Trivia
The movie started out when director M. Night Shyamalan wanted to do a film adaption of the hit Nickelodeon series, “Avatar: The Last Airbender” because his daughter was a huge fan of the show (she even dressed up as Katara for Halloween) making him fall in love with the show too.
The film was originally titled “Avatar: the Last Airbender”, after the TV show it was based on. However, James Cameron owned the rights to the name “Avatar”, and threatened legal action if the title wasn’t changed.
Filming began mid-March 2009 in Ilulissat, Greenland.
Jessy McCartney was originally cast to play Zuko, but was replaced with Dev Patel due to scheduling conflicts.
Numerous casting calls have been held for people of different ethnicities to be extras in the film since the producers wanted the film to consist a variety of people.
Noah Ringer (who plays Aang) had a photo double (Eric Jewell) to take over some of his parts since child actors are only allowed to work for nine and a half hours (including meals).
Isaac Jin Solstein, 10 year old Korean-American actor trained in Tang Soo Do and Soo Bahk Do was announced by Paramount to be playing an “Earthbending Boy.” This is rumored to possibly be Haru or a young Bumi. Isaac’s father, Eric Solstein, described the young boy’s role as being “pretty high up on the cast list” and believes “most fans will be able to guess what character from the original cartoon that might represent.” If Isaac is playing Haru, this would possibly mean “Earthbending Father” played by Keong Sim would be Tyro, Haru’s father.
Noah Ringer obtained the role of Aang after submitting a homemade video of himself practicing the martial art of taekwondo as suggested to him by his martial arts teacher.
In an interview, Dev Patel (who plays Zuko) stated that even though he is seven years older and a foot taller, in a martial arts match between the two, “Noah would knock me flat on my back.”
Noah Ringer, before getting the role of Aang, would already normally shave his head (giving him the nickname “Avatar” by his friends) because “It keeps me cool when I’m doing Tae Kwon Do.”
Dev Patel said that he discovered the series, “Avatar: The Last Airbender” when he was filming his first film, Slumdog Millionaire. “I started watching it in my trailer in India. I see why the fan base is so big. It’s got action but a lot of moral messages,” says Patel.
