BECAUSE THERE'S NO GOOD ASIAN ACTORS, ANYWHERE, THAT CAN DO THIS

[misora]

Aaaaaand, this is why I had my doubts about this live-action Last Airbender movie idea of Shyamalan's.


The cast list: http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/12/10/first-look-the-cast-of-the-last-airbender/


Yep. You read right. They white-washed everyone. Zuko is being played by a blond pop-star.








I think I'm going to wibble over here in the corner for a bit. ;_____;

Comments

[nephthysmoon.livejournal.com]

I don't know WHO I would have picked, but it would not have been THEM! What a horrible, TERRIBLE cast. Also, I resent their characterization of Zuko as 'evil'. Fuck this!

[misora.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I am so not seeing this movie. I probably won't even download it.


*wonders how much influence Shyamalan had on casting, if any at all*

[lemonyloyce.livejournal.com]

Cue Emo Aaaaaangsty Pop.

[misora.livejournal.com]

 




...If he sings in that movie, I'm gonna cut a bitch...

[lemonyloyce.livejournal.com]

You know if they are "in talks", it's because he either wants to sing in the movie or atleast have a song on the soundtrack.

The track title will be: "My Heart Burns"

I swear, if I'm right on this... *shakes head*

I hope I'm not right!

[misora.livejournal.com]

They might as well be calling this "Ba Sing Se: The Musical".

[noblesseoblige.livejournal.com]

Jesse McCartney for ZUKO? You have got to be kidding me.

[misora.livejournal.com]

Sadly, no.

I really thought that with Shyamalan at the helm, they'd cast appropriate actors for the parts, but...I should have known better.

This is going to be a disaster. I can feel it.

[noblesseoblige.livejournal.com]

None of those kids look anything like the characters. At all. Blah.

[misora.livejournal.com]

They're probably going to cast Robert Pattinson as Jet.



...


*laughs in spite of herself*

[ryanitenebrae.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm not exactly happy about this, but I do think everybody is overreacting just a tad. I highly doubt they're going to go with Jesse McCartney, and I will not believe it until it has actually been confirmed. There really is no way of knowing how an actor will behave as a character until you actually see the movie, and with the exception of skin color, Sokka and Katara's actors are decent visual matches. Direction, costume, make-up, that has a great deal to do with how these actors will portray these characters. Yes, Avatar has the charm point of having no Caucasian characters whatsoever, but in an American movie, we could hardly expect that to be true in the adaptation. I'm just saying, we need to wait and see.

[misora.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'm overreacting, at all. I'm vastly disappointed with Hollywood on this one. This isn't a completely American animated show like "GI Joe" or something -- this is a show about fictional characters in an Asian-themed universe. The principles of the theme are around Buddhism, for christ's sake. I can see Aang and maybe a couple of others being cast as white, but there's no reason why the ENTIRE cast has to be Caucasian. Sokka? Katara? Jet? These are dark-skinned characters. Casting them white seems to me to make a mockery out of the entire show.

There are so many good Asian/Indian actors and actresses out there that could have played the majority of these parts. I don't know why they weren't even considered. It really, really frustrates me. This could have been a great opportunity for younger kids of ethnic descent to get their big break in the business. Instead, it's looking like "Avatar: The High School Musical AU". >____

[ryanitenebrae.livejournal.com]

Well, first of all, they're probably going to use as many actors over the age of 18 as possible, because of the difficulties of shooting with minors. Second, Entire cast? I see two confirmed actors, here, one of which is a complete unknown and the other being someone we know very little about. I mean, yeah, I've seen Deck the Halls and Nicola's acting was bad, but so was everyone's acting in that movie, and it contained three of my favorite actors. McCartney and Sokka's actor are still in talks. Nothing is confirmed for those two. This movie isn't even coming out for another year and a half.

[misora.livejournal.com]

Regardless, the fact that they're even considering that Jesse McCartney for Zuko tells me they're not going to even try to match the characters -- major ones or minor ones -- up with actors/actresses that resemble them. They need at least a year for shooting, I imagine, so I'd say they're going to finish up the casting pretty quick.

I don't have a problem with over 18 actors -- lots of people in their 20s, dressed appropriately, could pass for teenagers. But there are TONS of 20-something ethnic actors too, and IMO they really should have kept to the style of the show (and its thematic origins, which are definitely not American/European). -___-

[ryanitenebrae.livejournal.com]

Uh, no, for all we know McCartney wants the role and the studio/casting directors aren't sure they want to pass up on someone that famous. There are just a lot of factors, here. And I'd say we'll have a cast list in . . . . oh, February or March. It doesn't mean that the people they are considering right now(Sokka and Zuko's potential actors. I'm pretty sure Katara and Aang's are confirmed.) are going to be what we end up with. I'm just saying, we can't judge anything until it's made. I'm sure the movie won't be as good as the show, it may even end up being absolutely horrible, but we won't know until 07/02/08.

[misora.livejournal.com]

07/02/08 - you mean July 2nd of this year? LOL.

Well, I reserve the right to judge their decisions based on what they've chosen so far, and what they're considering. If they were considering actors/actresses that looked the parts at all, I wouldn't be complaining.

But, seeing as they haven't, I reserve the right to do so.

[ryanitenebrae.livejournal.com]

*headdesk* Yeah, that's the best way to have as much time as possible to make the movie. Shyamalan is going to freeze time and release the movie retroactively before the show actually ended.


Yes, you do, and I am not saying you don't. All I mean is, we have two confirmed actors that we know very little about, and that does not give an idea of what the movie will actually be like.

(Ugh. So many mistakes. In my defense, I'm kind of sick.)

[jbramx2.livejournal.com]

"All I mean is, we have two confirmed actors that we know very little about, and that does not give an idea of what the movie will actually be like."

And one of them is a white girl playing a dark skinned, dark haired character who looks rather Indian (katara).

Did you know that Shyamalan discovered Avatar through his daughter? She wanted to dress up as Katara for Halloween.

I don't know what his daughter looks like but if she looks anything like him...I'm going to say she identified with Katara because Katara looks Indian. I know I would have when I was little (I'm dark haired and dark skinned too).

I don't know how this movie will do, but I gotta say this casting is disappointing to me. I wanted a bit more variety there.

[ryanitenebrae.livejournal.com]

Look, I agree that the actress playing Katara should have dark skin. However, her actress being pale really is not a reason to say that the cast is bad, or that the movie will be bad. It just means her skin is pale, which, yes, is inaccurate to the character, but it does not mean Katara will be pale in the movie. We've seen one photo, and that doesn't give us an idea of what the character will be like in the movie.

Yes, I did know that, and if the character's physical appearance is that changed, it will be unfortunate. But we don't know anything about this movie, really. Not yet. And, honestly, nobody can make statements about variety yet. We have two actors.

[jbramx2.livejournal.com]

I didn't say anywhere in my comment that this movie is going to fail. I'm sure the kids who are growing up watching the Disney channel will love it. Okay, I really don't know that. It's a martial arts movie, I'm sure it'll do great among audiences. Probably attract the crowd that saw that movie with both Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Or it might fail. I don't know. That's not my point.

I only said "this casting is disappointing to me."

I don't know the karate kid that is casted for Aang, so I can't pass judgement on that. I'm actually happy they went with a martial artist. I figured they would for all the benders in this. Make the movie more genuine.

I'm shocked they didn't. That would've been a great draw to the movie.

And true, two roles is not enough to judge variety. But the one role that definitely should have gone to a minority went to a white girl instead. That's sad. (and wrong!)

I would hate if they made that cute little girl get a tan. I think it's sick for someone to suggest they get a tan, cuz they're KIDS, or at the least, they're young! They shouldn't be getting tans.

If they change the character in the movie to have always been a pale skinned kid, well that's just taking away from the character's unique look. And as you said, that is unfortunate.

I'm just bothered that they would deprive a future young minority actress (or martial artist) the chance of playing Katara. It's really disappointing.

[ryanitenebrae.livejournal.com]

I did not say anything about the potential commercial success of this movie. I am sure that it will be very commercially successful. I just said we have no way of knowing the quality. That's not at all the same thing. For example, to look at this director's last three films, The Happening was somewhat successful but an awful movie, The Lady In The Water was rather bad and did rather poorly, and The VIllage was very good and did bad in the box office.

Keep in mind that I agree with you; Katara should have been cast with an actress of ethnicity. I am merely saying that this one aspect of the film does not say anything about the entire cast, or about the film itself.

A tan? No, that is wrong for an actress who is a minor. Most likely they will use a combination of stage make-up and lighting, neither of which will harm the actress.

Well, Katara is one role that really doesn't need to go to a martial artist. She's a fighter, yes, but she uses only her water bending, which simply requires complex hand gestures.

[qiushuwen.livejournal.com]

I'm asian and I have lots of asian friends. One of them got really angry and disgusted when he found out that Goku, of Dragon Ball Z fame, is being played by a white guy. That's just it. When movies are made for a certain country, they cast based on what sells. And white people sell in the Americas. Hoping for an asian-looking cast isn't realistic. There aren't enough well known, appropriately aged visible minority actors for this movie.

Plus, I watched the film adaptation of the American written book "Memoirs of a Geisha" and they used asian (albeit Chinese) actors and they spoke in horrible English and ruined the whole darn movie.

After that fiasco, I think that if a movie is to be done with actors who aren't fluent in English, it must be done in a native tongue and subtitles used. I can't imagine that being the case for Avatar, especially considering Dragon Ball Z.

Plus, having Jackson Rathbone play Sokka Jesse McCartney play Zuko is making me LOL so hard.

Are you sure you won't be tempted to just to download it and watch a minute of it? Even if to confirm its disaster? :P

[misora.livejournal.com]

I might do it just out of morbid curiosity.

But dammit, they really had an opportunity to make better casting choices here, and they blew it royally. *shakes fist*

[jakia.livejournal.com]

If Zuko sings in any point in the movie I may burst into tears.

[darkelf19.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's what I figured would happen. -_-

[misora.livejournal.com]

I tried not to believe it would happen, but I was being overly optimistic.




However, this has prompted me to procrastinate on some of my work and make up a post with who I would have slated to play the characters in live-action. XD

[romanitas.livejournal.com]

Jesse McCartney?

W-what?

Do not want. Oh my god ;__________;

brb headdesking

[misora.livejournal.com]

Agreed.



ahahaaa, your little Robin icon XD

[romanitas.livejournal.com]

;_______________;

I found it somewhere, and it was too adorable not to snag. |D

[qiushuwen.livejournal.com]

Oh, lol. Should have read this first. :P

[hekateselene.livejournal.com]

Oh my god.. what the hell was that?!! Is is a joke because its so not funny. It's just wrong

[genuinelyhokey.livejournal.com]

..........................

I need a HULK SMASH icon for this shit.

[rapturesmusic.livejournal.com]

WTF JESSE MCCARTNEY?! AS ZUKO?! WTFH?!

_{I'm so not going to go see this movie.}

[alaksandra.livejournal.com]

Well, can anyone put up a psuedo-cast of asian/indian actors for our beloved characters? (with pics)

I thought they would do a world wide casting call? Was I mistaken?

[misora.livejournal.com]

Haha, I already did! :D I didn't include any Indian actors, but now that I think about it Sokka or Katara could really be played by Indian actor/actresses.

And yeah, they really should have looked globally for the actors. You can't always find Americans of the appropriate ages/ethnicities, so it would have been nice if they could have branched out a bit.

[drisela.livejournal.com]

Personally, I'm to angry to wibble.
I'm furious and inconsolable. I'm Furiosolable!!!!
It's going to be easy to channel
my "dark place" for Flamenco tonight. D

[misora.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I got pissed and actually made my own casting post right after this one. XDDDDD

[drisela.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I saw that. niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice. ;)

[zelha.livejournal.com]

. . . . .

I am completely speechless.

No, seriously. OMG this is... just like Rapturesmusic said. "PHAIL OF DISMAL PROPORTIONS."

*facepalm*

And fuck NO, I'm not going to see it.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I totally didn't understand why so many people who unhappy about the director.

Now I do.

And it hurts so much.

[jbramx2.livejournal.com]

I already wrote about it in my journal. Yeah. I'm shocked and PISSED.

[robinsena.livejournal.com]

I shouldn't be laughing about this, but I am. :\

And to be fair, Hollywood bastardized the upcoming live-action Dragonball movie too. (Goku as a white dude? SERIOUSLY?)

[queen-0f-geeks.livejournal.com]

I was so pissed that Shamalan was directing because lets face it, the dude hos NOT had a decent film in a loooooooong time, BUT THIS!? JESSE FREAKIN MCARTNEY!!! I am enraged beyond levels of enragement i knew i possessed!