M. Night Shyamalan Casts Slumdog Star Dev Patel for Airbender
Posted on February 4th, 2009 by Hot Momma
It didn’t take long for Hollywood to open it’s doors for Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel (pictured with Slumdog co-star Freida Pinto). M. Night Shyamalan has cast the 18-year-old actor for his supernatural martial-arts movie The Last Airbender, which begins filming in Greenland next month.
“Patel was already one of the guys I was interested in,” Shyamalan told Variety. “Then I saw Slumdog Millionaire, and the kid just grew in my eyes.”
Despite the deserved praise Patel was choosen only after actor/musician Jesse McCartney,decided to skip Shyamalan’s martial-arts “boot camp” for the movie to do tour dates, according to Variety. The casting marks a speedy trajectory for Patel, but pales next to the out-of-nowhere opportunity enjoyed by Noah Ringer. The 12-year-old Texan, who will star in the movie as air-manipulator Aang, got hired after submitted a video showcasing his martial arts skills to a website Shyamalan set up for virtual auditions.
The movie is the first in a planned trilogy that Shyamalan is writing, directing and producing based on Emmy-winning animated TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Photo: Courtesy Fox Searchlight
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