M Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender is based on the popular animated series which follows the adventures of Aang, a young successor to a long line of Avatars, who must put his childhood ways aside and stop the Fire Nation from enslaving the Water, Earth and Air nations. Like many of you, upon hearing that Shyamalan was directing the film, I said “really, why?”. Known for his dramas with a twist, what would draw the director to a project based on an animated series?

Shyamalan talked to the LA Times about what interested him in the property in the first place. Stating that his 7-year old daughter hooked him on the series.

Shyamalan said,

“She made us watch as a family and all four of us were hooked, I was like, ‘This would make a killer movie. And my wife who really has been kind of in neutral about my career was insane about it. Insane about it: ‘You have to do it. This is it. This is the one.'”

Shyamalan also discusses his favorite things about the series.

“Aang himself needs to find balance to be the Avatar and to master each of these elements, We get to see the process of someone mastering themselves through the three seasons to get to peace.”

Shyamalan spoke about seeing similar spiritual motiffs in “Star Wars” and “The Matrix.”

“In the first ‘Matrix,’ you realize that what you’re seeing is all false, Those are really ancient ideas. Basic old, old religion. This has that as well. So if you go on the journey and you’ll feel that epiphany on top of a great roller-coaster ride. It’s going to be something.“