A lot of A-listers have had to undergo strenuous physical training in the past to prepare their bodies for a certain role or particular scene. In a recent interview, Daniel Dae Kim also opened up about how he had to train himself for a shirtless scene in Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Daniel Dae Kim talks about his shirtless scene in Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender
Daniel Dae Kim has been making a lot of headlines recently after he portrayed the role of a major antagonist in Netflix’s live-action remake of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The American actor absolutely nailed his portrayal of Fire Lord Ozai in the series and the also fans loved his performance.
In the series, Fire Lord Ozai duels against his own son, Zuko, and ends up giving the character his iconic facial scar and later banishes him.
In a recent interview with GQ magazine, Daniel Dae Kim talked about filming this scene from the series and revealed that he was not even sure if the showrunners would want his character to go shirtless as he did in the animated series. He said,
“The physical preparation was intense. In the animated series, he’s shirtless, so I thought ‘Uh oh’. I wasn’t sure how authentic they wanted to be, and sure enough, the showrunner was like, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re gonna do that’.”
The Lost actor further talked about how although he started to train for the role, he did not want to go all out and become too bulky like a bodybuilder or wrestler. He felt that Fire Lord Ozai was not someone with an aesthetic physique and wanted to stay as close to the animated series as possible. He said,
“I started to work out and I started to diet. I’m not immune to vanity, so I thought, well, at least I should try and look pretty good. But I did not want to look like someone who was unreasonably fit, if that makes sense. He’s not meant to be a WWE wrestler, he’s meant to be someone who has great skill and power that comes from his [fire] bending.
Daniel Dae Kim further added that he is not like some actors who take great pride in their physique and enjoy going shirtless on-screen. He said that he would still be unbothered if the scene in Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender turned out to be the last shirtless scene of his career.
Daniel Dae Kim praised Mark Hamill for being an incredible voice actor
Other than having a successful Hollywood and theatre career on Broadway, Mark Hamill is also one of the best voice actors the world has ever seen. The Star Wars actor is capable of changing his voice to the point where he completely sounds like someone else.
In the original animated Avatar: The Last Airbender series, he lent his voice to the character of Fire Lord Ozai. Daniel Dae Kim once himself mentioned how he took inspiration for his portrayal of the role from Hamill. In the interview with GQ magazine, Kim revealed how he has not had a chance to meet with the legendary actor as of yet but he still has great respect for him. He said,
“We’ve never met but we actually had a nice little Instagram exchange because he saw an interview answer that I gave regarding him. He saw a clip and said thank you, so I responded and said it was all true. I have a lot of respect for him, not just as Luke Skywalker, of course, but he’s one of our greatest voice actors.”
Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender has largely received positive reviews from fans. However, the series received mixed reviews from critics as the plot and acting in the series were criticized. Furthermore, Netflix has not yet revealed any news about the renewal of the series for a second season which has got the fans worried.
The first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender is currently streaming on Netflix.
