‘The Last Airbender:’ Jackson Rathbone Exclusive Interview by MySpace

‘The Last Airbender:’ Jackson Rathbone Exclusive Interview by MySpace

‘The Last Airbender’ opens tomorrow, and we’ve called Jackson Rathbone to ask him some questions you sent in for him about his new movie and in general. In the movie, Jackson plays Sokka, a young lawyer from the southern water tribe, who’s been kinda left in charge since his mother has been taken away and his father went off to fight. He’s very protective of his little sister, Katara, who happens to be the last waterbender . The two of them found a mysterious boy trapped in the ice who happens to be the long missing Avatar, the one who can bend all elements, and they all go on a quest to save his world from the firenations who are trying to take over everything. “Throughout the course of the film Sokka grows up and becomes a young rebel leader and a warrior,” reveals Jackson.

Official Alice & Jasper FanSite: How does it feel to be having two huge films that you’re a part of, come out the same week?

“It’s an interesting time, it’s interesting having two films coming out worldwide back to back. I’m very excited. I’ve been definitely going back and forth and around the state and I’m about to take a trip around the world to promote the ‘The Last Airbender.’ First up it’s Japan, I leave here July 4th to go to Tokyo”

Ryuu Nexros from Oklahoma: what special training did you go through to play Sokka ?

“I did a lot of martial arts training. About 2 years ago in January I started off doing Kung-Fu, Gouquan style, which is a power fist form, a very aggressive form of Kung-Fu. In February I went to Phlladelphia to do boot-camp. There I studied a lot more mixed martial arts as well as wrestling. I studied to be a fighter, with special abilities. I didn’t train with a boomerang, though. We trained mostly in stick fighting, but when I tried to use the boomerang once, it kept going straight. It didn’t come back…”

What was it like for you to watch the movie for the first time, given the fact that there’s a lot of CG work and long parts were shot on a green screen?

“It’s exciting to watch a film that you made a year and a half ago, with a lot of green-screen, a lot of characters that you’re not gonna see, and also the special powers, you know, the air and water bending that you’re supposed to imagine when you’re on set. For example, whenever we ride this crazy bear creature that floats, Appa, we’d be on like a very big saddle, like a furry saddle with green screen all around us and people on the side rocking it back and forth to make it look like we’re moving.”

Kim Deer from Ohio: How different was it going from one movie where you knew the cast to one where you didn't know your costars as well?

“It’s fun when you get to film the Twilight franchise movies, because it’s like a family reunion at the end of the day. You get to see everybody again, and get to step back into the same characters that we’ve been playing for a while, which I love. And in ‘The Last Airbender,’ or any other new project , I love getting a chance to meet new people and kinda form new relationships. We filmed and trained for about 4 or 5 months and in the end, the hardest part of the entire process was saying goodbye to this huge family that I gathered on the set of ‘The Last Airbender’ - everybody from the set: the special effects guys, the stunt guys, the camera guys, everybody was so sweet, so it was definitely hard to say goodbye in the end.”

What are you up to next?

“I’m going to work with my band, 100 Monkeys. We’re releasing a new single July 7th called ‘Future Radio.’ I also love being able to do guest starring roles on TV shows and I would love to do more. TV is a fantastic medium and there’re some amazing shows out there. If I could do a guest spot on ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philladelphia, it’d be so cool!”

Source => MySpace