The Sixth Sense director told Coming Soon! about his plans for the live action adaptation of the Nickelodeon cartoon, which is set in a world that’s divided up into elemental factions, two of whom are preparing for war. Asked why he wanted to do the movie, Night explains: “It was just the story. I just loved the story. I loved the characters in the story and I felt like I could be me inside this larger canvas of this very long-form movie. I think it inherently had kind of family issues and serious larger topics–at the center, genocide–all kinds of stuff. Cultural differences at the center. It has Buddhism, Hinduism, things I’m interested in.[And] the great thing about [the action] is it’s almost like they don’t ever really touch each other based in this world. They kind of do a form of manifesting something and then it comes at the other person and they manifest something. It’ll be great to do it as extensions of what the characters are feeling, and there’ll be much more CG.” The Last Airbender is scheduled for July 2, 2010.
M. Night Shyamalan's take on The Last Airbender