucasian". And the resemblance is certainly helped by the fact that Zhao was modeled after his voice actor? No, Asia doesn't exist in the Avatar universe. Yes, Avatar's cultures were based on Asian ones. Yes, they have Asian names and looks. But that doesn't exactly mean that you CAN'T cast Caucasians. Just that you should make the effort.

They didn't. At all.

And I'd be totally okay with Jason Issacs because yes, while the character of Zhao is clearly influenced by Asian culture and physiology in both appearance and background, he was also based on his voice actor.

And, if they WERE going to pick him, I'd be okay with it, because hell, he would at least sound the part even if he didn't look it 100%. In fact, I'd be okay with them if they wanted to just put all the voice actors on screen for the same reason. Because then I could at least close my eyes and it would sound like Avatar.

But with the casting as it is, the characters aren't going to resemble the show in terms of the audio or the visuals, are they?

Zhao was the only one from the Fire Nation that didn't look Asian at all, in the series.

  >>66919
He uploaded two more videos.

  DICKS EVERYWHERE

>>66887
When Jesse McCartney was replaced by a competent actor.

>>66990
...I actually like this. It has a more Indian flair to it, which is probably the point.

>>66991
This sounds generic. Really, really generic.

>>67024
>This sounds generic. Really, really generic.

Because Avatar's soundtrack is oh so unique.

At least they got Sokka's shaved sides right.

>>67036
this joke stopped being funny after the first 17 times.

>>67044

On the other hand, it does improve The Last Airbender's prospects if its named competition is "Delgo With A Budget".

But then if Avatar flops, we'll never see Cameron's take on Battle Angel Alita... ;_;

Anyway, soundtracks! The first one sounds really rough, and not terribly enticing. The Fire Nation tune sounds interesting, and the Air Nomads theme is fairly atmospheric, but I'm finding them worryingly broad as far as influence goes, and rather unambitious.

Oh look, it's Kyoshi Warrior #3!

>>67050
>Oh look, it's Kyoshi Warrior #3!
>Kyoshi Warrior #3

Ah, I was waiting for her, she's my third favorite Kyoshi warrior.

>>67047
I see it more as Pocahontas or Fern Gully in space, the only thing it has in common with Delgo is the ugly designs (which, I don't know why, seem to work in JC's Avatar).

Which of course leads me to this video: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=P5ZVUVNE

James Cameron is not /a/ related.

Get back on topic.

>>67054

God, why have all the chans got a massive stick up their arse lately?

>>67055

Summer is coming to a close, school is starting up, its far far too hot.

You know what pisses me off the most about this?

How impotent I feel about it. One of my favorite cartoons is being ruined by Hollywood politics and racism, and there's NOTHING I can do.

  >>67024
Here's another one which is supposed to be for the Northern Water Tribe. It sounds kinda Russian to me.

>>67053
After Suki and Kyoshi Warrior #4, right?

>>67027
Last Agni Kai. Enough said.

Although having now listened to >>67073 as well, I think the problem isn't so much that the soundtrack is generic as it is that it's all over the place stylistically. There are too many musical influences so that nothing seems to fit with anything else.

  >>67084

You mean Demise of the Ritual?

>>67103

Not sure why you're arguing this, but Avatar also had the little Cave of Two Lovers theme and the little xylophone sounding ending it mixed with during the finale. Plus they had that chant they'd usually use for the credits, I forget what they said they used for inspiration there.

>>67104
>little xylophone sounding ending

Chrono Chross?

>>67047
>>But then if Avatar flops, we'll never see Cameron's take on Battle Angel Alita... ;_;

Didn't those rumours started like 12 years ago? I mean, there have been rumours for Alita, Evangelion... even Ghost in the Shell being adapted by the Wachowski bros. They did Speed Racer instead and see how it turned out for them.

>>67110
Speed Racer was awesome, and it was a faithful adaptation.

...Actually, that's the reason it failed. People went in expecting them to take it super seriously and do the matrix with cars, but instead the Wachowskis went and actually made it over the top and hilarious like the show.

>>67103
I'm sorry. I have no idea what you're trying to say.

>>67115

I think he's saying that there are other songs that sound kinda like the songs in Avatar, therefore it's okay for the music in the movie adaptation's soundtrack to be generic.

>>67103

They keep making these games, and I keep crying at the end of them. I was stunned how much killing giant golems could do in convincing me of a boy's commitment in a relationship with a dead girl.

Current forcast for the Avatar movie as I see it is at 60% chance of OK, and a split 20% chance of either incredible or unbearable.

>For those of you wondering about LAST AIRBENDER, all is well in post and we r working on a trailer for Xmas...

I was just watching Iron Man yesterday, and I have to say, I'm really warming up to the idea of Toub playing Iroh. Sure, he may not look like him, but I think he could easily pull off the "spirit" of Iroh.

Also just say the "Avatar" trailer. Not bad, but certainly not the next great leap in CG that we've been promised. And we can't call it "Space Delgo" that was "Battle for terras" nickname, I'm calling this "Dances with space wolves"

Wouldn't it be awesome if Cameron's movie turned out to be the flop and Shababadoo's "Last Aibender" was actually the summer hit blockbuster.

>>67140

>Wouldn't it be awesome if Cameron's movie turned out to be the flop and Shababadoo's "Last Aibender" was actually the summer hit blockbuster.

No, that would be pretty tragic.

>>67140
About Shaun Toub: That's my opinion, as well.

About the other Avatar movie: Or the Last Space Samurai. Or Mighty Whitey IN SPACE! Naw, seriously, I didn't want to watch it until I saw the trailer, and then I was like, damn it that looks awesome. Now I have to watch it.

Finally, I think there's room for both of them to be successful, but I'll wait until we get a longer trailer before I start making predictions.

  New movie update from JeffPalmer.

I love this guy's updates; they manage to fill me both with hope and abject terror.

I don't think the script thing is real; I think Gene Simmons is voicing Koh.

>>67185

Simmons appears to have specifically said he was voicing a dragon.

D...does this mean no Koh ;_;

>>67185
Good news: Sokka has his boomerang.
Bad news: He's now Bruce Willis, taking on several guys at once.

And, I know that the leaked script is not to be trusted, but...come on. Why nerf Firebending? And why Gene Simmons?

>>67194
>Good news: Sokka has his boomerang.
Bad news: He's now Bruce Willis, taking on several guys at once.

Yeah, he's taking on multiple people (3), but it wasn't in some kind of Jason Stathem action hero type way. It was more of a panicked, scrambling "holy crap, a bunch of guys are trying to get me and I'm doing everything I can just to avoid getting killed" kinda thing.

Which sounds pretty accurate to how season 1 Sokka actually fought.

>>67196
I seem to remember him being pretty much the plan guy and less combat oriented for most of book 1. I can't think of any point in either water tribe that he saw combat, much less fighting three guys, panicked or not.

The hype seems terribly low.
When this will bomb, I'll be singing "I told you so".

>>67205

Singing to whom, exactly? I think we've fairly unanimously had this project pegged for failure the moment it was announced. The optimists' objections to this consensus stem from market analyses and dispassionate demographic appraisal, not from anything resembling enthusiasm for the film itself.

Frankly, at this stage the film succeeding would be a greater shock...

>>67207

>>67207
Yeah, really. Even the most optimistic outlooks about this movie seem tempered as hell. Like "This actor is good. He's not great for the role, but he's good as an actor and might not phone it in for a kid's movie."

I'm GeneralNerd

http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments&v=6AC6a3fnNIc

Am I wrong, +/a/?

>>67275

>debating Last Airbender
>online
>expecting genuine responses
>YouTube

y u do dis 2 urself

>>67275

In my opinion?

Sort answer: Yes.

Long Answer: Yes, and here's why: Cultural influences in Avatar ranged from things lifted directly from different Dynasties of China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, India, Tibet and the Inuit Tribes, which could arguably stretch from Siberia to Greenland. It's a quarter of the world. The show was far more diverse, and to assume there isn't diversity simply because everything is "Asia" is like saying life in Pacific Ocean isn't diverse because it's all in the Pacific Ocean.

Argue diversity all you want, but remember that McCartney and Rathbone were specifically chosen, Ringer was not chosen for his acting, but his martial arts tape (Which means diddly when your fight choreography's only other movie was Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull) plus we've got rumors that Peltz was given the role long before there was ever an audition for any of the roles. Before you claim diversity by pointing to Toub, Curtis and Mandvi, remember that they were chosen because Dev Patel was chosen for Zuko, and Patel was a second choice, a backup when McCartney bailed, they would not have gotten the roles otherwise.

With that in mind, what the movie has done so far is put Caucasian actors behind the Tibetan/Shaolin monk-based Air Benders and the Inuit based Southern Water tribe, leaving the Earth Kingdom (that sometimes houses antagonists, and ends up needing to be saved) as Asian, but shoved Africans in there (Even though no African actors have been announced.) And placed a variety of brown-skinned actors of different ethnicities to be the Fire Nation. That's homogenizing the faces and races behind two cultures to one, leaving one basically alone, with a minor and so far unmentioned change, and changed the Fire Nation's people to a non-uniform mish mash of people only united by skin tone, when the original choice was a white actor, which explains why they're just sorta tossing together things for the culture (Mongolian/Rohirrim looking cold weather gear, Japanese looking armor, and Chinese/Grecco-Roman clothing and architecture?)

I fail to see the diversity behind that.

Culturally? There is no Asia. But there are a couple hundred different civilizations that have called the place home.

Since the continent holds the grand majority of the world's population, with much of that chunk in China, Japan and Korea, a world of nothing but those people isn't so far-fetched, especially since so many different places were used in the show.

And it wasn't just them appropriating things, the stuff you saw in the show was often taken from a real-life counterpart, something that isn't necessarily possible with things like Lord of the Rings, which had very heavy fantasy elements and stylization which had little correlation to real things. Food, writing, architecture, and even the characters themselves were modeled off the people they were based on most of the time. Katara and Sokka and many of both Water Tribes had distinct facial features that could be identified with their source cultures and were dark skinned, just like the real natives of the far north (All that sun reflects off the snow, you know.)

To me, it's as simple as this. The casting call, and it's initial results showed a clear, and arbitrary, preference for white actors, in defiance of the context of the original show. Paramount has dodged the issue, they're aware of the issue because of the protesters, the EWP and the MANAA, who were all ignored. So far, nobody from the original show is working on this movie, and nobody from the show has supported the casting. In my mind it's becoming doubtful anybody will.

So far, this production is a poor adaptation at best, and for many has become a painful reminder of, or a shocking eye opener of, the true race situation of America.

>>67275
Yes.
And I'm getting a little tired of the arguments that the white washing is okay because Avatar doesn't take place in Asia. It CERTAINLY didn't take place in Europe (or Africa, for that matter), so why change what wasn't broken to begin with?

In the interests of of diversity? (When, of course, the only diverse cast member wasn't even the first choice?) How come Lord of the Rings and Narnia got to keep their stuff intact? Where's all the Asian elves and Black dwarves? Why is is that Middle Earth can get away with a lack of diversity, while Avatar can't? Hell, even Eragon and Bridge to Terabithia didn't have to bother.

And why doesn't Paramount at least address the issue somehow? Is it because every time they open their mouths they make it worse, or because they really have no answer? Remember that they'd already chosen 3/4ths of the cast as white before open casting even began! And, if the rumors are to be believed, one of those actors was cast ages ago. It's pretty obvious that this was a calculated change from the movie's inception.

>>67277
Did I say it wasn't diverse? I said the movie is more diverse. Instead of representing a quarter of the world, they're trying to represent all of it. What is wrong with that?

Don't bring in McCartney. He's a non-factor as far as I'm concerned because he's not in the movie anymore. Also, whatever the casting rumors are, what matters is the final vision. You have to understand that despite his recent failures, Shyamalan is a director who has achieved the ability to do whatever he wants. You don't think he didn't get final say in the casting? Do you think there may be a reason he did it this way? And I'm basing the diversity argument on the more minor roles.

The problem here is I'm arguing based on geography and you're arguing based on role in the story. I'm not saying I would prefer the casting to reflect the show better, but if you are going to change the races, you couldn't do it better than how Shyamalan is doing it. Also, I'd hold back on assuming he's adding anything African, but now that he's gone this far he really should. As for the whole "brown mishmash" thing...white actors get cast to play characters of a different nationality all the time. The thinking is something like, "he's French, but he's white, so he can pass for Scottish." Why should brown people get special treatment?

There are white people that come from snowy regions; in fact, white skin evolved in ice age Europe. Putting white people in a polar climate isn't as "lol wut" as people seem to think. I should know, my ancestors came from Sweden. I'm whiter than white; I don't even tan! I burn.

A world with only Asians IS farfetched, just as much as world with only Africans or Europeans is farfetched. It doesn't matter how many there are; here on Earth we know that human genetic diversity is broader than that.

>>67280
No, it doesn't take place in Asia. Or Europe. Or Africa. It takes place on its own unique planet. Presumably, a planet with an environment like Earth and a species like humans would be as diverse as Earth. And the way they were distributed would be similar. Seriously, am I the only one who sees this?

> the only diverse cast member wasn't even the first choice?

The ONLY diverse cast member? How far behind are you? Only four actors in the whole movie have been confirmed as white: Aang, Katara, Sokka and Gran-Gran. How the hell is that whitewashing? In whitewashing, almost nobody is a non-white. Here, we have the opposite. The cast is more diverse than its source. It's more like rainbow washing.

I think it's because if they open their mouths they'll make it worse; seems to be happening to me.

People need to stop making excuses for Shyalaman and Hollywood as a whole. The fact of the matter is they felt that Caucasians would be more bankable leads, period. Its all about the bottom line, money. Yeah lets make all the leads White, and everyone else will be villains and background characters, see we're being totally diverse! Hollywood has long history of doing this, its nothing new. Its basically Earthsea all over again.

>>67140
>Wouldn't it be awesome if Cameron's movie turned out to be the flop and Shababadoo's "Last Aibender" was actually the summer hit blockbuster.
LOL! Don't count on it.

>>67281
>>67280
...Like I said. "Not even the first choice." Zuko was originally cast as a white actor. The original intent was therefore to have the principal cast primarily be Caucasian.

You site Katara, Sokka, and Gran Gran being cast using white actors and actresses. IF McCartney was their original Zuko (which is NOT irrelevant, sorry) then the Fire Nation royal family, and by extension likely the rest of their nation, would have been Caucasian as well.

As far as your new points go, let me just bring this up.
> . You have to understand that despite his recent failures, Shyamalan is a director who has achieved the ability to do whatever he wants.

Shayamalan's ability to do whatever he wants is the REASON for his recent failures. If you're arguing that he has reasons for doing this, and had the final say? That's fine. But that's not necessarily a good thing. In fact, given his track record, it's probably an even bigger cause for concern.

>And I'm basing the diversity argument on the more minor roles.
I wouldn't have a problem with them casting minor characters as Caucasian or African. In fact, I'd be totally okay with Suki being cast as a Caucasian, for example (blue eyes and red hair? Why not?). And what about Guru Pathik? Wasn't the whole point of him being designed as an Indian guru to sell the idea that he wasn't from ANY nation? How is that sort of thing going to work now?

It doesn't matter anyway, because that's not the problem. Hollywood has always been okay with having minorities play sidekicks and extras. But when it comes to actual starring roles, it's a different matter entirely.

And also, I ask again. Why is it that these arguments in favor of diversity are either dismissed or never come up when there are movies in the making based on European fantasy epics?

>>67285
I might actually see Avatar. I know shit all about it, and that ignorance is going to help me enjoy it, I think. Whereas my knowledge of the series and how badly the adaptation is looking is making it really hard for me to want to pay for a ticket for The Last Airbender.

>>67275
Yes. Because for better or for worse, the Asian aesthetics and influences are a large part of what made Avatar a unique series. At best, they're being largely downplayed, and at worse, excised completely.

>>67288
Being Asian doesn't make it unique. There's tons of anime for that; in fact, that's why Avatar gets accused of being an anime rip-off.

Now, if you were to say, that the Asian aspects of the show made it appealing to you, I couldn't argue with that. It's a matter of personal taste. Frankly, I enjoyed the show more for its characters, over-arching storylines, and visual style. I imagined it could be done just as well with only Western influences instead of Asian ones without those elements being affected.

Look it this way. Do you see how many AU threads we have on here? They all take the characters out of the established canon or setting, maybe even change their race or species, but we don't have a problem with them. Why? Because it doesn't change the cartoon. This movie doesn't either. Just think of it as M. Night Shyamalan's AU, the way some LotR fans (like me) think of Jackson's films as the world's most expensive fanfic. It's an AU where there as many Western influences as Eastern ones.

>>67317

>Just think of it as M. Night Shyamalan's AU

>:|

>>67317
>I imagined it could be done just as well with only Western influences instead of Asian ones without those elements being affected

Avatar without an Avatar. Sounds cool.

>>67324
Aang is just a person who has an ancient and powerful spirit aiding him.

>>67317

Our AU's can't really enter into it, that's like saying that if the actors are Asian, then you have to be Asian or you can't cosplay.

Our AUs don't have millions of dollars behind this, our AUs don't have people's careers behind this, our AUs aren't prolonging Hollywood's discrimination practices.

(Besides, I'm treating Singularity just like the series, an All-Asian world, and I'm purposfully avoiding Western Influence when I can.)

Avatar is called an Anime rip off because it *looks* like anime, it's styled after Miyazaki's works. The way Avatar is unique is the way they took Asian cultures and worked them into the story and the visuals.

And I have to say this...What Western influences are you even talking about? You've seen the weapons huts, and clothes for the Southern Water Tribe, right? The ones still patterned after Inuit and Eskimo cultural items? What about Aang? Is his little pointed hood, ever so slightly reminicsent of Spanish monastary robes, enough to discount the fact that he's running around in a burlap karate gi with shaolin monk's shoes? What of the West is present in his tattoo? How about the Asian trees Shyamylan brought in? What about the apparent Grecco-Roman touches Ozai will apparently have? The ones for the non-western-based Fire Nation?

You say there's Western influences, but all I'm seeing are innacurate East Asian influences with white actors for the heroes, and ethnic actors for the side characters and enemies, the ones who have to be saved, defeated, or taught better (Remember that if they cast the Northern Tribe with more dark skinned actors, like Seychelle Gabriel, we'll then have our white heroes show up to save the North from the Fire Nation, have their princess fall in love with Vampire Sokka, and be taught by Nordic Katara about how sexism is wrong...if they even keep any of that in, that is.)

I'll say this again. Peter Jackson's LoTR might be considered by *some* to be a fanfic, but overall? It's a straight adaptation, meant to capture the same aesthetics as the book, just like Ralph Bakshi's animated version of LoTR. If we have to totally dissociate The Last Airbender from Avatar: The Last Airbender in order to have a chance of enjoying it, then guess who's not doing a very good job? That's like telling somebody that you have to totally forget everything about Batman in order to enjoy Batman: Forever.

Besides, to dip into the Well of Speculation, how do you know this is totally Shyamylan's baby? He's not the one paying for the movie, and he's a joke right now, thanks to Robot Chicken and his previous movies. Remember that it's Paramount who's paying for this, and they're working through Frank Marshall, not Shyamylan. If you think the producer has no say over the creative aspect, or the nuts and bolts over what happens, then track down a lecture given by Kevin Smith when he was asked to write a script for a Superman movie, and remember everything he says about producer Jon Peters.

>>67326
You know what pisses me off about the whole "Avatar Racebending." The simple fact that no one stops to think that these actors may be the best ones who auditioned. I would rather have a well acted movie with the wrong races then a badly acted movie with the right ones. I just want an enjoyable experience out of this movie and if that means it won't be exactly like the original TV show, fine. I realized that if they made the movie I wanted, it would be enjoyable for Avatar fanatics and no one else. Plus what we've gotten so far looks really good, we're just comparing it to this impossible movie we had in our heads. It's not like we're getting Dragonball: Evolution.

However, if the trailer comes out and these guys can't act for shit, then I'm right behind you guys. For now, I'm just going to sit back and wait for the movie.

>>67328

Which kinda isn't possible, since when you specify Caucasian before "any other ethnicity" you're already throwing in an arbitrary preference separate of acting ability. Plus Shyamylan said they chose Ringer for his martial arts tape, *then* brought him in for acting lessons, McCartney and Rathbone were specifically flown in, and I don't know about Peltz, all I have are the rumors I'd detailed before.

Even then, Aang's role was the only one that was left to open audition, the rest were chosen through internal acting agencies. (I'm not pulling that out of nowhere, I'll track down the source I picked that from when I've got more reliable computer access.)

You're also assuming a few too many things. Changes were going to happen, regardless, due to the change in format, it's to be expected, and there's nothing saying a movie closer to the show wouldn't have had appeal to anyone other than Avatar fans. You're assuming they couldn't find somebody who looked right and could act, or that Hollywood chooses the best actor, no matter what, free of anything like what they look like.

Oh, and some people already compare this to Dragonball: Evolution, due to the severe departure from the source material in nearly every aspect.

Thing is, they might be fine actors, but the process by which they were chosen, as well as other choices made by the production, has pissed off basically everybody that worked on the show, a large portion of the existing fanbase, as well as anybody the protest group is able to contact or speak with.

>>67329

Forgot my name.

>>67329
Do you honestly think this movie looks as bad as Dragonball: Evolution? I have seen no pictures of Aang hanging in high school. We're still getting it in ancient world.

Also I don't think you really know how acting works in the real world. You need an agent to get into most major movies, so I don't find it to shocking that there was only one open casting call.

>>67328
>The simple fact that no one stops to think that these actors may be the best ones who auditioned.
This argument is just retarded.

>>67332

You do realize that the acting agencies aren't that great either, they still choose who they represent. Remember that other kid that tried auditioning for Aang? Perris Aquino? Did you hear his story about how he was turned away by one acting agency because they were already representing "somebody like him"?

I'd still love to see Ringer's tape, especially compared to Perris', if they were so impressed by Ringer's martial arts that they brought him in to teach him how to act.

What about Brandon Soo Hoo, or Boo Boo Stewart? Both have acting and marital arts experience, Soo Hoo got an award for his performance in Tropic Thunder, Stewart has sung with Hannah Montana, the Jonas Brothers, and is going to play Seth Clearwater in one of the upcoming Twilight movies, some similar credentials to McCartney and Rathbone.

They both have agents, I'm sure, and neither of them are necessarily household names any more than anyone else in the movie, so why they weren't sought out? Hell, if I remember correctly, Stewart auditioned for Aang as well, so why did they choose one minor Twilight character/popstar over another?

>>67328
None of the main cast had to audition.

>>67335
The kid from Tropic Thunder? Damn, that would've been good. He was awesome. Who was he auditioning for?

>>67336

Unfortunately, I'm unsure if Brandon Soo Hoo tried to audition for Aang, but the popstar kid, Boo Boo Stewart tried to go for it.

One cannot discriminated against anyone.

One must let all peoples audition no matter of race.

It gives one more choices to make.

>>67317
If your argument in favor of the movie is we can distance it from the show, that just proves it's going to suck as an adaptation. Which is what everyone is saying.

>>67338
Too bad we know that isn't what happened.

>>67337

Boo Boo Stewart looks even less like Aang than Noah Ringer does. Slanty eyes do not an Aang make.

Brandon Soo Hoo looks a bit too dark/indochinese for Aang, imo, but he's a damn sight better looking than Ringer. If I had to pick an Aang, I think it would have been him.

>>67367

Same, but if my choice was allowed more variety, I'd have gotten Perris Aquino and just given him acting lessons like they did with Ringer. In my mind, he was perfect, he just needed to beef up his acting skills.

I just want a goddamn trailer already so I can judge for myself.

Also nobody's blaming the actors, right? They're just doin their job and it would suck if they got the backlash from the incompetent casting directors choices.

>>67325
Why is that guy firebending that bonsai tree?

>Why is that guy firebending that bonsai tree?

Geez, haven't you ever read the bible? Because it slept with his wife.

Here's another way of looking at it.

Say that Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone, and originally Jesse McCartney were cast because of studio pressure, Nicola because her daddy's rich, Jackson because he was in Twilight, and McCartney because they needed someone popular to bank the movie on.

Maybe Shyamalan breathed something of a sigh of relief when McCartney left the project, but he was still stuck with two white kids in the water tribe. Ringer wasn't a problem because he looks a lot like Aang, from what I've seen of him, even though apparently one indifferent expression in an unofficial photo apparently ruined it for a lot of people.

What else could he do but change everything about the look and races of the characters? Would you rather have these two white kids in an Inuit village for no reason, or with some godawful tan trying to pass as Inuit, or would you rather have all the water tribe be white so it makes some sense? And then he cast Dev Patel as Zuko, which, I think he needed a young actor with some buzz to appease the studios, and honestly, there isn't anyone Asian who fits, not with that level of buzz, so he made the Fire Nation brown so Indian Zuko would make sense.

In that regard, note that not a single one of these casting choices seems racially motivated, and in fact the bankable star is Indian. So I really don't see how it's racist.

And we haven't seen all the sets yet; for all we know, there could be more Western influences to the architecture to reflect the changes. I certainly saw some Western influences in that Fire Nation set.

Also, even in the show, the Water Tribe doesn't seem any better than any of the other cultures. Yeah, they have brave warriors, but they're technologically backwards and sexist. So, if the Water Tribe was brown, people would still be saying the movie was racist. And we would be arguing that it wasn't because they didn't change anything from the show, and then people would say that was racist, too.

>>67452

But...we know for a fact that they started out by saying "Let's go for Caucasians because they're the bankable race." We know this from the casting calls that placed emphasis and priority on Caucasians, and the rather flippant attitudes that were given during said casting calls. For extras, apparently. Since the one person that actually had to audition at all wasn't even chosen on the basis of his acting ability. (Great news, considering he's the main freaking character).

Now, is the studio wrong for doing this? Yes and no. They're playing it safe, and that's the smart thing to do from a business perspective, but it also really perpetuates the problem. They didn't put ANY effort into their casting.

One of the casting directors herself said they were looking for white people. Because there aren't any famous Asian actors. And you seem to be saying the same thing here, even though, personally? I can think of a dozen easily. At no point did she or apparently anyone else think "Gee, maybe the reason there aren't any Asians in cinema is BECAUSE of the way we're casting, and not the other way around."

There sure as hell are Asian people out there that can act, but the deck is pretty clearly stacked against them. In fact, it's pretty much stacked against every minority.

Furthermore, I still don't see why you're so dead set on defending Shyamalan. There's no indication he wasn't just as in favor of these changes as Paramount seems to be. In fact, given his track record of increasingly bad movies, it's way more likely that he was behind a lot of these choices than it is that he was forced to make a bunch of concessions. Especially since, the thing about directors? They CAN object. They can say "If we're going to change this, I'm walking off the project." Hell, did you know that Back to the Future was supposed to be about to be titled 'Spacemen from Pluto'? It almost was, until Spielberg said "That MUST be a joke." and the executives backed off.

But, let's play Devil's Advocate. Let's say that yeah, Shyamalan decided that changing a bunch of stuff was the lesser of two evils. That doesn't mean that as an adaptation of the series it's better. It just means it's time to throw in the towel and say "Yeah, this is Avatar in Name Only" and decide if you want to see it or not based on that admission.

Also, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like part of you're theorizing is what people have been saying. Patel was chosen as an attempt to put out the fire well after it had started. "You can't say this movie's casting is racist! We have an academy award winning Indian actor!"

...As the villain. Let's not even talk about the unfortunate implications of the fact that all the heroes are Caucasian, and from what we know of the cast, all the ones that need to be shown the light to be good, or saved, or are secretly evil, are decidedly NOT Caucasian, and instead think about this.

In order for Patel to be chosen for this movie, he had to star in a movie that won the Academy Award for best Picture. Whereas to get the role of Katara, or Sokka, or even Aang, the requirements weren't nearly as high. Even though, when you get right down to it, they're likely to have way more screen time, since they're the good guys of Book 1. That really says something about equality, doesn't it? So long as you're white, you don't have to try nearly as hard to land a starring role in a movie based on a kid's show.

>>67452
>>67453
Also, in terms of what I said earlier in >>67317 , I refer you to this interview with the creators.

http://www.animationinsider.net/article.php?articleID=841&document=1

They themselves said, and I quote, "...we wanted to base it in Asian rather than European background." Does that mean it's no different from dozens of anime? Yes and no, because western made stuff pretty regularly disregards any culture not to come out of Europe. So, for a western made animated series, hell YES it's something that sets Avatar apart. That's why they put that stuff in there!

Could we then, say "Okay, western stuff is fair game to make the show more diverse"? Yes. Totally. I have no problem doing that. But then it stops being Avatar, and starts being an AU. And...it's fun to talk about speculative alternate universes and shit like that with fans? But I'm not going to pay ticket price for that. My money is reserved for something that attempts to be faithful whenever possible. And that's what separates the movie from other AU's. They're asking us to pay for someone's poorly done audiovisual fanfic.

>>67452

>there isn't anyone Asian who fits, not with that level of buzz

Right, and a lack of opportunities for minorities in lead roles has nothing to do with that.

Still doesn't work because the Studio Pressure is still racially motivated by Hollywood's common practices. Paramount knew about the controversy, even before the time McCartney dropped out, Patel's choice has a chance of them seeing it as a token-minority-get-out-of-racism-free card. Also, McCartney got the call from Shyamalan himself to be in the movie. Judging from the comments we've gotten from Shyamalan, he doesn't seem to particularly value the East Asian cultures and aesthetics used in the show, it's possible he was shown a list of possible candidates and liked this particular group from the bunch. Also remember that they went to Greenland to film, and used Inuit inspiration for the movie version of the Southern Water Tribe. This essentially leaves us with Inuits, minus any Inuits, except maybe the extras they called for while there.

The discrepancy between the North and South in the show was only in terms of culture, even though the South lost most of it's grandeur and historical practices, they were still the same people. Now they're segregated by race. What was once a story of a rebellious girl going against her people's ancient traditions is now a rebellious girl coming and showing another culture the error of their ways, if they keep that part of the story, that is. Also, even though Kanna was from the Northern Tribe, and wasn't any different from anyone else in the Southern tribe, they still chose Katherine Houghton in contrast to Seychelle Gabriel as Princess Yue.

Also remember that the Air Nomads and the Southern Water Tribe are the only races that aren't ever an antagonist or obstacle somehow, so this still has the unfortunate side effect of whitewashing the 100% heroes of the series, while leaving all the villains, side characters, exotic love interests and people needing saving as other ethnicities.

It's a horrid thought that the live-action adaptation for a show we all enjoyed immensely has been tainted by something like Hollywood's old money politics, but it's not impossible as you're making it. It's certainly a conclusion with much less assumptions, at the least.

>>67456
>>67453

Well, I'm playing Devil's Advocate because I honestly don't think the changes in race ruins the movie. Plus, I think if you really think it's racist and you don't want people to see it, you shouldn't make a big deal about it because that will guarantee people will go see it just because of the controversy.

I'm not going to argue with most of the points you guys made because I honestly don't see how I can. I just want you to know I think Dev Patel will be good as Zuko regardless of race and I wish you'd give him a chance.

Also, I seem to recall that the Southern Water Tribe was xenophobic and those monks in the Air Nomads wanted to seperate a 12 year old boy from his father figure. So they're not perfect.

>>67550

People will go see something *because* of the controversy? This isn't Bruno or The Boondocks, it's not super shocking and offensive humor, there's such a thing as bad publicity.

Think of it this way. Imagine a restaurant, you hear they serve insects or something crazy to typical American taste palletes, and it's making people talk up a storm, so people go to judge it for themselves, or go so they can say they did. Now imagine a restaurant that's generating buzz because it refuses to hire or serve Blacks or Asians.

Things like this keep happening if people don't make something of them, that's why we need things like civil rights groups and protests, because more often than not, people just bottle it up and let it continue.

The actors honestly can be great, we know Dev Patel at least has a chance of doing a good job, so do all of them. But it doesn't change the fact that the process used to select them is flawed and discriminatory, and that taints what might have been a half-decent movie, and keeps myself and many others from supporting it.

If you don't think it's racist, I suppose it's your pejorative, but remember this: Polls in Newsweek once asked if Blacks had better or worse education, or chances for employment, and about 75% of the responses figured they had as good if not better standards for education/job opportunities. Those polls were taken in the 1960s, at the height of institutionalized racism in America. We can't fully judge for ourselves what the state of racism or racial prejudice is in this country if we're not the ones it's directly affecting. That's part of why I side with the MANAA and the EWP. They were both formed specifically because of this, they know what discrimination is, they've fought it before, experienced it.

Also, I seem to recall that Southern Tribe kicking Aang out after he took one of their own onto an old, dangerous 80 year old shipwreck, and set off a flare that had a chance of signaling the Fire Navy...which *did* signal the Fire Navy. Before that, they were pretty okay with the little guy.

As for the monks, they wanted to send Aang to a different *teacher*, regardless if he was the father figure for Aang (even so, he always treated Gyatso like his best friend and mentor, not really "You're my dad by proxy")

It sounds pretty dick of them, but it's not that they were doing it to all kids who connect with their mentors, he was the *Avatar*, he would be incredibly important, and would need to take on very heavy responsibilites. Plus, they were afraid of Fire Nation hostility, and knew they might need his power. Even then, Gyatso was an elder, he said he was going to fight the decision, and went to comfort Aang, he wasn't dragged off in chains and it's not like Aang necessarily hated them for it.

Pay attention to my wording. The Air Nomads and the Southern Water Tribe were the only races/kingdoms/people who were never once an obstacle or antagonist to the heroes during the entire course of the show, they've been cast with Caucasian actors, who have been given little snips here and there of the culture they were based from. All the pseudo-culture (they're not quite so careful about authenticity), without the people. Even Suki, Sokka's first and final love interest (in a move decidedly similar to Street Fighter, the Legend of Chun Li) was cast with a half-caucasian actress. All her unnamed teammates so far are full Asians (Don't give me any crap about Suki's hair/eye color being proof against her being non-Asian, it's brown, Japanese people can have brown hair, and caucasians don't have a monopoly on blue eyes.)

Everybody else, the people needing saving, the people needing teaching, and the people needing defeating, are different ethnicities, when once, everybody had a common, or at least similar, origin.

It may not necessarily make for a bad movie, but it makes for a poor adaptation, and it's certainly not something I want to support with my money or my silence.

>>67563

>it's your pejorative

lol'd

>>67607

Yeah, I posted that while at work. I'd meant to say something else, and didn't catch it.

Still sorta works if you don't think about it too much.

You know, I watched Gran Torino the other day, which was great, and I looked up the kids who played Su and Thao afterwards. Turns out Clint Eastwood just put out a giant call for Hmong teenagers who'd be interested in acting in a Clint Eastwood movie. And he found them, and they were great. He didn't just go looking for Korean or Chinese, or Japanese kids, he went looking for HMONG kids. Not a lot of Hmong immigrants in the US, but he took the time to cast them.

That makes it really hard for me to believe that there were just absolutely NO talented Asian actors to be found.

(That said, I hate identity politics taken to extremes as I'm seeing it more and more in fandom. This Latina finds it all pretty patronizing.)

>>67643
>This Latina
>screen name that does not reference heritage
>not typing LiK diS~*~♥♥
>no slutty myspace picture accompanying post

I don't believe you.

This is a really distasteful joke.

oh wow, this discussion is STILL only people bitching about races?

why the fuck is this thread suddenly un-hidden. oh well, back you go.

>206 posts and 35 images omitted. Click Reply to view.
How the hell did this thread reach this limit?

Last night it was the old sticky and now that I come back to this board today, it reached over 200 posts.

Oh well, hidden.

>>67706

What? This thread is a month old, today.

>>67677
>oh wow, this discussion is STILL only people bitching about races?

1) Articulately explaining your reasons for thinking the casting policy was racist and awful =/= bitching

2) There is only so much we can say about a few photos and two leaked script pages

3) And wow are those script pages bad.

>>67663

Pffahhahahahah, I loled. That is the best response I could have gotten. You're a cool dude, anon.

No wait: ~*~*THIS DIRRRTY LaTiNa thyunkks u shud STFU ChoLO, nao checkk oUt My hAWtt piX~~~*

Why does it seem like this is the only active thread on this board?

>>67737

>movie thread
>active

>>65601

I can't state the sauce for legal reasons, but the Avatar series writers who took a look at the Movie script said these words:

"I don't like this. This is shit."

>>67883

>>67883

Yeah. That's what I've been hearing, too. Script's been in enough hands by now that word is getting around.

Not that anyone is surprised.

>>67883

If that's true...well...no duh, nobody from the original show has actually said anything of praise, except maybe some half-comments from Rufftoon when she posts news about stuff that comes out.

If it's not...well...no duh, that's kinda what happens when you get an over-ambitious and arrogant director with a straight disregard for source material.

>>67902
>Script's been in enough hands by now that word is getting around.
Really? You don't suppose it could *accidentally* get leaked to the interwebs somehow? I'm desperately hoping all the stuff in >>66746 was fake.

>>67883

Yeah, that sounds real legit.

>>68126

>implying this thread is about legitimate conversation

>>68122
I'm desperately hoping all the stuff in >>66746 was fake.

You can hope all you want. But you'll be in for a rude surprise when the trailers start coming out.

Once again, this is unconfirmed, it's off a forum post in AS.net, found it when I checked Racebending, so take it with a grain of salt, just like the script pages.

Original post:
http://forums.avatarspirit.net/index.php?topic=16476.msg1541031#msg1541031

>We changed into our costumes, then went into the next room, where a hairdresser skillfully wound two fat hairpieces about two feet long around my head to create a crown-like effect. Older men had false mustaches and goatees applied. Younger men were fitted with topknots. As a final touch “clean dirt” was applied to our hands in a make-up trailer. By the time all that was done the breakfast table had been taken down. We hopped into a waiting van and were taken to the filming set, about 15 minutes away.

>A Japanese village had been constructed in an old quarry. Several simple structures lined a road through the village. At its center was a ten-foot high statue of a deity, the protector of the village.

>There were about 90 extras, Asian men and women of all ages, young to elderly, and about a dozen children of elementary school age; plus assistant directors, production people, two camera men, and the costume and make-up people who applied sunscreen, tucked in stray hairs and made sure we looked presentable for the camera. Besides the villagers there were about ten young men dressed as soldiers. One had a wicked looking weapon that looked like a hatchet on a long staff; another carried a sword.

>As we waited to be called we could hear, but could not see, scenes being filmed a short distance away. We heard “quiet,” “rolling,” and “cut.” Finally all villagers were called. We strolled down to the set. The first assistant director set the scene, told us to line the road on both sides and follow the hero, the Avatar, as he wound his way toward the Statue at the center of the village. We were to throw yellow flowers on him and touch him as he went past. The scene lasted only a minute or two. After two rehearsals the AD called “reset”; we went back to our original positions. We took our places for the first “take.” The AD shouted “quiet,” then “rolling.” An assistant held up a board for the camera: “Scene 34 take 1,” clack. The AD called for “action.” We waited as the Avatar came down the road, threw flowers at him and tried to touch him as he went past. We heard “cut,” and everyone stopped. The AD was beginning to lose his voice when someone handed him a megaphone. Two more “takes” of the scene were filmed. Then we were dismissed and went back to the tents.

>After a while we were called again. The next scene picked up where the first one left off. We followed the Avatar to the Statue and threw flowers at him. In between each rehearsal and “take” we picked up the flowers and gave them to production assistants who replaced dirty flowers with clean ones. Before each scene assistants reminded extras to hide their eyeglasses. The action was supposed to take place before the modern era. During the scene set-up time a young girl was often a stand-in for the Avatar, the 12-year old boy.

>In the scene we again followed the Avatar and threw flowers at him. At the base of the Statue the hero met the village elder, who welcomed him and explained that he was the reincarnation of the man the Statue represented.

>We returned to the “village” for more filming. About 5 pm it began to rain. We were issued plastic ponchos and rubbers to protect our feet from the mud. It was Friday, so filming was wrapped up and everyone was sent home.

>There were only two speaking parts in the scenes being filmed on the days we were there, played by actors chosen for their roles by audition. The part of Aang, the bald-headed titular Airbender, is played by 12-year-old Texas native Noah Ringer, who won the part by sending in a homemade DVD featuring his expert tae kwon do skills. He has a black belt in the sport. His head was shaved, and a design was painted from front to back on the middle of his head. At the end of the day he donned a wig and joined his parents. The village elder is played by a Japanese American actor from New York City. Aang’s arch rival is Prince Zuko, played by Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel, who also has a black belt in tae kwon do.

>On Monday we were picked up by a van, arrived at the Mennonite Church and changed into our costumes. The hairdressers completed our transformation, and this time I managed to grab a quick breakfast before climbing into the van for the short ride to the set. We did not have to wait long before filming began. At the direction of the AD we filmed two more scenes. When he shouted “background action,” children ran across the road, a villager walked across the scene carrying firewood, a couple walked by carrying pots, before the camera focused on Aang. For some later shots the cameramen were mounted on a giant crane looking down on the action taking place below. The scene was repeated several times.

>Although we extras were told not to speak to the actors or director, M. Night Shyamalan was very visible. At times he took a peek from behind the camera. Sometimes he was about six feet away from us. Tall and slim in torn jeans, he joked and put his arm around young Aang, who seemed to be enjoying himself immensely. In earlier scenes where Aang interacted with the extras throwing flowers at him, the young boy displayed an engaging personality. Shyamalan seemed to have an easy relationship with the actors and the movie assistants. His manner was quiet and informal, but there was no doubt who was in charge.

>The next scene showed the villagers after they had been rescued from the evil doers. I was not in this scene. The AD told the group to imagine a big, big celebration, like the Yankees winning the World Series. A chorus of “Phillies” went up from the local baseball fans among the extras. The AD explained himself: “I’m from New York.”

>The final scene involved the villain Prince Zuko, played by Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel. He is a tall compelling young man who looked very appealing until it was time to shoot. Dressed in full-length maroon cloaks, he and his two lieutenants put up their hoods, hiding their faces, and marched resolutely onto the scene. They looked very menacing. In this scene I was assigned to sweep the dirt floor of a hut while another woman stirred a pot of gruel and two men pretended to beat drums with their hands.

>By the time this scene was completed it was about 5:00 pm. The assistant director thanked all the extras, saying “You did a fantastic job. Thank you.” We climbed into the vans to be taken to the church where we changed back into our own clothes and checked out with the people responsible for the vouchers so we could be paid. We were done.

So! Thoughts? Possibilities? Kyoshi is now a man, or was the extra simply mistaken?

Part that worries me is that the people here outright worship Aang, vying to try and touch him and throwing flowers in his path. It kinda portrays Aang as a messiah figure, but one decidedly different from the kind he was in the show.

To mention this in the context of the race controversy. One, doesn't this still make Suki herself the only Kyoshi citizen who isn't fully Asian? Two, doesn't this kinda hearken to the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom? (Another of Frank Marshall's movies, if I remember correctly.) The whole thing of natives gathering around a white person as a god or deity-like figure?

I know the citizens of Kyoshi accepted Aang with a fervor when they found he was the Avatar...but that was *after* they knew he was the reincarnation of Kyoshi, they would have thrown the Gaang to the Unagi otherwise.

Even then, it wasn't worship as much as it was all of the little girls of the Island wanting to hang with Aang, and people cleaning and repainting Kyoshi's statue out of reverence.

Eh, I'll cut it off there, like I'd said, this is still just a rumor from a supposed extra. Still, it's rather detailed, how possible/legit does this sound?

>>68133
I can't come to this board anymore. I just can't. It just makes me so angry.

I'm literally shaking as I type this.

Fairly legit.

It's pretty clear that the movie is down the shithole now. No matter how many retarded arguments T-shirt Boy wants to mount, the gears of the hollywood money machine are clearly grinding here. M. Night Whatatweets' head has been smelling his lower intestinal tract for a good long while, and this will in no way be a come back.

It'll end up like District 9: pretty but ultimately worthless.

You know what really pisses me off about this movie?

The fact that they killed the cartoon for it. I wouldn't have minded if they had just left it alone, let them have their crappy movie, but no: they had to go and cancel the TV Movie Trilogy they had planned because they didn't want people getting "CONFUSED".

And what happens now? If the movie fails, the cartoon is dead. No one's gonna invest in a "failure". If the movie succeeds, they make more shitty movies and screw the cartoon. Or worse, make a cartoon based on the movie.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK!

>>68139
i liked district 9 :(

>>68149
>i liked district 9 :(

Then I'm sure you'll love The Last Airbender!

>>68141
>And what happens now? If the movie fails, the cartoon is dead. No one's gonna invest in a "failure". If the movie succeeds, they make more shitty movies and screw the cartoon. Or worse, make a cartoon based on the movie.

Sadly, none of that is at all unlikely. But we can hope! Nickelodeon has managed the Avatar brand so well until now, so I'm sure...

....wait.....

shit.

>>68133

>but that was *after* they knew he was the reincarnation of Kyoshi

Doesn't the very fact that he's THE AVATAR give that away?

>>68151

They still captured him, it's not like there's a standard for what Avatars look like. But yeah, once he proved he was the Avatar by airbending, they realized "Oh, this kid is the reincarnation of Kyoshi, let's let our little girls fawn over him, and have that one guy foam at the mouth at the mere sight of him."

...Oh my fucking god, they made everybody in Kyoshi that foamy guy.

>>68154

LEEEOOON! HEEEEEEELLLLP!

>>68171
...yes?

>>68154

Well maybe he uses Air Bending in a fight before hand and ends up beating the Kyoshi Warriors this time around.

>>68175

Wait, why would he fight the Kyoshi Warriors? Why not the Fire Nation? And if that's the case, why did this Extra mention Dev Patel showing up in a hood and stuff if the Fire Nation was already there? And why does that prompt Aang worship? That'd be like worshiping the reincarnation of George Washington.

...I mean, being the reincarnation of George Washington, and showing up to kick ass sounds awesome as hell, but still...

>>68176
>..I mean, being the reincarnation of George Washington, and showing up to kick ass sounds awesome as hell, but still...
That would make for a cool action series.

The idea of MKS turning Kyoshi into a dude pissed me off enough that I called in a favor.

I know a guy who has the script and asked him to check, since it's such a minor thing. He says that the statue of Avatar Kyoshi is described as "a beautiful woman in a kimono." So I guess that's something.

>>68181

A Korean Kimono?

Ha-ha, Dee Dee Rickets Joke

Well if you're not blowing smoke, and the script isn't some sort of outdated version in the face of a last minute change, that would be *one* less thing to be pissed at...

Hrm...

http://www.mlra.org/magazine/Extra3534.htm

Okay, so it seems the extra's account of the film up there was legit, and in fact abridged. There's even more detail to be had on the full story that I just linked to.

Whether or not Kyoshi is still a woman is largely irrelevant, everything else is in the movie.

>>68181

Oh for pete's sake, is everything worn by East Asian women a "kimono" to these people?

Thank god no one's wearing "Belgian lederhosen" yet...

>>68176
>That'd be like worshiping the reincarnation of George Washington.
I'd do it.

>>68181
>Avatar Kyoshi
>Beautiful

Something doesn't add up...

>>68226

Reporting because I have no idea where those links lead and the video appears to be a dud.

Is this the only movie(s) the kids are going to be casted in or will other directors see the film and decide to cast them for their movies. I mean, Noah doesn't seem to be the type that wants to be an actor for a profession. He probably just tried out because he was an Avatar fan like everyone else at the auditions.

>>68139
You mentioned me! I'm honored!

Okay, in my opinion, except for the possibility of a male Kyoshi, which could have been a mistake, I don't see much that is rage-worthy here. There is a definite shift in tone here, I will admit. In the cartoon they treat Aang more like a celebrity and less like a religious figure, but I think with the more serious tone Shymalan has already hinted at, that's to be expected. I'm starting to think of this film less as an adaptation and more as a separate project completely. It's really the only way I can maintain my stance of cautious optimism and not descend into a spiral of unending fury.

Also, the wording of that was a bit confusing. He said they needed to redress the set to a time before the modern era; maybe the girl he thought was Aang's stand in was Kyoshi, and the statue of a man was an earlier Avatar?

Bit of a stretch; only way that works is if Kyoshi was bald as a kid. But it's what I thought when I was reading it.

>>68235

One of Noah Ringer's doubles is a female martial artist. So, no, it wasn't Kyoshi walking down the road.

Plus, they were filming in an old quarry, they probablly just had to remove evidence of such.

If you have to think of it as a separate project altogether just so that you don't hate it, then why bother supporting it at all?