Gossip Teen

Nickelodeon’s incredibly popular animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender is headed to the big screen with director M. Night Shymalan overseeing the live action film. Jackson Rathbone has left his Twilight character of Jasper Hale behind and plays Sokka, the wisecracking, boomerang-throwing Southern water tribe teen who, along with his sister Katara (Nicola Peltz) help airbender Aang (Noah Ringer) discover his true destiny and restore balance to the world. After casting controversy, Dev Patel has the role of Prince Zuko of the Fire nation and Jesse McCartney is not the banished prince.

The Last Airbender will hit theaters July 2nd, 2010.

The Last Airbender, the live action version of Nickelodeon’s popular animated show, Avatar, isn’t due until July but we are finally getting a few more set photos. The pics were in Empire magazine and our friends at BackseatCuddler.com have them for us to take a peek at. No shots still of Jackson Rathbone as Sokka or Dev Patel as Prince Zuko (there is one shot of Dev on the movie’s imdb page here.) Guess we will have to wait until the full trailer is released in February.

I am looking forward to this. The series was great and I have high hopes that M Night Shyamalan does craft a great film from the material.

[images: BackseatCuddler]

The Twilight Saga: New Moon theatrical release of November 20th is right around the corner but for actor Jackson Rathbone, it doesn’t mean he will be slowing down. Not only is he gearing up for the crazy promotional schedule of New Moon, he is finishing work on the third film of the franchise Eclipse, and he is starting work on the indie flick Girlfriend, which he will also produce. All that back and forth between characters could be a problem for some actors, but not Rathbone.

“The process of going through the works; getting makeup, getting hair and all that, you have enough time to kind of contemplate your character. And I always put a lot of work into the way my characters move and the way they speak and the way they relate to others around them. It’s just the simple things. I like the subtle nuances that really kind of establish a character and how a character grows throughout a story.”

He also finished filming The Last Airbender with Dev Patel and directed by M Night Shymalan and he is about to embark on a tour with his band 100 Monkeys. While he can’t officially confirm it yet, Breaking Dawn should start filming in February or March so Jackson still has quite a bit of work on his plate for a long while yet.

[image: Adriana M. Barraza/WENN.com]

There were plenty of celebrities on hand to celebrate at the Burberry After Party in London. One of the largest and most anticipated fashion shows for the spring/summer 2010 collections, the iconic British brand had all the stars and industry folks talking. Alexa Chung, Dev Patel, Freida Pinto and Mary Kate Olsen were just some in attendance.

See Emma Watson’s photos here.

Jamie Campbell-Bower of New Moon and Eclipse photos are here.

photo sources: Lia Toby/WENN.com

Citing his busy touring schedule, Jesse McCartney has dropped out of M. Night Shyamalan’s big screen, live action movie of The Last Airbender and will not be playing the Fire Nation’s Prince Zuko. According to Shyamalan, McCartney cannot make time to begin martial arts training, however McCartney has said he already is training.

“Jesse had tour dates that conflicted with a boot camp I always hold on my films, and where the actors here have to train for martial arts,” Shyamalan said.

Did the controversy of all white actors win out? Shyamalan has now cast Dev Patel, of Slumdog Millionaire to play the part. Patel will do a great job, no doubt, but the excuse that McCartney can’t make the boot camp seems weak. Jackson Rathbone has cleared time from his New Moon filming for it, so I’ve got to wonder. Regardless, I loved the Nickelodeon series, so I’ve got high hopes for this Avatar film. Shyamalan, do it right!

Slumdog Millionaire is on everyone’s mind right now as we head into Awards season and the unknown London teenager who is the star, Dev Patel, is anonymous no longer. Patel is still reeling from his nomination at the Golden Globes one week ago and he is awestruck over the celebrities who want to meet him.

Patel says, “It’s been like a whirlwind. I was taken straight from the airport in my jeans to a posh tea party. I was still holding my passport when I got introduced to Clint Eastwood. I was embarrassed because I felt a bit smelly! When we got to the Golden Globes it was completely full-on. Demi Moore came up to me on the red carpet. Then Drew Barrymore took me to one side for a 10-minute chat.”

“Later, Alec Baldwin said some amazing things. Sting came over and said he loved the film and gave me a lovely hug. Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio shook my hand. Even P Diddy recognized me! How mental is that! I’m just some lad from Harrow (in London)!”

Great for Patel! That’s an amazing ride he’s on. Enjoy it.

 Have you seen Slumdog? Let us know what you think of it. If you haven’t seen it - check out the trailer below.