The Daily Pennsylvanian :: Try out for a role

Aspiring actors on campus will have a chance to show off their Hollywood skills this weekend.

Tomorrow there will be a general open casting call for extras in the latest M. Night Shyamalan movie, The Last Airbender.

Shyamalan, a Philadelphia native, has directed a number of box-office hits, including The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and The Happening.

His newest movie will be a live-action version of the Nickelodeon fantasy TV show Avatar. The casting call will be held at Wachovia Spectrum's Bullies Restaurant, located at 3601 S. Broad Street, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Deedee Rickets, the casting director for the film, said she is looking to cast men and women ages 18 to 65 and children ages six to 15. Casting officials are seeking candidates with military or martial arts experience, athletes, gymnasts and people of various races and cultures.

"We want you to dress in traditional cultural ethnic attire," she said. "If you're Korean, wear a kimono. If you're from Belgium, wear lederhosen."

Another way to stand out is to demonstrate skills such as basket weaving, hair braiding, making clay pots, puppeteering, knitting, looming - "any artisan craft," Rickets said.

She said the set and cast will reflect the alternate world of the film, and not the streets of Philadelphia.

People auditioning do not need to bring pictures or resumes because pictures will be taken at the casting call. Those unable to attend can e-mail lastairbendercasting@gmail.com.

An additional casting call will take place on Feb. 7, but details have not yet been determined.

Once Rickets sees all of the pictures, she will make a collage to present to Shyamalan. There are also possible upgrades for speaking parts or other roles "outside the realm of extras."

All positions are paid, and experienced extras will receive higher payment.

Positions range in time commitment - shooting begins in mid-March and ends in July. A role could involve being on set for three weeks, then having a break, and then resuming for another three weeks. Alternatively, one could be on set for just a few days.

And then there are the perks of being on the set of a major film - the cast includes Jesse McCartney and Twilight's Jack Rathbone. The movie is slated to come out in the summer of 2010.

The lead role is being played by up-and-comer Noah Ringer.

Recently, Rickets has worked on the sets of Tropic Thunder and Charlie Wilson's War.

"All are encouraged to come out and see what's going on," Rackets said.

Comments (47)

The red man still can't get ahead man, and yella still aint mellah

Wowser, Ms. Rickets is probably still feeling "Tropic of Thunder Trauma" from having to work with those confused souls and "savages" in the jungle. Who said racism was dead now that there's a multicultural president?

[QUOTE id="2506154a-3202-4a10-aaf7-e5d1c800583c"] I got an idea for a movie: "Lord of the Rings" staring Denzel Washington.[/QUOTE] Well, since LoTR cultures aren't real, Washington being cast wouldn't matter unless you're a person that believes people of color don't belong in fantasy. If so, then, that's your problem. It is not comparable to whitewashing a culture(s) that exist. Don't confuse the matter and stay on point.

This is incredibly insulting. The diversity of Avatar's characters seems to be deliberately ignored (within the main cast), and now there's this ridiculous compensation. Also, kimonos are not Korean and lederhosen are not Belgian. And just because I'm German certainly does not mean that I have lederhosen lying around my house. The ignorance is outstanding. This casting would actually be quite hilarious if it weren't so utterly offensive.

What Asian Americans should do is just not participate in this movie at all.

This is just stupid. I like the idea for an avatar movie, but if you're going to get all the races mixed up, why bother? Katara and Sokka COME FROM THE POLAR REGIONS. Not Europe. And air benders were based off of monks from China, not America. The show was assembled by Aisans. You see that in the /credits/. Shyamalan, you're doing a movie of your own cartoon. We would think that you'd want to do it justice in the live-action and make your fans proud. Change your cast and get it right, or not at all. I know your actors might be good with capturing the characters' personalities and all, but really, have some common sense. Angry fans will start treating you like Bush...

No wonder the cast has been white-washed. The whole movie is being directed and casted by high school dropouts who don't know Korea from Japan. They'd better rethink this "amazing cast" before the whole fandom explodes. Jesse and the retard from the equally retarded Twilight are so not worth it. White-washing such an incredible series should be considered a sin. Epic. Fail. http://aang-aint-white.livejournal.com/

Don't worry America! Even with our newly elected minority President, racism is still alive and well. Just look at the casting for this movie. Its based on a show set in an Asian fantasy world, where different types of elemental "bending" are modeled after various form of Asian martial arts, the characters dress in clothing reminiscent of Tibetan monks, Japanese samurai, and many different peoples of Chinese descent. Not to mention the small igloo dwelling Inuit-inspired tribes. And the leads are being cast as... Caucasians!! Sokka and Katara, from the Inuit-based Water Tribe, are now blonde-haired blue-eyed white folks. And of course, Zuko, the banished Prince of a Fire Nation that looks very similar to China is being played by the lovely pop sensation Jesse McCartney. So yeah, all you racists out there, don't worry. There are still plenty of things for you to get behind.

Words escape me at the sheer idoicracy displayed here. The lack of research and basic knowledge of subject matter defies comprehension. An obviously asian based cartoon show that could be used as a tool to fight racism is instead being used to perpetuate it.

Wow... This is just EPIC FAIL!

This needs to stop. I wish I were in Philly so I could go protest. I just can't understand the "logic" behind the casting decisions of this movie. Let's see, we're going to replace asian/inuit animated characters with a bunch of white kids and then fill in the background with the appropriate ethnicities. Yeah, that makes so much sense. Did anyone see Forbidden Kingdom? Classic example of the "just throw a white kid into an Asian world where he can learn Kung-Fu and become a savior for everyone" mentality. Yay! No, it doesn't work and it's bad business. Protest these casting calls and boycott the movie if the cast isn't corrected!

You know a lot of Americans died so that Koreans DON'T wear Kimonos and Belgians DON'T wear lederhosen. It was called World War II.... Not only are they disrespectful to minorities but also to U.S. History....EPIC FAIL!!!!!!!!!!!

from Belgium, wear lederhosen and Koreans in Kimonos....Deedee Rickets, go back to school...

It's not as if Shyamalan hadn't already revealed himself to be a little racist gnome back in "Lady of the Water" where he used made up Korean myths and funny silly ridiculous Korean people, having them pretty much be as Other as the non-humans, and even more difficult to communicate with. Few white directors would have dared be as obvious in their racism and ignorance as Shyamalan dares be. His great achievement now is to take a fabulous animated series, and to whitewash it into the most blatantly racist film in decades.

Fuck you stupid shit M Night! "COME BE IN AN EXTRA IN OUR MOVIE SO YOU CAN BE WITH JESSE MCCARTNEY AND JACKSON RATHBONE!!! LOLLAWLZWHITEPPL!!!" You dumbasses! You guys just had to fuck up this movie with a white cast didn't you you stupid shits!

Oh HELL no! You did not just go there! Kimono are JAPANESE and there are no lederhosen to be seen ANYWHERE in Avatar! Talk about blatantly ignoring the whitewashing of a purely Asian and Inuit world! This is absolutely sickening. *gags*

I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.

So, basically, they want to get ~ethnic~ people to decorate the landscape, so as to give a colorful and ~exotic~ world for the whitewashed little main cast to play at being Asian in. And as if that wasn't insulting enough, they apparently think that kimono are traditional Korean attire and lederhosen are traditional Belgian attire. I mean, is it really that hard to do a quick wiki search for this sort of thing before you go and broadcast your complete ignorance of even superficial aspects of other cultures even as you seek them out to work for you? Can this sham get any more disgusting?

PSSST Guys. Koreans don't wear kimonos. :( UR DOING IT WRONG.

This is just extremely sad. Deedee Rickets needs to know the facts before speaking because Koreans don't wear kimonos and Belgians don't wear lederhosen. I don't mind live action movies just as long as they're accurate. This is just ridiculous.

Uh, kimonos are not traditional in Korea... I guess all asians are the same now?

I cannot even believe that the person in charge of casting doesn't even have a basic working knowledge of ANY culture. This is the most ethnically diverse cartoon that come out in a long time. What mixed messages our country sends to kids! Our president can be black, but our actors have to be white. I know it is a childrens cartoon, but that is the exact reason WHY we have to take a stand and stop racism by not allowing our children to think it is ok, even in cartoons. I didn't see any African Americans in Lord of the Rings, why should there by white folks in my Ba Sing Se?!?!

This is completely stupid. Shyamalan (on account that he's Indian, and therefore ASIAN) should not stand for this failure. How can he, and ANYONE turn a blind eye to this mess? The recent movie, Slumdog Millionaire, it shows the disgusting nature of these white racists. Though it wasn't whitewashed, it showed a lower, poverty-ridden side of a country that lives much like the US. But this... IT'S A KIDS SHOW. WHY PUT YOUR RIDICULOUS RACIST WHITEWASHING TACTICS INTO A KIDS SHOW????? Using up and coming ASIAN actors/actresses would be financially CHEAPER, you fools! And the gigantic fan base, which encompasses people from basically every ethnicity and a wide range of ages, would provide the box-office returns. THIS WILL BE LARGELY BOYCOTTED!

I'm going to echo what Bluetarako said. I'm white and I'm incredibly appalled that the casting director would choose white people for the main roles of a movie that is obviously heavily influenced by asian culture. This is disgusting. I was optimistic about the film, as I'm a huge fan of Shyamalan as well as a mega fan of Avatar, but knowing that a puny white pop star is playing my favorite character Zuko, who was voiced by the incredibly talented Dante Basco (who I happen to have been a huge fan of even before Avatar), is just disgusting. Pop stars and pretty people don't make a movie. Please please please, I'm begging you. Cast this movie correctly. Put ASIANS in the lead roles as they should be. Unless I see it for free, I don't think I'll be going to this movie.