In 2010, renowned filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan took on a big-budget project. The director decided to adapt the popular TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender into a film. Though the director had a solid vision for the film, he couldn’t save it from drowning.
However, Shyamalan certainly doesn’t regret making the film, as he is content with his work. Interestingly, when the filmmaker was working on the project, he was advised by veteran director Christopher Nolan. Nevertheless, Nolan’s advice didn’t prove to be much help for the film.
Christopher Nolan’s advice couldn’t save M. Night Shyamalan’s film from drowning
When M. Night Shyamalan learned about the renowned Nickelodeon television series Avatar: The Last Airbender, he became a fan and decided to convert the series for the big screen. Previously, during an interview, the filmmaker shed light on how he got inspired to take up the project. He said,
“The ideas that the stories were about, where they were pretending this was a story for little kids, was getting really interesting and deep. It was very well thought out. It dealt with religion, and important ideas and themes. I was like, ‘Wow!’ If I bring all of that to the forefront, this could be amazing.”
However, working on a big-budget film wasn’t an easy task, as things went quite chaotic while filming. The director admitted,
“It’s so much more stressful. I didn’t realize quite how much a toll this was all going to take. My normal cycle for movies is eighteen months and each part is separate. But with this movie, everything overlapped. While I’m writing, we’re doing preproduction — looks, locations, costumes, CGI. And then preproduction, the amount of things that had to be decided made it more like production. And of course, the production is insane.”
During that tough time, Shyamalan got lucky enough to get a piece of advice from veteran filmmaker Christopher Nolan. Though Nolan didn’t interfere with Shyamalan’s work, he simply advised him not to hype it too much and to work steadily. Shyamalan recalled,
“I met Chris Nolan once, and he knew I was doing this, and he just said, ‘Pace yourself’ and it was a sweet thing for him to give me the advice. I fully understand what he’s talking about.”
Overwhelmed by the chaos created while filming, the director said,
“I’m surprised Peter Jackson is alive at this point. I don’t know how he did those three [Lord of the Rings] movies and spent seven years like that.”
Even after Shyamalan’s complete efforts and Nolan’s short yet meaningful advice, the film couldn’t be saved from its catastrophic fate. The movie was not just discarded critically; it also witnessed financial failure. However, Shyamalan wasn’t much bothered by the film’s failure, as he was content with his work.
M. Night Shyamalan’s confidence in his work: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Though The Last Airbender is considered Shyamalan’s one of the most critically panned films, he doesn’t seem much bothered by the film’s box office result. According to the filmmaker, his vision of the film didn’t connect well with the audience. The director said,
“It must be a language thing, in terms of a particular accent, a storytelling accent. I can only see it this way, and I don’t know how to think in another language. I think these are exactly the visions that are in my head, so I don’t know how to adjust it without being me.”
He certainly didn’t regret making the film; rather, he claimed that the critics didn’t appreciate it because of the targeted demography.
Source: Vulture
