Dev Patel Make “Last Airbender” Cast Slightly More Tolerable
Dev Patel is brought in to add cred to Shyamalan’s “Airbender.”
As you may recall, M. Night Shyamalan’s film adaptation of the animated series “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” has been embroiled in controversy due to its casting, that is that the cast is primarily white while the characters are supposed to be Asian.
Well, now steps have been taken to remedy that as “Slumdog Millionaire” star Dev Patel has taken over the role of Zuko. Previously (and ludicrously) Jesse McCartney was supposed to play the part, but according to the MTV Movies Blog, dropped out because of conflicts with his touring schedule. Yes, we’re all surprised he’s touring.
I asked my Avatar fan friend (and btw, I should note again that the movie will be called “The Last Airbender,” dropping the “Avatar” in order to avoid confusion with James Cameron’s epic film, which he probably will be shooting for the foreseeable future) what the Avatar community thinks of this news and she said basically it’s been, “well, yeah, it’s a start,” but also that people say Patel would be better cast as Sokka. Readers, think, ponder, debate amongst yourselves.
12 Comments
February 10th, 2009 at 1:14 am
Are you kidding? This isn’t any better. Zuko is east asian. God, wtf would anyone care that it all white people? What makes me mad is that its not east asians and inuits like it should be. The fact that this guy looks like an ape only makes it worse. If the rest of the characters were going to be white, the Jesse would have been a better choice, since atleast he is visually apealing. In all honestly, this movie is going to suck no matter what though unless the make the cast the correct race.
March 12th, 2009 at 11:08 am
^^ Totally agree with you, except for the ape part. Dev does not look anything remotely close to Zuko. What’s even worse i suspect, is that the whole Fire Nation might end up being Indian as opposed to be looking like the Japanese characters they should be. The more i think about it now, Jesse would’ve been better to play Zuko.
April 10th, 2009 at 1:03 am
while i do wish the actors looked more like the characters, i think its more important that they can act the role. i mean, it wouldnt be good to have a sokka look-alike who wasn’t even funny, or a katara look-alike who just didnt act motherly at all. i’m fairly confident dev patel will do an excellent job. personally i’m happier with him playing zuko than jesse. he was great in slumdog millionaire, and i think he can handle the role. anyway, I think he’s cute.
April 19th, 2009 at 7:54 am
i don’t think dev will be terrible, definatly better than jessie but i think shin koyamada would be a better chose shame he’s too old although jackson is much older than sokka is meant to be. i haven’t seen noah but so far Jackson Rathbone is the only actor i’m really happy with and don’t think should be changed.
May 27th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Dev, in my opinion, is a much better choice than Jesse. I think having a dreamy popstar in the movie would make everything more commercial and superficial.
After seeing Dev’s character in Skins, who is somewhat similar to Sokka, I can understand how he would be good for that role. He played a completely different person in Slumdog, and it’ll be fun to see him take on angsty, determined Zuko. He seems really flexible in his actiny, and I think he will pull it off.
June 4th, 2009 at 7:06 am
Dev Patel sucks as zuko, Zuko is a troubled hot head and Patel looks way to innocent to play zuko it makes no sense, Jesse in the other hand I believe looked more like zuko and would of been better suited for his role. Dev patel however I think resembles sokka very well and I believe they should cast him as sokka unstead and boot the other guy
June 10th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
henry,
have you seen slumdog millionaire? obviously not or you could never say he’s too innocent. so are you saying jesse mcartney would be better at angst? really? bubblegum popstar mcartney?
August 22nd, 2009 at 10:38 pm
I’m just glad McCartney is off. If he can’t sing, which is his profession, how can we expect him to act? And yes, getting the ethnicities right is important because one of the major themes of the Avatar series was that although there are many varied peoples and cultures of the world, they can all live in harmony. Having an all white cast just makes it dry. I’m tired of seeing caucasians play ethnic roles beyond their own (Im white, so if Im saying this, its getting pretty bad) . Sometimes they can pull it off, but I’d rather have a cast of good unknowns than famous people who just DONT FIT. Please, please, PLEASE take some actual time and effort to find a great cast instead of settling for a mediocre one for monetary(?) issues. Id rather see the effects lack and have a great cast than amazing effects but horrendous acting
December 14th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
I seriously freaked out (big time!) when i knew they didnt get real asians who lookd like the part as casting. Especially mccartney. though dev can kick-ass with the role, i was still severely disappointed coz they didnt get a real look-alike for the role. seriously c’mon, why dont they get the right people?! whats wrong with putting a bit of effort for the fans? Despite my frustration, im still looking forward on how the mvie turns out, as a true hardcore fan. i just really hope the cast can pull off their characters. especilly dev as zuko. nothing personal on dev though, im just voicing my opinion
May 24th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Having Dev Patel play the major antagonist in the first two books just makes this whole project even worse, because now he gets to be the token dark-skinned bad guy who’s persecuting the good white people. Argh.
June 17th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Dev Patel is a great actor. Just needed to say that. He doesn’t deserve all your shit.
It doesn’t matter if they look a like or not if you ask me. The whole point is the way they act. I’m gonna have to wait till the movie comes out, I guess. Everyone is exagerating over the characters skin color making all of you racist in some sort of subliminal way. Movies are meant to alter the original in one way or two or else it would be boring
July 4th, 2010 at 10:54 pm
As a white man, I was surprised to see an Indian play an East Asian role.
Race aside, he has the body of a 6 year old girl, whereas Zuko is much more muscular. My nieces think Zuko in the series is cute and were horrified to see such a slinky boy play a strong evil villain. Horrible acting and a huge miscast.
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