UNDER THE SCOPE: Rathbone breaks down the airbending experience

UNDER THE SCOPE: Rathbone breaks down the airbending experience

“The Last Airbender,” based on the popular Nickelodeon cartoon series, is one of the most highly anticipated films to be released this summer. This live-action film revolves around a world where individuals can bend natural elements such as earth, wind, air and fire to their whim. However, chaos ensues as the Fire Nation attempts to gain worldwide control. It is up to one individual known as the Avatar, who possesses the rare ability to control all the elements, to restore balance among the nations. The Daily Aztec was recently able to interview Jackson Rathbone, who plays Sokka in the film, about his experiences.

The Daily Aztec: What drew you to work on this film, and how did you prepare for the role?
Jackson Rathbone: There was two months or so of kung fu training in Los Angeles that I was doing, which was a blast. I’d go for about three hours a day and kind of go through the rundown of kung fu and the various styles of it. And then we had two weeks of rehearsals in Philadelphia where we ran through the scenes and kind of had the big read-through and everything. And it was just — it was very natural because (director) M. Night (Shyamalan) is a very natural director and it was really amazing to get to work with him.

DA: What sort of things did you do in your off time while shooting this movie?
JR: Well I never really like to have off time. Whenever I was shooting “The Last Airbender,” I was also performing with the band I’m in, 100 Monkeys, as well as starting to produce a film that I produced with fellow band mate Jerad Anderson, and we both acted in “Girlfriend.” So I was kind of getting the pre-production process started on that from my trailer from my phone, as well as working on new songs with the band whenever I would come home at night. So I don’t really tend to have much off time.

DA: Once you were cast in this movie, did you go back and watch the original show that it’s based off of?
JR: Yes, I was always (aware of the) original show. I think I actually watched more of the original show during the auditioning process than I did during the actual run of the film.
I wanted to kind of step away from it a little bit and kind of make it as natural and as realistic as possible because that’s one of the difficulties in bringing an animated TV show to life in a two-hour movie. You’re condensing 16 hours or so of animated television to be put into a two-hour film. And especially with all the kind of extreme martial arts and the extreme element bending and all that, it’s a lot more serious, so I tried to stay away from watching the show. But I’ve always been a fan of the show and all my friends were excited as all hell when they heard I was going to be playing the character.

DA: Shyamalan is known for more suspenseful films. Do you feel this was more successful than and different from “The Sixth Sense” and other movies he’s done before?
JR: Well, I think M. Night made his name with “Sixth Sense.” However he had two films under his belt before that. Those weren’t necessarily suspense thriller films. It was more about kind of searching for meaning, and so he’s done a lot of different kinds of films. I mean you just look at “The Happening.” It was his first R-rated film, and now he’s doing a family film. I think he’s an artist trying to stretch his wings if you will and trying to kind of get out there. And he’s a family man, so you know he was bringing his kids to set like every Friday after school and whatnot, and that was just really cool to see. I think he’s definitely making a film that his kids can see which is really pretty awesome.

DA: Noah Ringer, who plays Aang in the film, is a relatively new actor and he’s pretty young. What was it like acting with him?
JR: Well, it’s an amazing experience to be acting with child actors. It’s interesting. They have a certain sense to them that is just completely natural. And as an actor, it’s your job to wear what they tell you to wear, say what they tell you to say and stand where they tell you to stand, but at the end of the day you can’t lie, and kids have a real hard time lying. If a kid knocks a baseball through a window, you ask him if he did it, you know when he lies about it; it’s pretty transparent. So it’s pretty amazing to be able to work with a younger actor who doesn’t really have that capability that we all get jaded with when we grow up to lie. So it’s very natural, and you know it kind of brought me to a certain place naturally as well within all the scenes that we worked on together. And it was just — it was amazing just to watch him grow as an actor and as a performer over the course of the film.

DA: The film is based on the Nickelodeon cartoon series so it skews to younger audiences. Why should college students spend their money to see this film?
JR: Well, it’s one of those things. A lot of my college friends were watching “The Last Airbender” whenever it was on Nickelodeon, and I mean, a lot of my college friends also liked it.
And it was one of their favorite shows when they were little because it was on a younger adult or children’s programming television station, but at the end of the day it’s a story and subject matter that appeals to everyone. It’s about being a hero and discovering yourself and it’s almost like a coming-of-age story set in this amped-up action world. And it’s one of those things ... like I’ve always loved kung fu movies and I’ve always loved action films, and the idea of manipulating the elements. And that’s just something that’s kind of been there throughout all time, the mankind dependency on the elements and the ability to kind of work with them or work against them and what that means.

DA: Assuming this movie does well, do you think there’s going to be a sequel?
JR: Oh, I definitely hope so, and I think that’s the plan. It’s waiting for the box office basically. As an actor, I’m not too privy to all that, but at the end of the day, from a speculative standpoint, I think hopefully this movie will do extremely well and people will want to see the next two books put up into a film format. And I’m really excited and ready for it.

Credit => The Daily Aztec / Source => Todo Twilight Saga / Via => Jackson Rathbone Source