Caffeinated Clint
Dev Patel, so brilliant in Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire”, will be the baddie of M. Night Shyamalan’s – er, is this where I should type ‘oh oh’? – “The Last Airbender”, according to Variety.
Regardless of who’s directing, and forgetting that that same guy almost single-handedly destroyed Mark Wahlberg’s career in the space of two hours, this is quite the plum gig for the relative newcomer whose only major credits thus far are the acclaimed Fox Searchlight drama, and TVs “Skins” – it’s sure not to be the last though.
I imagine within hours of “Millionaire” being nominated for all those Oscars, Patel, and his co-stars, would’ve been inundated with offers. But why would the young actor take on this one? Well, I’d say it’s got a lot to do with Shyamalan – they both hail from the same terrain; and the young actor’s probably got a poster of Night on his wall from years ago. Makes sense that Patel would idolize Shyamalan. Hopefully it doesn’t end in tears.
Patel steps in for Jesse McCartney, who was set to play the villain, but had to vacate the role because a) his music had to come first b) he finally got around to seeing “Lady in the Water” c) He didn’t get the ‘twist’ at the end! (Shyamalan says McCartney couldn’t make the martial arts boot camp he set up for the film so booted him).
Patel will play the Zuko character, who is the Fire Nation’s evil prince.
