So a producer who was from ASN came and gave some deets, and it'e really showing.
http://forums.avatarspirit.net/index.php?topic=22897.msg2391414#msg2391414
>>64375275
So M. Night is only partly to blame
>>64375315
In fact it seems he was the hero we deserved.
>What it came down to was M Night really was the only one who knew the show and what he was doing (the first draft of the screenplay? gorgeous. hence Bryke giving him the okay).
huh, so he's been getting a lot of undeserved hatr
>>64375275
>/tv/
>>64375325
But he still let slide casting that nicole chick, which inadvertently caused all the water tribe to be white.
>>64375339
Well
he deserves hate
but not necessarily for TLA, it seems
>>64375357
there wasn't much he could have done other than walking out
I want to see that original script now.
>>64375405
Me too
Perhaps the fact he was trying to save this movie...is the biggest twist of them all.
>>64375275
I'm calling BS. The dude verbally defended that piece of shit in interviews to the point of getting angry.
Also, his directorial style is smeared all over that movie... the way he handled it like a horror/thriller? That can't be blamed on anyone but himself. Director directing.
Don't believe everything you read on an anonymous internet message board, kids.
>>64375443
Bravo Taj Mahal!
>>64375453
>I'm calling BS. The dude verbally defended that piece of shit in interviews to the point of getting angry.
It was either take the abuse not meant for you, come clean about it and career suicide, or give into the hate.
Which one did he pic?
So Avatar world is Philly?
>>64375453
Problem with Shamaladingdong isn't that he's a bad director, is that he's a bad writer.
[quote]I liked signs[/quote]
I can't say I liked much else afterwords. But yeah, he's still pretty shitty in the grand scheme of things.
>>64375357
>water tribe being white
M8, there were bigger problems than that.
>>64375476
>[quote]I liked signs[/quote]
Please leave. Please.
>>64375507
oops
>>64375492
Oh I know, but personally, that part irked me
Wow. That insight into why the races of the main characters were the way they were is kind of infuriating.
>>64375465
Admitting that the quality of one of your movies was bad is not career suicide, by any stretch of the imagination.
>>64375476
I'd say he's a mediocre one-note director and yes, a bad writer. Lady in the water was the single dumbest thing I have ever seen on a screen.
Seriously... worst than TLA.
>>64375547
No but pointing out WHy it sucked would be
>And ILM was rushed despite most of the movie's look being left up to them. And you had novice directors hired by producers to oversee that process. That's how come the pebble dance happened.
Oh thank the lord I finally know why.
I can die happy now.
>>64375275
>inb4 this forum post was Shamwow all along
>>64375554
Even that I disagree with. There's a subtle and nuanced way of professionally saying "it wasn't my fault, things were out of my control" that doesn't point fingers or blame anyone. His career tanked after that anyway, so I'd say the proof is in the pudding; owning a shitty movie is more career suicidal than admitting that someone else ruined it.
>>64375547
I'm guessing you haven't seen the happening
>>64375536
Did he at least get to smash?
>>64375534
It irks me that people with darker skin are given eye colors like blue and green instead of brown in fiction. It makes me feel like the perception is that brown eyes + brown skin is ugly or too common to be interesting.
>>64375579
No, admittedly, I did not. I didn't even want to watch Lady in the Water, it just kind of happened. I don't want to be That Guy and argue with a crowd of friends over a movie, so sometimes you just gotta pucker up and take one up the ol' rusty sheriff's badge, ya know?
>>64375596
>what is a fantasy world?
Every nation had themed eye colors. Go watch it again.
I'm having a hard time buying this. Shamaylan has a record, a style, and this movie was riddled with it. Even if everything was working against it, I have a hard time believing he didn't contribute to it's failure
>>64375596
Nah, in avatar they all have peculiar eye colors. But I don understand you, it is considered peasant color combination.
>>64375615
Don't ever believe what the tumblrtards on modern /co/ tell you.
>>64375596
>It makes me feel like the perception is that brown eyes + brown skin is ugly or too common to be interesting
It is. Like 90% of the planet is brown-eyed. If you can make a fantasy world where there are uncommon combinations, why not? It's a completely superficial detail, and it is fantasy after allthough i've always considered non-brown-eyed people IRL to be soulless. There eyes are just so...shallow
>>64375624
>>64375614
In most animation I see, brown people have "white" eyes more often than they should.
Why didn't M.Night speak for himself if this was the case?
>>64375648
>tfw hazel
I'm just looking for a nice qt3.14 brown-eyed girl who will let me drain the soul out of her
>>64375275
>Kyatto
Anyone know the actual name of this guy and what was his role in the movie
>>64375357
So you're saying she shouldn't have gotten a job because of her race?
>>64375596
>It makes me feel like the perception is that brown eyes + brown skin is ugly
Yeah, about that...
>>64375850
I'd say so, yeah.
Or would Christopher Walken be just as suitable as LeVar Burton to play Kunta Kinte?
>>64375850
according to the guy on that website that I don't know who is is or wat he did on the set, the reason she shouldn't have got the job was because she was the daughter of... and could barely act nor narate.
>>64375850
Yes, >>64375892 <---this
Although it would be funny. And is mentioned it was also because nepotism.
>(the first draft of the screenplay? gorgeous. hence Bryke giving him the okay).
Knowing what we know now about Bryke, that doesn't inspire confidence.
>>64375615
Wasn't he also still responsible for all the pronunciation changes, despite some of those changes not making sense for the character's "nationality"?
>>64375357
But that's the thing, the rest of the southern water tribe WEREN'T white, which made Katara and Sokka's race even more ridiculous. I honestly can't remember what the northern water tribe looked like.
>>64375929
>I honestly can't remember what the northern water tribe looked like.
They were white too. I'll never forget the image of those couple of guys that killed Zhao.
They look liked a shitty garage band who were cosplaying.
>>64375929
Bryke isn't the best writer, but his work on the first avatar show that he can at least tell what a good story is.
>>64375357
>But he still let slide casting that nicole chick, which inadvertently caused all the water tribe to be white.
http://forums.avatarspirit.net/index.php?topic=22897.msg2391813#msg2391813
>Yep. He said that to justify casting her and hiding that it was nepotism, unfortunately. He literally couldn't make the movie without her. They do that a lot especially in the last decade.
>>64375955
why do people keep using singular pronouns for bryke? have they finally managed to fuse into one entity?
>>64375982
Sorry, typo.
>>64375476
>Problem with Shamaladingdong isn't that he's a bad director, is that he's a bad writer.
Motherfucker he wrote She's All That. I can't hate him as a writer. The late 90s teen movie loving part of my brain will never let me
>>64375476
how could you like signs when they made the best actor in that movie useless until the end when he needed to swing away
>>64375615
Oh contributed to its failure, but a lot of quite major decisions were taken out of his hands really early on. Not just casting but the budget wasn't in his pocket either
>>64375443
legitimate kek. bravo
>people being this clueless about the extent of studio interference
/co/ pls, you've become too naive.
>>64376162
Its one thing to think the studio interfered, its another to know they fucked the movie up before it started filming, then continued to fuck it up while they filmed it
>>64376162
That is always a problem with everything, the issue here is that this makes M. Night seem blameless, which is a much harder pill to swallow
>>64376185
Well studio interference always happens. And it's on the director whether they let it fuck their movie up or not. Most of the times though you can bet the director gave up solely cause at the end of the day, it's their job, and if they're known as the guy that wouldn't work well with the studio, no on else will hire him
>>64376185
Studios do that all the time. Most movies are terrible and lack focus and tone because a bunch of asshats keep changing things based on feelings that have no relation to filmmaking.
Insider stories are always cynical as fuck because that's what working in Hollywood does to people.
>>64375955
Season 1 arc kinda sucked like Korra's has - it just helped that the setting had a clear villainous antagonist in the fire nation.
>>64375929
The northern water tribe looked like penises anon.
>>64376252
>Season 1 arc kinda sucked like Korra's has
I don't know where you are getting that because Season 1 hooked me to the show almost instantly.
Who is that Kyatto, ccan his word be trusted?
>>64376273
First season of Korra hooked me in as well.
>Koi-zilla
The problem with Korra is that once it had its shitty first season... the season ended the possibility of a clear ONGOING plot like ATLAB had the war with the firenation, so sure THAT particular villain is dead but there's the war still.
With Korra you had "the antagonist is dead... wat do?"
>>64375971
I was took the criticism of " oh that's the producer's kid" how annoying, but it's just for one scene or them running around.
How naive of me
>>64375443
Jesus Christ! What a twist!
>>64375357
I don't think he had much control over that.
>>64376334
I loved Koi-zilla.
>>64376316
Seems like a her.
/pol/ was right again
>>64376676
It was a giant deus ex machina anon.
>>64376902
about what?
>>64375443
>>64376924
No, it wasn't, it was the first introduction ot he Avatar state, which, while being a big plot device, play an important role enough in the show for it to be considered a good story element.
If anything Koi-zilla was an awesome way to offer us a first introduction to what is the vatar state.
"Sorry Guest, you are banned from using this forum!
This isn't the first time you have insulted someone but telling people to 'screw themselves and eff off' is unacceptable. Enjoy your permanent ban"
The fuq? I've never even been to this site!
>>64377167
Who's your ISP?
Anyone with eyes can see why it sucked. Actually you can hear it too since they got all of the names wrong. You can also smell it because it's shit.
>>64377167
The chances of you being on a wireless router with a member of that forum that got banned is pretty astronomical. You might be on some massive ban list because you live in Nigeria or something.
Here's a cap.
I always found it so surprising that his movie didn't deliver just based on the fact of how genuinely excited he sounded to be working on it in interviews before it came out, stating how he watches it with his family each week as it was premiering. He even has a foreword in the art book. He really does seem like he wanted it to be amazing and true to the show. But I guess it's hard getting an entire studio/ other outsourced places to realize that vision.
>>64377245
That post needs a lot fucking citations.
>>64375955
>Bryke
>he
>singular
Yeah, you sound like you know what you're talking about.
>>64377245
"at leasts they hired good caterers"
so it wasn't a total wash-out.
>M. Night's a great guy. He really is. He knows how to write family films, and when allowed to have free reign does a decent job. Sixth Sense and Unbreakable are classics. Many people are also fans of Signs and the Village. Lady in the Water, when watched without any marketing to give you an idea about what it could be - is a clever artistic piece that deviates heavily from his previous work (I really do blame its failure on being marketed wrong).
I don't know how I can take this person seriously when they liked Lady in the Water. Only someone associated with Shyamalan could like that piece of garbage.
>>64376027
Someone hasn't seen after earth
>>64377553
This is where I turn to run. You will leap for me, I will shut the door, and you will land a fraction of a second too late.
...
UH OH!
>>64375547
I feel like I am one in a small handful of people who actually -kind of- liked Lady in the Water. KIND OF. I am pretty damn good at suspension of disbelief and... while the ideas were fucking stupid... at least it was executed fairly well and the actors were fairly believable.
Idk, the last time I saw it was in theaters. Maybe I should give it a watch again now that I'm more cynical and hateful.
>>64377783
I thought the same when I first watched in theatres. Then I rewatched it.
Do yourself a favor and keep your first impression.
>>64377587
/tv/ makes Baneposting into a 2 year old meme with no signs of slowing down, but lets this masterpiece of modern scriptwriting lie forgotten.
For shame.
I don't buy this defense for M. Night, why was Signs and fucking After Earth so terrible? Was he working with the same people? Why would he work with the same people if that was the case? There is one constant here and that's him.
>>64377783
Lady in the Water is the last of the "competent" Shyamalan movies - from there on out he's working to make rent by filming other people's vanity projects and lacks the leverage a spielberg could bring to get things vaguely on track, which in turns leads to all his other weaknesses as a director coming to the fore, like his tendency to focus on cinematography to the exclusion of properly directing his actors' performances for instance - Shyamalan really needed to get taken under the wing of someone like kevin smith whose whole schtick is getting good performances out of actors)
>>64375339
Directors are like quarterbacks, they get too much credit when it goes right and too much blame when it goes wrong.
Well maybe not a great analogy
>>64378697
After Earth was basically Will Smith's ghost directorial debut
>>64375357
Dude that is just one mere shit flake to the whole shit mountain that was The Last Airbender.
>>64375850
Yeah. For the same reason why you wouldn't cast a black person as a native american character, or a Chinese person in a movie about a middle eastern family.
Actually, that last one sounds like it might be kinda funny if they never addressed why he's
Asian.
>>64375850
yes?
The race of an actor shouldn't matter if the race is not important
but the water tribe people are clearly based on Inuits, with culture and appearence. You can't change something like that.
Someone like spiderman though? Totally not important(except for the fact that people are used to him being white, but thats another story)
>>64375850
The point was she ONLY GOT THE JOB because of Nepotism. She was the daughter of one of the producers of the film and so everything had to cater around that.
/co/ needs to learn that Nepotism is the reason why most movies suck because talent and skill is tossed out the window, Mr Big Bucks producers 18 year old air head of a daughter wanted her big time in the pictures.
>>64375275
Shamwow is still responsible for the Bollywood bending, so even if the casting and production issues aren't his fault, a lot of it is.
>>64378995
>>64379092
how about a black guy as a norse god?
>>64377101
>it was the first introduction ot he Avatar state
Are you joking? It was all over the first season as his instant I-win button.
I didn't hate Koizilla, but it was pure DEM.
>>64375476
>[quote]I liked signs[/quote]
Anon, I...
>>64379268
Might be cool.
>>64379375
but vikings were white
>>64379268
They are gods, they can look what ever the author wants them to look. Also, ironic nicknames were a thing among Norse, so black guy being the Fairest fits.
>>64379268
Irrelevant as norse gods don't exist.
Inuits exist and they look like something.
>>64379268
i don't know about norse gods mythology, but probably yes, but even if not, you are referring to that guy in thor, right?
Here is the funny part: They are explicit mentioned to be not gods or norse-ian(or whatever they are called), they are aliens which humans wrote stories based on. That's a LOT of leeway to change their race
>>64379402
Their gods weren't vikings though. Or even human.
>>64379415
Water tribe doesn't look like inuits, they have blue eyes and non-mongoloid features. They could look like anything.
>>64379446
then water tribe isn't inuit, big deal
He rather adamantly defended it and even claimed people just "didn't get it." It doesn't really matter if the project was ruined from the start. It's not like he was a talented visionary who heroically fought to the end. He was a dumbass fraud that gave up a few months into the project and collected a check. No better than anyone else involved.
>>64376999
That changing the race/ethnicity of characters just to please pretend fans with money never works.
>>64375275
Doesn't explain the bullshit pronunciation of the names.
These aren't exotic-looking names written down and never before uttered out loud, these names are from a god-fucking-damned cartoon.
Explain THAT shit.
>>64379796
well, he said the cartoons said it wrong and he wanted to make it right
so, yeah, not saying it was a good decision, but here is your explanation
>>64379134
It's okay she ended up sucking bay cock for a role in a shitty tf movie
>>64375443
OH SHIT
>>64379882
>Sokka pronounces ":Avatar" no less than 3 different ways... IN THE SAME SENTENCE
It's a fucking English word fer chrissakes! And not so hard to pronounce!.
>>64376334
>People didn't like Koizilla
>>64375892
Remember when Keanu Reeves played Buddha?
>>64375443
Genuinely startled.
>>64377336
yeah, because they are absolutely going to come out and say "oh yeah, I hired her out of nepotism, please blame me"
or "I fucked up budgeting big time"
people don't confirm rumours like that because it destroys careers
so I don't know what you were expecting in the way of "citations"?
If you have any doubts about shamalalan being responsible or not -- just watch some behind the scenes clips.
He's absolutely phoning it it, some times going as far as making ONLY ONE TAKE.
>>64380178
>Keanu Reeves played Buddha
Wasn't that movie about someone telling a story to some white kid who was imagining what Buddah looked like?
>>64380902
>ONLY ONE TAKE
>I have never been on a set before in my life, especially not when the budget is stretched.
>>64380178
Oh wow I thought you were joking, but it's a real film.
Reviews are generally positive, too.
>>64381022
He looked completely disinterested too.
I dunno, maybe he was a champion of Avatar, but then his hopes were crushed, or whatever.. Just sayin
So how does this explain half the characters' names being mispronounced?
>>64375569
The thing is, Holywood directs are supposed to "make it work". The buck stops with him.
>>64381045
That's incredible.
And here I thought anon was talking about The Matrix.
>>64378995
There's a...movie... by the guys who did Southpark, it's a western and the "indians" are all japanese people living in wigwams with the red sun flag painted onto them and weilding katanas.
>>64377579
>>64378697
>After Earth
Look, I'm going to just come out and say it: You could write a goddamn Thesis on After Earth's production and not even need to include M. Night Shamalamadingdong.
You have everything from forced rewrites to fall more in line with scientologist dogma, Will Smith essentially having full creative control, the complete redesign of the set/props while they were building the set/props, etc...
There's still more stuff leaking out, I only know this much because I have bile fascination with it. After Earth was a Hollywood vanity project that turned into a giant "How Not to Make a Movie" showcase. But no one will ever learn from it and they'll do this crap again.
>>64375443
He was the hero we deserved, but not the ones the executives needed.
>>64381855
Cannibal: The Musical. A comedy. No, they never address it. That's part of the joke.
>>64381976
Tell me everything, anon.
Leave nothing out.
>>64375679
Because shit-talking producers isn't the best way to get future jobs.
Not that directing bombs is much better.
>>64379271
Cept it wasn't. Aang had to actually DO SOMETHING to gain that power. He had to face off (LOL) against Koh to learn the information required. Avatar state and spirit interaction was already established, and it was constantly reinforced that fucking with the spirits was a bad idea. It didn't just come out of left field. (Like the stupid LionTurtle and everything that happens in Korra.)
>>64378717
Lady in the Water is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. The movie is a complete mess and the story makes absolutely no sense.
>>64380968
>>64381045
>>64381762
How the fuck do you ppl not know about Little Buddha?
They also at least put makeup on him to tan him up for that.
>>64381976
I'm looking forward to the inevitable Hollywood Reporter interview where Jaden says he never had any desire to act and only did so that he could spend time with his father.
>>64382619
We all know Jaden's true passion is philosophy anyway.
>>64378697
I agree here. Either he he tries to make bad movies or he's just that bad, but teh constant is always him. He starts out with something that's a big hit, then gets progressively worse. No one could have imagined Last Airbender wasn't the biggest screw-up, so he made after earth. Every movie beats the last in how terrible it is. Any other director or writer would not have allowed the other things that went wrong to go wrong and would have thrown out the terrible ideas that led to this.
>>64375579
what happened there?
>>64375275
I think we all know why it sucked.
>>64383192
nothing. most ironic name ever.
Hmm...I don't know hot much reliable is that source
Okay, guaranteed the director is never the only person to blame, in the same way the president is never the only guy that should do something at government. But there's other sources that, again, put Shyamalan ego as a big part of the wreck that TLA was. First there's this interview where he says that he changed fire nation people to be indian because Fire Nation is his favorite nation. So in order to make "a movie without racial profile" he put every single race he could think in the movie, which of course resulted ironically enough in racial profile accusations. Yes, Shyamalan is that stupid/naive.
Then there's this declaration of him saying that "lost control of the movie" because it was way too big that anything he ever did, implying the whole thing was done in automatic pilot.
The actors are the least of the problems here, child actors are never that good, and wooden acting is to be expected for inexperienced people. However extreme close ups in a 3D movie, to the point of Ong face taking the whole screen is ENTIRELY the director's fault. Same can be said of terrible constructed scenes, change of names, alternative interpretations and such
Shyamalan is not the only one to clame, but he's far from being innocent
>>64382740
I wish I could take a peek into Jaden's mind when he wrote those.
>>64382619
That's fucking heartbreaking really.
>>64383241
You wouldn't be able to handle it.
>>64382619
Which is more or less the plot to After Earth, except replace acting with getting chased by alien monsters.
>>64382740
That one about the book is actually kinda clever. It made me chuckle. Good one Jaden!
>>64382740
What's the fuzz about his phrases? Some are about his religious beliefs, and some are only funny thoughts. I've seen far worse on Twitter. James Franco mental breakdown comes to my mind
The one about him saying Great Gatsby is the best movie ever reminds me of the tweet of Giorgio Tsoukalos saying "Prometheus" was one of the best movies ever made. He also hated Amazing Spider Man, saying he miss Tobey Maguire
>>64375850
Yeah. If you need a brown person for a role, cast a brown person. If you need a white person, cast a white person. Etc. Its not racism. Its competent casting.
>>64383810
It's next to impossible to find a brown girl who looked like Katara. You could potentially find a black actress, but then you'd have the same problem.
>>64384097
She doesn't need to be hard brown. Just brown. And then use makeup to go the rest of the way. I'm sure there were plenty of properly skin colored unknowns that auditioned and could have pulled off a good performance and done the look with good makeup.
>>64384097
>It's next to impossible to find a brown girl who looked like Katara.
I've seen enough cosplay to know this is bullshit. You'd just have to cast a no-name who was enthusiastic about the show. If this guy is telling the truth, its fucking despicable that they decided to do someone a favor before even half trying to get one of the main characters right.
What the fuck did they expect? Even if they hadn't watched the show, they knew the show existed and they knew the show's success was the reason for their paycheck. Did they think its fans would just forgive the blatant disregard for any faithfulness from the show? That's on all accounts, from the casting, to the writing, to the choreography.
It just baffles me that while this trainwreck was forming, Bryke were disregarded entirely and Nick didn't give half a shit.
>>64383229
english is not your first language
>>64383241
>>64383663
>James Franco mental breakdown
I'm going to need some screencaps of that.
