Sozin - Casting

Casting

M. Night Shyamalan originally offered the roles of Aang to Noah Ringer; Sokka to Jackson Rathbone; Katara to Nicola Peltz; and Zuko to Jesse McCartney. In selecting Nicola Peltz, Shyamalan commented that he did not want to make The Last Airbender without her, saying that "I said that only once before in my career, and that was when I met Haley in The Sixth Sense auditions.". In February 2009, Dev Patel replaced McCartney, whose tour dates conflicted with a boot camp scheduled for the cast to train in martial arts.

The casting of all-white actors for main protagonist roles in the live-action, Asian-influenced film triggered a negative reaction which was marked by accusations of racism, a letter-writing campaign, and a protest outside of a Philadelphia casting call for movie extras. Jackson Rathbone dismissed the complaints in an interview with MTV, saying, "I think it's one of those things where I pull my hair up, shave the sides, and I definitely need a tan. It's one of those things where, hopefully, the audience will suspend disbelief a little bit.". Shaun Toub, who plays Iroh, also defended the casting choices. He noted that "if they would have put all Asians in a certain nation, I think then there would be people who come out and said, 'Well, now you're stereotyping, saying that anything that has to do with martial arts has to do with Asians and chop suey and all that.' So it's nice to mix it up and just do the unexpected."

Movie critic Roger Ebert was one of the critical voices against the casting decision. When asked about selection of primarily white actors to portray the characters, he said, "The original series Avatar: The Last Airbender was highly regarded and popular for three seasons on Nickelodeon. Its fans take it for granted that its heroes are Asian. Why would Paramount and Shyamalan go out of their way to offend these fans? There are many young Asian actors capable of playing the parts.". Jevon Phillips of the Los Angeles Times noted that despite Shyamalan's attempts to defuse the situation, the issue will "not fade away or be overlooked", and that this film exemplifies the need for a debate within Hollywood about racial diversity in its films. Popular Korean cartoonist Derek Kirk Kim reacted to the film's casting by comparing it to a hypothetical film which depicts white actors wearing traditional African clothing and eating traditional African food in traditional African huts. Shyamalan, however, countered that "this movie, and then the three movies, will be the most culturally diverse tentpole movies ever released.".