EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Jackson Rathbone talks "Airbender" and "Breaking Dawn"!

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Jackson Rathbone talks "Airbender" and "Breaking Dawn"!

Handsome and multi-talented actor/musician Jackson Rathbone plays wound-up-tight Jasper in the Twilight Saga films and this week enters another supernatural film world as he plays fantasy warrior Sokka in The Last Airbender, the movie adventure based upon the animated Nickelodeon TV series. Sokka and his sister Katara (Nicole Peltz) teach and protect the younger Aang, the last of a race of people who can control the elements (air, water, fire and earth). Aang is learning to control all of them, not just one!

Jackson has lived world-wide and applies this knowledge to his roles but says he's just a country boy at heart, having grown up mostly in Midland, Texas, only a few miles from where this reporter grew up in New Mexico. During this interview we are having fun letting our Southwestern, Texas-style "twang" accents run wild.

We're talking Jackson's music with and without his band "100 Monkeys", his protective nature toward his own sisters and 15-year-old "Airbender" co-star Nicola Peltz, fun on-set in Greenland and off-set doing a musical performance at a local pub! And, of course, we ask a Breaking Dawn question.

First, let's get this out of the way....

TeenHollywood: What about the two Breaking Dawn films are you looking forward to?

Jackson: I haven't seen a script yet. I know the books but, at the end of the day, there will be two movies and I don't know what they're going to do with it yet. I'm really excited to see what (screenwriter) Melissa Rosenberg crafts.

But I did read an interview with Melissa recently and she says there will definitely be sex in it. But I don't think I get lucky in it. Hummm, maybe a sex montage with all the Cullen family, all the different ways the individuals display their sexuality.

TeenHollywood: Wooooo! People would come in big herds to see that (we laugh). Okay on to "Airbender". At the Eclipse press day, you said that putting on your boots gets you in character for playing Jasper. What did it for playing Sokka in this film?

Jackson: Putting on the sandals (he laughs). No. But, honestly, it's an ensemble piece so just getting to work with a young actress like Nicola Peltz, from the moment we did a mix and match audition in Philadelphia, seems like two years ago, it felt very natural and she reminds me so much of my little sister who is the exact same age. It was really easy to get into that protective older brother mode.

TeenHollywood: You have 3 sisters, two older but one younger, so can you relate to a 15-year-old girl?

Jackson: Well, not relate but feel protective. I'm protective of all my sisters. I used to get in fights with their boyfriends all the time. When they'd come over with their new boyfriends, they'd be teaching me how to clean the shotguns (oooo, for those shotgun weddings no doubt).

TeenHollywood: Did you get to keep anything from the set; a costume or prop?

Jackson: Yeah, actually the prop guys gave me the original mould of the boomerang Sokka uses.

TeenHollywood: Cool! Did you do any training for throwing the boomerang or working with the spears?

Jackson: Actually, I did stick fighting training which actually informed the use of the boomerang as well as spear techniques. Mainly my training consisted of Kung Fu and a powerfist, very aggressive form of Kung Fu. Also wrestling and grappling because Sokka is less a technical fighter and more by any means necessary, take an opponent down. He's gonna get 'um.

TeenHollywood: In "Airbender" you have a sister and are protecting a younger boy. How is this little "family" alike and then unlike the Cullen family in the Twilight saga?

Jackson: It's definitely different. What I love about playing different characters is the extreme differences. Really the only through-line is me! As Sokka, I'm a very protective older brother then as Jasper I'm protective over my wife and I think the rest of my siblings can pretty much take care of themselves but I help when I need to.

TeenHollywood: What off-set or between scenes stories can you tell me? Was there any hanging out with Nicola or Noah who plays the young airbender Aang?

Jackson: It was fun in Greenland. It was freezing cold definitely but it was nice. We'd hang out after shooting. We didn't go out or anything but one night, I went out to dinner with Dev (Patel of Slumdog Millionaire)  and Night (the director) and some of the producers and we were at this local pub. Because it was a pub, Nicola or Noah couldn't come. They're not old enough.

We noticed on stage they had a drum set so I hopped up and started banging on the drums. Night was like 'no way. You play?' I'm like 'yeah. I play a little bit of everything'. I brought my guitar and we talked to the bar owner and he got me a gig that Friday. 45 minutes to an hour set on just my acoustic guitar. Then Frank Marshall (producer) and I got up with the house band and he sang "Stormy Mondays" and I played guitar.

TeenHollywood: Sounds like a blast. Didn't you also have a cast and crew snowball fight?

Jackson: I was in it and I think I won too !

TeenHollywood: Your band 100 Monkeys just played the Roxy in L.A. Wish I had known, I would've come down! Are you still keeping a balance between music and acting?

Jackson: It was on our 100 Monkeys music twitter where we post last minute secret shows so you have to subscribe to our twitter. But music and acting are two of my greatest loves. I started out playing Doody in the musical "Grease" and playing guitar. So, I had to learn to sing, play guitar and act all at once and I love them both.

I don't believe in the whole "Sophie's Choice" question where I have to pick one over the other. I think that's bullshit. I've been doing both my entire life and I want to produce, write.  I've written a short film that I hope to direct. I'm trying to run across the gamut of all things artistic. Not because I feel like I need to but because I have to.

TeenHollywood: I'm from New Mexico and have been to Midland, Texas where you grew up.  It's very flat there (he agrees and says he can hear the southwest in my voice). With your dad's being in the oil industry, you moved a lot growing up, so did meeting all types of people all over the world help you develop your characters as an actor?

Jackson: I guess that informs my chameleon-ish tendencies. Why I love being a character actor is I do have this varied background of places I've lived and people I've met. At the end of the day, however, people are pretty much the same. Everybody has a heart and a passion. We're all human and looking for a connection in the world.

TeenHollywood: Any favorite places you have lived?

Jackson: The two places I grew up the most were (a small town in) Norway and Midland, Texas. You wouldn't think they would be similar but they are both small towns, small communities and everybody knew each other and it was very friendly. People were sweet to one another.

TeenHollywood: Sokka doesn't have element "bending" skills but if you really did, would you choose air, fire, water or earth?

Jackson: I'd choose water because I've been a big fan of (famous martial artist/movie star) Bruce Lee for a long time. He has this amazing book on artistry and martial arts called "Artist of Life" and he talks about being like water and what that means; how strong water can be and, over the course of time, just a simple stream can cut the Grand Canyon.

TeenHollywood: So Sokka is a smalltown boy in love with a big city girl in the film.  Has that happened to you?

Jackson: Humm, well people do ask the celebrity crush question and I don't know if I've ever crushed seriously on a celebrity but I consider myself a country boy in some aspects, a Texan and southerner and (he puts on his best Texas accent) I've dated my fair share of New York girls. I always say, if you buy me a drink, you can hear my real accent (we laugh because, growing up in the American southwest, we sound much the same). 

TeenHollywood: Nicola used to play ice hockey and took Kung Fu so could she kick your butt? She told us she can.

Jackson: Well, when I was little my older sisters would beat me up. I've go to my dad 'Dad they're hitting me. Can I hit them back?' He'd say 'Nope. Learn to take it. That's what your entire life is gonna be. If you are a southern gentleman, you're gonna let those ladies beat up on you and learn to like it'. So could Nicola beat me up? Let's say 'yes'. I'm not gonna fight back against a 15-year-old girl! I'd be a terrible person. 

Source => Teen Hollywood / Via => Jackson Rathbone Source