Re: [scifinoir2] Airbender: Shyamalan looking for his Earth Kingdom in Virginia.

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 15:45:58 -0800

Huh. "Multi-ethnic" in my experience in H'Wood usually means that the preponderance of cool heroes are white, the villains may have some colour, the the background slaves, servants, and warriors are the most likely places to find color.  I also bristle whenever people seem to feel that actively seeking people of color is somehow narrow-minded or exclusionary.
Not feeling this thing at all...

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tracey de Morsella" <tdli...@multiculturaladvantage.com>
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, "Cinque3000" <cinque3...@verizon.net>
Sent: Saturday, March 7, 2009 2:11:01 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [scifinoir2] Airbender: Shyamalan looking for his Earth Kingdom in Virginia.

Airbender Casting Update

Shyamalan looking for his Earth Kingdom in Virginia.  

by Christopher Monfette

March 5, 2009 - According to the Washington Post, casting directors are currently bounding about Northern Virginia and Arlington searching through the local population of Mongolians for roles amongst the Earth Kingdom in M. Night Shyamalan's live-action adaptation of The Last Airbender. With no real model for what a member of the Earth Kingdom should look like – described only as "exotically Asian" – casting director DeeDee Ricketts comments, "Night doesn't know what it is he wants, but he'll know it when he sees it."

Citing concerns over the predominance of white faces in a largely ethnic story, the article states:

"In December, the lead Airbender characters of Zuko, Aang and Sokka were filled by a trio of young white males: pop singer Jesse McCartney, newcomer Noah Ringer (a karate whiz from Texas) and Twilight star Jackson Rathbone. Those character names again: Zuko, Aang and Sokka. Played by a Jesse, a Noah and a Jackson…McCartney jumped ship last month -- 'scheduling conflicts with his music tour' -- and was replaced by Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel, a Brit of Indian heritage. The fan base kept simmering. The switch of just one cast member 'reeks of tokenism'…"

"When you take a beloved story that has a fan base, you'll never be able to make everyone happy," Ricketts responds. "There's been some talk that we're casting authentic Asians as a response to the backlash, which is totally wrong because our world is multi-ethnic and the Avatar world will be multi-ethnic.'"

We'll see just what kind of face Shyamalan ascribes to the world of The Last Airbender when the film releases in July of 2010.

 

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