Cool News
Slumdog goes on M Night's LAST AIRBENDER!
Hey folks, Harry here... This is more Mori's thing... he was a crazed AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER monkey. Well, maybe not that crazed, but he was at the very least... a fan. As with most television episodics that are attempting to tell a larger story - I missed the boarding call, but I know my nephew and his best lil girl friend (he'd kill me if he had access to the site) loves the series. There's a pretty huge following for that series, and now that M Night is adapting it for live-action... nobody really knows what to expect from it.
First off, it isn't the type of thing that M Night is known for. By that, I mean... ACTION. And I think there's a certain fear that he'll explore the more obscure aspects of the philosophical undercurrent of the story. But Variety is announcing the cast today and the big news is that SLUMDOG's Meel yun Air has signed on to play Zuko, a member of the Fire Nation. He's joining the unknown Noah Ringer who is playing Aang, the last airbender. He's a 12 year old Texas Martial Artist who apparently auditioned via... the internet, demonstrating his awesome martial arts skills. Let's hope he can act, too.
Jackson Rathbone, of TWILIGHT infamy, is on board, with Nicola Peltz as a water manipulator named Katara and lastly Jessica Jade Andres playing Suki - an Earth kingdom rep.
I've no opinion on whether these people are right for their roles, I just hope that M Night brings his best effort on this. After THE HAPPENING, he alienated most of his remaining supporters - but more than that... there's millions of kids that love this series and deserve to have a great adaptation that exceeds their imagination. Let's hope M Night can deliver.
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Hasn't M. Night been talking this up for the past 2 years or so? I lost track a while ago. This film could come out tomorrow and it would feel like old news to me.
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nickelodeon on the big screen
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this is better news than both script girl and blurry avatar
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avatar
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I remember there being other reports of this with different actors...
Can we have a link, Harry? -
while screwing 2 billion other Asians by casting WASPs for the leads.
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You seems to be using racism to fight racism. I'm not sure it's a winning strategy.
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a steaming pile of shite.
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So the kid was in an oscar nominated film and for their next film will be in a live action cartoon M. Night Shamalala is directing. Bad career move kid. Fire that agent pronto.
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Has M Night EVER done anything with a lot of action in it? Even his "superhero" flick UNBREAKABLE was 99.9% talking. Well, at least it seems that Jesse McCartney is no longer attached to it. Or IS he?
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...is an ASSCLOWN hack. If 'Lady in the Water' and 'The Happening' didn't prove that to you, then you're delusional and in need of a reality check. That's my asshole, now lets hear everyone else's opinion.
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The characters in Avatar clearly aren't Caucasian, so why cast white actors who look nothing like them, when there are thousands of actors who do, that would JUMP at the chance?Didn't we learn anything when the obviously hispanic Jessica Alba had to have her hair bleached blonde, wear bright blue contacts and wear pasty facial makeup in order to "pass" for the uber-WASPy Sue Storm? It was a DISASTER... >:(To claim that there are no Asian actors who could do the job just as well, if not better, is INSULTING and just plain bull!
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Each Nation has their own distinctive real world race equivalent. The Airbenders are highly reminiscent of Tibetan Monks, Waterbenders resemble Eskimos, and the Firebenders are very much NOT Indian...
This does not bode well... -
suki as the nerki water moving martial artist, some unknown yoki doing a daki on the last weeki airbending aangi durki...WHAT?! there are like 4 discernable words in this article. what the holy fuck is going on?good god at least this will be the last nail in M Night's coffin...this flop is going to make the colossal failure of The Happening look like a minor misstep...
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sure does not act like one. Not knowing the difference between Chinese and Indian because, you know, they are all Asians is typical white attitude.
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Count me out.
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and that was a dissapointment, considering the source material.
Will the inept one day be overthrown by those with soul enough to TELL THE REAL STORY? -
When will directors understand that a faithful adaptation may exactly be the best route to take?
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Look at pictures of him. If you take the cartoon of Avatar at face value it's an Asian looking world saved by a Caucasian looking kid. Not a particularly P.C. moral to the story but that is how it looks.
For a complete discussion of this (and I do mean _complete_) and the lovely petition that has been started to get them to recast (hi sokitome) see http://www.aintitcool.com/node/39863
BTW TheGhostWhoLurks - Alba in Fantastic Four helped that movie make more money (and a sequel) than it would have made otherwise. Just ask any Alba-attracted male. -
So... You can't actually tell us who's playing the character... And instead go for a lame pun?
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Like... Did you actually think Meel yun Air is a real person?
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Since you have three people playing the major characters in Slumdog, it would have been nice to know who we were talking about here.
Also, triple POST'd. -
as the MAIN CHARACTER of a multi million film. Oh boy, here we go... Maybe THIS time M Night will give up and go back to IT support in Bombay.
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Happening was an abomination, hope M Knight can get back on track and do Airbender justice. Can't stray too far from the show, way too many loyal teenie fans to risk taking liberties with the material.
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It's over for that poor bastard.
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Feb 02, 2009 5:01:16 AM CST
i just watched the happening for the first time tonight
by juror number 8
and it was horrendous. unbreakable 2, please?
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Lana Lang's Street Fighter movie
I hope they do like on Smallville and whenever she's on screen they point that camera right up her nose
Can't get enough of that -
Damn You Michael Bay
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Why AICN hasn't called attention to Derek Kirk Kim's ongoing petition against it, I don't know. " New Day In Politics, Same Old Racist World On The Silver Screen " :http://derekkirkkim.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-day-in-politics-same-old-racist.html Signatories in the comics biz include Heidi MacDonald ( The Beat ), Alex De Campi, and Steve Lieber ( Whiteout ). So you know. It's ongoing.
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" New day in politics, same old racist world on the silver screen"
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Derek Kirk Kim
This past Monday, on Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, on the eve of Barack Obama's inauguration, I discovered that the casting of the four leading characters for the upcoming live-action movie, "The Last Airbender" (based on the TV show, “Avatar: The Last Airbender”) had gone entirely to white actors. I want—no, need—to say something about this.I'm going to take a tip from President Barack Obama, and begin this with a little personal story.When my brother and I were in high school, our favorite class was Drama. While we were rehearsing for the next day's class or participating in a school play or dancing it up at the after party, I don't think there was anything we liked more. During such times, it even surpassed our love of—dare I say it—comics. But we never even entertained the notion of actually pursuing it as a career. Not because we didn't want to, but because we had too much pride to spend our entire lives pretending to be Long Duk Dong, or a Chinese food delivery boy with one line, or a Kato to some Green Hornet. Or even worse, having our hearts broken over and over going after roles that specifically call for Asian Americans like "Avatar, The Last Airbender" only to see them go to white actors. Back in my Drama days in high school, I used to dream of being white so I could pursue acting.
With discrimination like this "Avatar" casting continuing to happen uncontested in Hollywood, my future kids will nurse the same pitiful wish. And it infuriates me.If my future kids feel a passion for acting, I want them to be able to pursue it just like any other American. If they're forced to give up that passion due to a genuine lack of talent or hard work, fine. But I don't want their dreams to be clipped at the bud by some unassailable, universally accepted dismissal of their existence on the face this country.It's not fair. It's not right.Before I go any further, it behooves me to spill some information on "Avatar, the Last Airbender" for those people who have no idea what it is. 1) It's the greatest, most ambitious animated action adventure TV series ever hatched in the U.S. A cartoon series for kids in which one epic story actually spans 3 entire seasons. A kid's show in which the characters actually grow and change and evolve! A cartoon which actually respects a kid's intelligence and vast imagination. Imagine that! 2) It's wholly and inarguably built around Asian (and Inuit) culture. Everything from to the costume designs, to the written language, to the landscapes, to martial arts, to philosophy, to spirituality, to eating utensils!—it's all an evocative, but thinly veiled, re-imagining of ancient Asia. (In one episode, a region is shown where everyone is garbed in Korean hanboks—traditional Korean clothing—the design of which wasn't even altered at all.) It would take a willful disregard of the show's intentions and origins to think this wouldn't extend to the race of the characters as well. You certainly don't see any blonde people running around in "Avatar." (I'm not saying that would have necessarily been a bad thing, I'm just stating the facts of the show and the world in which it is set.)...I was speaking with Gene Yang (author of "American Born Chinese" and National Book Award nominee) about the casting and he said it best: "It's like a white Asian fetishist's wet dream. All the Asian culture they want, without any of the Asian people."J.R.R. Tolkien never specifically described his central human, and human-like, characters as being "Caucasian" or "European" (as far as I know) in "The Lord of the Rings", but it would be pretty stupid to think they weren't when the entire story and the world in which it was set came from an obvious extrapolation of medieval Europe. Why should it be any different for Avatar?Or let me draw a closer parallel—imagine if someone had made a “fantasy” movie in which the entire world was built around African culture. Everyone is wearing ancient African clothes, African hats, eating traditional African food, writing in an African language, living in African homes, all encompassed in an African landscape...but everyone is white.How offensive, insulting, and disrespectful would that be toward Africans and African Americans? How much more offensive would it be if only the heroes were white and all the villians and background characters were African American? (I wince in fear thinking about "The Last Airbender" suffering from the latter dynamic—which it probably will.)Or imagine if they remade "Shaft" or "Zorro", but cast white actors to play the lead roles. It would be outrageous, right? Well, this Avatar casting is no different. But curiously, when similiar offenses are committed at the expense of Asian Americans, and Asian American men in particular, this sort of behavior goes mostly ignored by the press and the people involved.To show you what I mean, here's a snippet from a recent article on MTV.com:Due in theaters in summer 2010, "Airbender" has already begun to face a bit of controversy over the casting of white actors like Rathbone, Ringer and McCartney to play Asian characters — a concern the actor was quick to dismiss. "I think it's one of those things where I pull my hair up, shave the sides, and I definitely need a tan," he said of the transformation he'll go through to look more like Sokka. "It's one of those things where, hopefully, the audience will suspend disbelief a little bit." If Rathbone had gotten the role of "Shaft," and got a perm and a "tan" to play that character (and I don't mean in a self-conscious, subversive way like Robert Downey Jr. in "Tropic Thunder"), there would be a shit storm of outrage from all sectors of America, not just the African American community. It would be a headline across every newspaper, and I highly doubt that production would make it to filming. But when Joel Grey taped his eyes "slanty" and colored his skin to play a Korean man in "Remo Williams" (in 1985! we're not talking ancient history here), it went virtually unnoticed. How was that even allowed to happen? How is it continuing to happen, here in 2009, at the eve of Obama's inauguration (as I type this.) Why this double standard?Now if you're a progressive Asian American you might be saying that I'm barking up the wrong tree. That perhaps it's better not to perpetuate the stereotype of Asians being nothing but karate-chopping, fortune cookie wisdom spouting monks. But the fact of the matter is these kinds of films are going to be made whether we like them or not. It's a genre, like “Lord of the Rings” and its ilk—the western counterpart to films like “The Last Airbender” or “Forbidden Kingdom”, that's way too popular to ever go away. Almost everyone craves adventure and mythic grandeur. Films like “Avatar”, just in terms of genre, are dime a dozen in Asia itself after all. So since Hollywood is never going to stop making these kinds of films, I think we should protect them and make sure they're done respectfully, as well as pursuing intelligent independent movies that are reflective of Asian Americans in real life.*And the reason this miscasting is particularly stinging when it comes to “Avatar” is because of the high quality of the source material. "The Last Airbender" has the potential to be something like "Star Wars"—something with lasting value that could give new heroes to your average household in America. And to have something for Asian American kids, and ethnic kids in general, to look up to. To let them know heroes can also look like them and speak fluent English like them. I think it could give immeasurable confidence and pride to these under-represented kids to have something like "Avatar" if it turns out to be as good as I hope. There's no reason Asian Americans should have to forsake "Star Wars" for "Citizen Kane." Both kinds of films have their merits and places in culture and it would be healthy to strive for both--to have Asian Americans and all minority Americans be a part of the entire spectrumAnd many non-Asian Americans might be saying, "Relax! Things are getting better—hey, look at 'Harold and Kumar'!" But what they may be overlooking is that for every "Harold and Kumar" (as in 2), there are hundreds of "Avatar, The Last Airbender"s and "21"s.The movie "21" (released last year!) was supposed to be based on the real life exploits of some Asian American MIT students. But of course, a Hollywood studio just couldn't bear to put an Asian American in the leading role. Instead the role was given to Jim Sturgess. To add insult to injury, Sturgess' sidekick friends were played by Aaron Yoo and Liza Lapira. They're both perfectly capable actors who could've pulled off the role just as well as Sturgess. But Yoo and Lapira were obviously just tossed in as a lame attempt to deflect accusations of discrimination which were sure to follow.Again, let me repeat that this movie was made last year, in 2008. You may think it unbelievable, but things really haven't changed at all since the time Bruce Lee was tossed aside for David Carradine in "Kung Fu." How could this much time have passed and so little progress been made?How? Because Asian Americans don't have the support of liberal Americans at large the way some other minorities do. The reason Barack Obama won the presidency, when so many African American politicians before him couldn't get a foothold, is because a candidate finally came along that garnered the support of everyone in America, not just his community (and deservedly so). Now I'm not equating the presidency with something as trivial as a movie role, but this issue is still something deserving of support from outside the Asian American community, as well as within, to help fight discrimination for everyone.So if you're someone who believes in equality—if you want to see all of America reflected in our world's most popular and influential narrative art form—I implore you, particularly if you aren't Asian yourself, to write a letter of complaint to Paramount or show your displeasure in some form. If you have a blog, please post something to shame the producers of this film or feel free to distribute my little essay here. Especially if you're a professional in the arts or entertainment industry. With a strong enough voice, perhaps we can force them do what's right by recasting this movie. And lastly, if this effort fails, please boycott this film when it's released in the summer of 2010. Let Paramount and the rest of Hollywood know that this kind of blatant discrimination isn't acceptable to us. Not just for Asian Americans, but for all minorities in our country who never see themselves reflected in our country's media.African Americans kids can finally, realistically dream of being president one day. Can't Asian American kids—perhaps my kids—at least dream of being something as relatively insignificant as central characters in some escapist Hollywood movie where everything is stolen from their heritage?Can't they be a part of America too?Derek Kirk Kim01-19-09Follow this link for the petition : http://tinyurl.com/9nfbka . Thank you
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He will be popping up everywhere! Hey M shite you are not Stan Lee!!
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You know how I know this? Because on the news last night, there was some story about how there are arsons being committed outside of Philadelphia. The first thing I thought was, "oh boy, I hope M. Knight isn't watching this. We will undoubtedly get a movie about mysterious fires that break out for no reason outside of Philadelphia".
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Didn't you see the inauguration? There was some crazy old fool telling us that the "yellow should be mellow".
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I really loved that series! I also think that would be amazing if maybe Shekar Kapoor took it up, Ang Lee or Wong Kar Wei. I think the can do the Action and the myth.
I don't put much faith in Shallala -
Feb 02, 2009 6:46:44 AM CST
Unfortunately, the "next Spielberg" (ahaha) still has rabid fans
by jackpumpkinhead
Then again, so does Uwe Boll... although at least some of his idiots know what they're defending. Shyama's remaining fanatics, on the other hand, are actually declaring The Happening to be "an ecological masterpiece" and "the most misunderstood film of the century". And yes, they're serious.
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I love white asians
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Try as much as you want. M Night has an appetite for the white people. Why do you think he ran away from India? Also, America doesn't want japs and chinks to be their leading roles. They want arian people up there. That is why we fought nazis.
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Imagine if the makers of Fantastic Four had actually hired — gasp — a BLONDE to play Sue Storm instead of an olive-skinned Latina who required 3-hours of makeup to make her look like a different ethnicity. It's not like blondes are in short supply in California. Jessica Alba's stupendous miscasting is part of the reason WHY Fantastic Four was such a joke.Claiming that hiring her despite the fact that she looks NOTHING like the character helped the film when they could have easily hired someone like Kate Bosworth or thousands of other actresses who are actually white, is like saying it'd be fine to hire Megan Fox to play Storm and then put her in blackface. "The fanboys think she's hot and it'll make lots of money!"Uh... no. it's just STUPID and will make the character and the film look even MORE ridiculous.
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Yet I think the source material is so rich that Shyamalan can't mess it up. And its not that he's not really talented...as long as somebody supervises his script and some Hong Konger plans the action scenes, he should be fine with Airbender.
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when they 'black-washed' robert neville and the source material for that movie was around for a lot longer than it was for this cartoon. this stuff happens all the time in hollywood, get over it.
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First, Yeah, the cast is all white. Who cares? It cracks me up that all these people who are such huge "fans" of the show keep throwing fits that they aren't casting all Asians. Funny. I thought the Water Tribe were Eskimo (Inuit). Wonder if their upset about these protestors dismissing them the same way the protestors feel M. Night Shyamalamadingdong has dismissed the Asians. Who cares. Seriously, shouldn't we be more upset at the fact that they cast someone ugly to be Zuko, the angst ridden prince that's supposed to be sexy and dark enough to attract Katara? LAME.
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Before anybody says anything consider the following:
1) He does not have final say on this picture, only on casting.
2) He is being sat on actively by two other highly respected producers
3) He has evidently hired a token Asian and may yet hire more. I should expect that will come to pass.
4) There are so many ardent fans of this series that if he doesn't give us the airbender we're fantasizing about, there will be riots.
That is all. -
Just as Frank Miller was the totally wrong choice to do a Spirit movie, M. Night is wrong to do an Avatar movie. Their sensibilities don't match the property at all.
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Do you chaps know Ali Larter read for that? Why would you cast Alba if Larter, who actually LOOKS like the comic-book character, was available? And would've worked cheaper? GAH.
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Here's one admirer he hasn't lost since The Happening (which I enjoyed and thought was quite good). He's going to have to shovel a lot of shit from people out of the way on the road to getting this made, so he'll need all the slack he can get. Go for it MNS!
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I'm not disagreeing with you. I thought Fantastic Four to be an inadequate adaptation of the source material. But your claims that casting Alba was a "disaster" and was "just stupid and will make the character and the film look even more ridiculous" is your opinion. My claims that it helped make the film more money come from the amount of guys I know who only saw the film because she was in it.
As for comparing her casting to casting a white girl in black-face... try it and see if the results are remotely comparable. -
And yet how much more money would it have made if they cast someone who comic-book fans wanted to go and see in a film? I say more. If it was a faithful adaptation, we would've paid multiple times for it.
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It amuses me that people (mostly fans of the show, I guess) are bitching that the characters are going to be played by White actors in the film.
Wasn't the voice cast of the cartoon mostly made up of White people? I'm just saying. -
"Unbreakable" is still one of the best comic book movies ever made.
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This thing is going to bomb so big and so fast no one's gonna even notice it was made. Shamalamadingdong is the biggest joke ever perpetrated on/by Hollywood. At least Boll knows who he is. Night actually thinks he's a good director. LOL
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Feb 02, 2009 10:28:06 AM CST
Kurosawa's "Ran" Had No White Actors? That's Racist!!!
by duck of death
I'm Asian-American, and I could care less who M. Night casts in his movie. From what I can see, this is an American-produced adaptation, so I wouldn't expect an all-Asian cast any more than I would have expected one for The Departed. I can see a valid argument from purists who demand a completely faithful adaptation, but that's about the extent of it. Oh, and kudos to the guy who ruined what I was hoping would be the first ever M. Night talkback where some douche didn't bust out that played-out "Shamalamadingdong" gag. Brilliant work, dumbass.
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Good As Lily was a damn fine book that would make a great adaptation.
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Where did the K come from? Look at IMDB or Google before you post retards. I mean that in a nice way. With all due respect, learn to fucking spell.
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He can do kiddie shit just fine, if not better than his usual stuff.
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Say what you will about M. Night (and there are many deficiencies in his directing), he gets strong performances from children in his movies.
The trick will be whether he can make an action movie. But again that won't make or break the movie.
As we saw from Nolan, the weakest part of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight were the fight sequences, but the movies are both amazing.
Hopefully M. Night can do the same. -
...Just pull my finger and I will prove it to you...
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M Night lost it a third of the way through Unbreakable, when he turned it into a turgid soap opera rather than an 'ordinary joe' vigilante superhero pic. He's done the same with everything he's written/directed since. Signs, The Happening, Village and Shite in Water have all been crap. This will suck just as hard, suckers!!
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Feb 02, 2009 12:20:08 PM CST
Re: " Kurosawa's "Ran" Had No White Actors? That's Racist!!! "
by ptsdpete
Which is Derek Kirk Kim's point. IF Akira Kurosawa was compelled to cast White people for the part of the Imperial Japanese - TO PLEASE BOTH ' BOTTOM-LINE ' PRODUCER AND U.S. MARKET DEMANDS - THAT would be racist. Again, using the ' Lord of the Rings ' analogy, what if Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema were FORCED to make the LOTR characters white so the movie could play in the Asian market ? Then, some Chinese actor quips all it takes is pasty white make-up, feigning British accent, and ' suspension of disbelief ' to pull that shit off ? Thought so, too. It's like you're not being ALLOWED to make it Asian in Hollywood. Even on material that's clearly Asian. Or Inuit. You get the point. Hence, the petition. Maybe, their recently leaked casting brochures for extras would make you reconsider exactly these bigoted pricks are in this ' multiculturalism ' thing. Look it up.
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"I think it's one of those things where I pull my hair up, shave the sides, and I definitely need a tan .... It's one of those things where, hopefully, the audience will suspend disbelief a little bit." Now, imagine if the role he was talking about was BLACK. Also, M. Night Shyamalan's ' addiction to white people ' falls short to that of the REST OF HOLLYWOOD. Though he is most definitely a douche. And, despite all them sad projections, ' yellow is NOT mellow '. Thanks for the bullshit racist quip, whoever said that.
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Feb 02, 2009 12:33:33 PM CST
SHAMALAMADINGDONG SHAMALAMADINGDONG SHAMALAMADINGDONG
by bringingsexyback
Keep them kudos coming Duck of Dumbasses. That's "couldn't care less", not "could". English as a second language can be a bitch, we know.
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gave up on him a long time ago. thanks for making unbreakable!
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heh this is the dumbest talkback i've ever read
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The world of "the Avatar" is a made up mythology based on many cultures, but with a strong Asian resemblance. The only characters drawn as definitively asian in appearance were the Firebenders and the Earthbenders (though culturally they are based more on the Mayans). The main Waterbender tribes, while culturally similar to the Inuit, were most likely a mix race (like most things in the Avatar world, i.e. Turtle-ducks, Lemur-Bats, Badger-Moles, etc), as Inuits do not normally have bright blue eyes. Their cousins the Foggy Swamp waterbenders are seem more like native indians of the Amazon river basin. Airbenders while culturally based on the Tibetan monks, were drawn as the most caucasian inhabitants of this FANTASY world. My guess is that they kind of wanted to create a world where every kid might see someone how looked at least kind of like them (though not if they're blonde or ginger). That does leave the casting of a live action version a little leeway, though to be honest I don't necessarily agree with the casting choices. I also find it strange that Suki is being mentioned as an earthbender (that is the kingdom she's from, but she isn't a bender, she's a warrior). Is Shymalam blending Toph's character into Suki's?
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Just a few things to get off my back. First, MNS has a lot of talent in this biz in more than one area. Though debatable by opinion, he can act, direct, produce, write a script or story, adapt a screenplay, and more. The guy thinks out of the box and gets lambasted for it, and you guys wonder why we keep getting remakes. Though even I feel that he has made more than a few mis-steps, he remains one of my guilty pleasures, and I hope that he gets back on track. I'd rather watch The Happening again than watch another Uwe movie. I really want to see MNS return to the glory of his 6th Sense/Unbreakable days, and then some (if not just to shut the gaping maws of you haters). Maybe working with supervisors might be the way to go. I remember my first few lead projects where I went way overboard and could have used a bit of reigning in. IMHO, I believe that MNS suffered from the Geoge Lucas "Yes Man" syndrome. Everyone around him was praising him and he lost sight. Any IATSE or SAG (or just about any biz union) member would agree that, like them or not, they are definitely talented. As for the racism comments: C'mon guys. Knock it off. That goes for the the non-whites, too. That is STILL racism. I come from 4 vastly different ethnicities, so I hold no bias toward anyone. Good thing we aren't held accountable for our internet actions, huh?
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And boy, will it STINK.
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Been meaning to do that anyway.
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Was perfectly fine.
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it wasn't based in a european medievil setting with asian actors, it was based in a japanese setting with japanese actors. doesn't matter where the source material comes from, the setting was changed and the ethnicity of the actors was appropriate. The Last Airbender on the other hand, is KEEPING THE ASIAN SETTING WHILE USING A WHITE CAST. Hence, the issue.
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Why isn't Vincent Kartheiser Prince Zuko?!? Oh ya because that would be a good thing.
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No, NO! Toph has to be blind, barefoot, and snarky vicious as anything! Maybe a bigger role for Suki, with Toph coming in the next installment.
With Dev as Zuko, what does this mean for the casting of Iroh? He's the best character on the show! -
I'm all for equality, but is Airbender really the best vehicle for it? Being devil's advocate:
It's a fantasy story set in a fantasy world. It's never stated that this is Earth in the past or future. Basically it's an alien world making the people on it aliens (with American accents).
It has a flying 6-legged bison so there's obvious artistic license taken.
The creators have gone on record saying it's a world influenced by various human cultures (Tibetan, Inuit, Korean, etc). But most people don't know this - they're more concerned as to whether the movie is worth seeing.
The "Asian" look of the world doesn't change the fact that the story is full of stereotypical American values and story devices (and accents).
In the cartoon, Aang (the last Airbender) looks like a white kid in Asian-influenced clothing. It is left to the audience's imaginations to either accept the the way the characters look (and sound), or not.
The producers have allowed the current casting choices. They have alot more experience with this than we do. Why would they do this if it spelled the doom of a multi-million dollar project (and the obvious potential sequels).
International audiences know this is an American production and simply accept that the accents are American. It'll star Americans - which can be of any race.
As I've said before, if Kirsten Dunst was cast as the lead in Memoirs Of A Geisha 2 - then the argument against casting white people in an Asian role would have far more credibility than having white kids in a fantasy cartoon adaptation. -
Feb 02, 2009 9:37:58 PM CST
Amy, based on PAST casting choices producers have made
by theghostwholurks
...on genre films and adaptations like this, they DON'T have very good judgment on when it comes to picking the right actors. That's part of the reason so many live-action adaptations of comics, cartoons and books flop in the first place.
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I'm thinking X-Men 3, Golden Compass, Spider-Man 3, Hulk, Lost In Space, even Daredevil - all adaptations with decent actors yet flop films. Arguably the _main_ reason so many live-action adaptations fail (and movies in general) is because the script & production is a mess. A good actor mis-cast can still do good work if the story's well written.
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wrap it up folks, we're done here.
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I'm somewhat disappointed that they're not having much cast diversity because that's a big part of the plot. And this guy looks way too happy to be Zuko. But when you start messing with that main group of characters... especially when you ditch the girl who's not particularly feminine, cute, or Barbie-ready... that's beyond problematic.
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Man, do I need a new username!
I can live with Aang being Caucasion, as well as the Water benders (not too many teen Inuit black belts in H-wood). But you NEED to have diversity. My own dream would have Sonny Chiba as Iroh! NO ONE can't tell me that would't rule the world! With an Indian Zuko, it stands to reason there would be an Indian Iroh.
Like I said, Toph better be blind, barefoot, and snarky mean when she has to be. Chinese is preferred. -
Can we start calling this "Airbender-In-Name-Only" yet? I was never an MNight hater, but he's trying awfully hard to turn me into one. Christ, I even liked The Happening, even though every actor was playing in a different film.
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I agree with Stanton 29. I don't mind Aang being white b/c...well, in the cartoon you cant even really tell what he is. I just hope this Noah kid can act. I do have a problem with other casting. Why not try to stick the casting of the different elemental nations close to their actual ethnicities? Why not have Indians playing Water tribe for Sokka and Katara (plenty of gorgeous indian kids.) Why not have maybe white people as Earth kingdom? And Asian characters for the Fire Nation? Be creative in this fantasy world and try to make a strong adaption. Because now with an indian Prince Zuko, it means you need an indian Princess Azula, and it kinda changes a lot. Oh, and the guy playing Sokka doesn't seem to respect the material or the fact that Sokka is loads darker than him because he actually talks about TANNING and shaving hair off his sides to suspend belief. That comes off as majorly ingnorant. And the girl playing Katara looks really young, hurting any speculation the of her being slightly seduced by the much elderly cast Zuko. Plus she's all fair and pale. This could end up a travesty, but until i see the final product we'll tell if I'll spend money on it. Of all people i expected M Night to be more open to the idea of ethnic characters. He's great at visuals and directing, but terrible at writing his own story. Lets hope he does the action scenes well.
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I can smell dead people. Hey, who can't?
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they're all DEAD THE ENTIRE TIME!
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You know you want it. Kevin Costner is licking his lips with excitment.
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The Sixth Sense was good, Unbreakable was great, Signs was OK and his last three have been complete shitfests.
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Whoa, hang on a minute....Who??
is no body reading this properly? -
rules you all.
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Feb 03, 2009 12:36:34 PM CST
Yeah, you didn't actually give the name of the actor...
by kid idioteque
I'm really confused now.
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Feb 03, 2009 2:19:14 PM CST
I could totally understand casting Dev Patel as Sokka but not Zu
by the merk
Based on his character from Skins I could see him doing something with the role of Sokka. But casting him as Zuko isn't right, and does adversely effect the casting of Iroh.
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Feb 03, 2009 2:28:50 PM CST
I can't wait to see a bunch of barbies as the Kyoshi Warriors.
by warcraft
a bunch of blonde cheerleaders in samurai/geisha gear will be awesome.
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...to admit I cut and paste Meel yun Air to see what he looked like. Der. I'm glad I'm not the only dork who fell for that.
Anyways PTSDPete you should hook Ursula K. LeGuin up with Kim. I would often think of Earthsea when I watched Avatar. It's quite a coincidence that both film adaptations dump the very obvious Asian descriptions of their characters.
Why do they even need to "legitimize" this story with a live action adaptation. I now think it should continue the animated story on the big screen. I don't thini they can top it for quality.
If you haven't seen Avatar the Last Airbender, do it. It's the greatest. Iroh is the shit. -
But I think it will be good.
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http:// img201.imageshack.us/ img201/5927/ avatarhu0.jpg
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First, this guy played the lead in Slumdog Millionaire, so there's little doubt that he's capable of doing the acting for one of the most complex characters of the series. Second, the guy is a black belt in Tae Kwan Do, so he's got the chops to play someone who's certainly got more than his fair share of martial arts sequences to play. This may be the best last minute cancellation since Stuart Townsend passed on Aragorn.
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like in some of the comic book movies, yall would be crying and whining your asses off. but since its the other way around, most of yall dont care. fucking white people. u will never even ATTEMPT to get it, will you? hypocritical as fuck.
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Like Shawshank Redemption eh? I remember the protests against casting Morgan Freeman vividly.
As for "getting it" - South Park pointed out quite correctly that white people can never get it. -
And damn near stunk out the underworld
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It's drawn in ANIME style. Everyone has pink skin, big eyes and such. You people need to watch more Asian culture and animation to understand. Never mind that this does not look Asian at all right? http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=129809&l=d17bd&id=1588489092
I'm also pissed off that most people here seem to think America = White. WTF? Funny I thought I lived in a multicultural world, a melting pot, if you will. And you call your self's Americans? Pathetic. -
Orcus can't help it, Orcus is Old
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