Producer Frank Marshall has ruled out the likelihood of 'The Last Airbender' trilogy being shot back-to-back, stating that each of the movies will be written and filmed one at a time.
- Jul 3, 2009
AceShowbiz - The planned trilogy of "The Last Airbender" won't be filmed back-to-back and may take as long as six years to complete. Speaking up about the matter was producer Frank Marshall who told Starlog that the filmmakers will be working on the trilogy project one by one. "We're shooting them one at a time, because they're being written one at a time," insisted the five-time Academy Award-nominated producer.
Ruling out the possibility for the three parts of "Airbender" shot like Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings", Marshall noted that director/scribe M. Night Shyamalan is currently in the process of developing the second film. "Night is now working on the script for the second movie, but he hasn't had time to write the second or third ones," he explained. "He's looking at the arc of all three."
"One of the things we'll be doing is using the sets, ships and elements for each different nation in this film and incorporating them into movies two and three," Marshall further elaborated. "We're not waiting. There just isn't enough time. Night will finish this movie, then the script and then we'll prepare for the next one. I think it'll probably happen over six years."
As for the first film itself, Marshall has taken it into his Twitter account to confirm about the inclusion of living Sky Bison named Appa as well as Aang's pet winged lemur, Momo, in the movie. "I can confirm the Aapa and Momo will be in THE LAST AIRBENDER," he wrote on a message dated June 29.
Slated for July 2, 2010 U.S. release, "The Last Airbender" is a live-action film version of Nickelodeon's animated series of the same name. To be differentiated from James Cameron's "Avatar", it has dropped "Avatar" from its title. The film follows Aang and is set in a world where human civilization is divided into four nations: Water, Earth, Air and Fire.
With the help of a protective teenage Waterbender named Katara and her bull-headed brother Sokka, Aang proceeds on a perilous journey to restore balance to their war-torn world. But, his goal will meet a tough challenge from exiled Fire Nation's evil prince Zuko who is sent to capture the Avatar in order to restore his honor and right to the throne. It stars Noah Ringer as Aang, Dev Patel as Zuko, Nicola Peltz as Katara and Jackson Rathbone as Sokka.
