Avatar: The Last Airbender has been getting a lot of attention recently thanks to Netflix. The streaming platform currently has the original animated show available to view in its entirety and they also have a live-action remake in the works. But most fans would like to forget about the first attempt at a live-action interpretation of the beloved series. And that even includes an actor who starred in the film.
A video has resurfaced recently from 2015 showing Dev Patel admitting that The Last Airbender was “sh*t” while signing a fan’s poster of the movie at the Toronto International Film Festival. See for yourself below:
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Released in 2010, The Last Airbender received scathing reviews (5% on Rotten Tomatoes) and was yet another low point for director M. Night Shyamalan, who was coming off of The Happening.
Of course, Patel hasn’t been shy about sharing his opinion about the project in the past. In 2015, he told The Guardian that “it’s hard promoting a film you didn’t enjoy and don’t fully believe in, and I felt bad. I felt sorry that I’d let these fans down, because I was a big fan of the cartoon it was based on growing up.”
The following year, he appeared on THR’s Actor Roundtable and said:
“I completely felt overwhelmed by the experience. I felt like I wasn’t being heard.”
Appearing in the film made sense for the young actor at the time, of course. He was coming off of his breakout role in the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire and Hollywood came calling. As he said, he was a fan of the show and getting a chance to work with Shyamalan (despite waning credibility) was no doubt an attraction.
The Last Airbender did make more than $320 million worldwide, but it will forever be known as an unmitigated disaster in the minds of the fans. But at least they can breath a little easier about the upcoming remake, as original creators Bryan Konietzo and Michael Dante DiMartino are acting as showrunners and executive producers.