‘Slumdog’ star Dev Patel cast in Shyamalan’s ‘Airbender’ amid casting controversy

By Mark Pollard | Published February 3, 2009

Variety reports that M. Night Shyamalan has picked SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE star Dev Patel to play “Prince Zuko” in the filmmaker’s upcoming live-action adaptation of Nickelodeon’s popular animated fantasy/martial arts series THE LAST AIRBENDER. Patel replaces first pick actor/musician Jesse McCartney, who dropped out of a required “boot camp” that Shyamalan holds for his films due to conflicts with tour dates.

Dev Patel

It was only a couple days earlier that McCartney was talking to MTV to address strong fan criticisms of racism regarding what had been an all-Caucasian cast picked for AIRBENDER’s multiethnic lead characters. Patel’s East Indian ethnicity may quiet some of the controversy while also raising the film’s status given the actor’s current international popularity for starring in the Oscar-nominated hit drama SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. The 18-year-old actor brings something else to the martial arts-themed film, at least six years of Tae Kwon Do training in London where he was born and raised.

Patel joins fellow cast members including 12-year-old lead Noah Ringer (as Aang), Jackson Rathbone (TWILIGHT) and Nicola Peltz. Ringer is a newcomer who was discovered by Shyamalan after he saw a video of the kid performing karate that was submitted to a web site during a virtual audition process.

While Will Smith’s son gets handed a choice action film role in a KARATE KID redo because his megastar dad is the producer, it’s nice to see a regular kid can have his efforts in martial arts training acknowledged and get plucked from obscurity to star in a major motion picture.

These kids will be working with fight coordinators Mark Rounthwaite (XENA, CASINO ROYALE) and Ben Cooke (INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL), two veterans in the stunt business. Ming Liu (RUSH HOUR 3, KING OF FIGHTERS), a wushu-trained stuntwoman and double whom we have featured on this site in the past, is also working on the stunt team.

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  • Robotech_Master
    Well, my skeevy feelings turn out to have been justified.

    Frank Marshall, speaking on Twitter, has explained that the world of the Airbender movie will be as "ethnically diverse" as the real world, rather than being all-Asian.

    I strongly suspect that this is a justification after the fact of their decision to cast the leads as white out of fear that non-fan audiences would stay away from an all-Asian movie.

    http://www.terrania.us/journal/2009/04/bent-out...
  • hafsa
    i cant wait to see the film i want to now who will be the actress
  • The thing that makes me the most skeevy about the film is the offhand remark in one of the casting calls for extras that they were seeking to add more "ethnic diversity" to the Avatar world, so if you have an ethnic costume, be it kimono or lederhosen, show up wearing it please.

    I mean, the whole point is that it was entirely an Asian world. Too much of that sort of thing and I get really nervous.

    (Oh, and as for how Mike and Bryan could "let this happen"? The show was work for hire. It belongs to Nickelodeon; that's why you see Nickelodeon in the copyright notice instead of Mike & Bryan. It's the rare creator, the JMS or Joss Whedon, who is allowed to keep control of his own show these days. It's just lucky they're working with Night at all.)
  • KingKiller
    Yeah I don't trust Hollywood to make my movies anymore, I think it's a subversive manipulation tactic to get us all to just make everything ourselves. The "people in charge" always fail me.
  • In regards to the Airbender casting controversy: this is a step in the right direction, but we still have a very long way left to go.
  • ZenShiite
    I get the impression, for certain quarters, that there was a falling out between the creators and Sifu Kisu. Just my impressions of some stuff I've heard...

    As to the casting situation, it's pretty clear that Caucasians was who they were going for from the get-go.
  • JPV
    I hope Sifu Kisu is somehow involved in this movie's action sequences. He did an outstanding job matching the different elemental bending techniques to a specific style of Chinese kung-fu, and ensuring that animations were faithful to the movements.

    I believe the action in the movie will be a lot less interesting if the Waterbenders aren't using Tai Chi and the Firebenders aren't using Northern Shaolin. Otherwise all we'll get is cardio-kickboxing and CG.

    That being said, I loved the animated series and I can't wait to see a trailer for this movie.
  • rizzol0219
    That's funny! I don't remember an online video submission anywhere. What total BS. Don't believe me? See for youself. Someone was smart enough to do screenshots of the actual site put up by Paramount.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzx3SkvqSok

    Note when first word came out when Noah was discovered it was stated that he was discovered by an open casting call in Texas. Interesting how the story is changing.
  • ZenShiite
    Yeah, I've been big upping Sammo for Iroh on numerous sites. In fact, I want M Night axed and Sammo to get in the director's chair. He also needs to be fight choreographer.
  • bOoMpOw
    Sammo Hung is the PERFECT Iroh!!!!
  • sowutifmahsnsux
    yeah Collin isn't a bad choice. you know who i've always envisioned as Iroh? SAMMO HUNG
  • ZenShiite
    That's the kicker isn't it? I wonder why Paramount didn't take at least some cues from The Forbidden Kingdom and get more Chinese in on the film. The casting isn't the only problem with this thing, M Night's going to butcher it because he's expressed no affinity for Hong Kong cinema or Fant-Asia films. Collin Chou would be prefect as Fire Lord Ozai.
  • sowutifmahsnsux
    um, terrible casting choice, AGAIN. and m.night just isnt qualified, especially for a movie of this genre and magnitude. and just look at his recent movies...idk how mike and brian let this happen
  • nicaraguan23
    You make it sound like nepotism is bad. If I was a mega star dad and my family could do a good enough job I'de hire them for every single job if possible.
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