I hope people can peacefully rally there! It would be so BRILLIANT, especially if we get press involved somehow...

GO PHILADELPHIANS GO!!!

A rally would be so awesome. I would definitely be willing to attend if one was to happen.

\o/Philly\o/

Just an FYI...in the Casting world, it is usually two different casting people/companies casting principal characters and extras.

When I was in casting, we did only principal actors. Extras were hired by a completely different company.

I just wanted to let you know as the protest is a great idea for visibility, but the people conducting the extras casting likely had nothing to do with the casting of the leads.

Still, protesting at the call is a great idea.

if i lived anywhere near philly i would go!!

maybe it'd be best if all the protestors met up at a certain place and time and go to the casting call together

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS!!!

mklein@phillynews.com

since he did not mention anything about the controversy...

If you're going to protest, especially if you're seeking media attention, please check Philadelphia rules, regulations, and applications for demonstrations. The last thing you want is to be in the news for the wrong reasons.

OH HOW I WISH I WERE IN MY FATHER'S HOME AREA AT THIS POINT IN TIME. I would love to be there to tell Paramount with my own mouth how wrong this whole situation is. *nod nod*

...Hey, maybe I can get a hold of my aunts and uncles in the area to help protest. >3 I KNOW YOU GUYS LOVE ME SO PLEASE HELP OUT? 8D

I am kind of tearing out my hair here but I have both a dissertation deadline on Sunday and a lively illness, so I'm not seeing any real way I can be out of the house for any substantial block of time on Saturday. That being said, I am local and perfectly willing to help armchair-organize if need be.

First of all, may I ask that everyone who is planning to attend PLEASE COMMENT HERE so a headcount can get going?

Second of all, it seems unlikely to me that at this late date any protest pulled together will manage to exceed the 75-person and traffic-blocking stipulations that seem to define a demonstration by city ordinance, so I'm not sure if the permit will be necessary. If it does somehow turn out to be necessary, my main concern is that that'll probably have to get done tomorrow. Seems to me like it'd be easier just to avoid blocking traffic -- and stay on the Spectrum's property, which I believe to be less the city's than would be, say, the street. I may just be blithely making things up here, though, if anyone more experienced has an opinion please do chime in.

Third of all, if there does look to be a decent turnout and we are going to start contacting news sources, I would like to suggest (and will try to find a phone number for) the Daily News as prominent among them. Yes, it's a rag, but it has a more than decent readership and it seems in my experience to be uniquely sympathetic to stuff like this.

Is there any way we can do more? Especially for people who don't live in the Philly area? I'm just getting very afraid that this issue won't get the attention it deserves. This really needs to be put on the front lines, and I think we need to find a big way of doing that quickly. All our efforts thus far have been so wonderful, but...I'm starting to wonder if they're enough, as no one has acknowledged us, and the movie production appears to be continuing without paying the issue any heed. Is this where we pull out the 2-ton packages of Fu Man Chu pictures to send in?

Man, what's up with that show up in the traditional costume of your family's ethnic background thing? Is that basically a call for Asian people to show up to fill up roles as extras?

I'm interested to see how this plays out. If there is an effort to hire a lot of Asian extras to "balance" out the fact that the leads are white I don't think people will react well. It admits there is a problem without actually doing anything meaningful about it, like previously mentioned.

I want to wish everyone who is going over there to protest luck.

Interesting that they didn't even feel the need to specify which ethnic-specific traditional cloth- oh, COSTUMES (*eyeroll*) they had in mind. Or a historical timeframe under which this "traditional" idea fell.

I have powerful hopes for people to show up at this extras casting call dressed in, say, their family's traditional lederhosen, or a chiton, or a sarape >:)

I am urging all of you to not go through with this protest. The reason being is that it will not work the way you want it to and will only bring negative repercussions to the cause. A protest will make the ones who are against the cast look like extremists and you will not be taken seriously by anyone. Here is what you should do, keep writing those letters, contact your local media and any minority clubs that you can think of. Get your friends and family to help you, speak at large to your school (if you are still in school of course). A protest should only be utilized when everything else has failed. I know you want to be heard, but please this isn't the way to do it. When all else fails, that is when you should utilize a protest. I am asking for just a little more time and if you still feel the need to go through with a protest or rally, then you should.

I would love to attend, but unfortunately I live nowhere
near the area. About 1500 miles South. Regardless I took
the initiative to e-mail a short polite statement
about how I feel to the address provided above.

Dislike about casting in a movie is not a cause worthy of protesting. Nobody's rights or civil liberties are being violated.

What is with you people?! Ok, I get it, you don't like the casting decisions. That's fine. But first, your basis is on race which should be irrelevant. The quality of the actors is all that should matter. And the basis of your complaints is invalid:
"• Ask polite but firm questions of the casting people about why they chose white actors to play Asian and Inuit characters and report back here with what they say"
This is false. The characters are not Asian. Nor are they White. Aang is Air Nomad, Katara is Water Tribe. They aren't Asian. The Avatar World is Asian influenced, but none of the characters themselves are Asian. So really, the only grounds of protesting the movie on race, is that the Asian influenced world is being made by Americans. And that's not a very strong claim.
We always complained about how Nick never realized how amazing Avatar is and they never took it to its full potential. Well guess what, Nick thinks highly enough to have authorized a movie, and look what we're doing with it. We're basically telling Nick we disagree with their decision to bring Avatar up to a whole new level; or at least that's how they'll see it. Don't protest. The grounds are invalid. If you think the actors aren't good, that's one thing, but race is not a factor. We should be supporting this movie and everyone involved. Instead we're looking like the idiot fans who don't even like their own movie.

Oh god please, please, let there be some variety, culture, and color in the extras, at LEAST!

No, I do understand how closely they are similar. But that doesn't mean that Aang is Asian because his character is based on Asian culture. And I think you agree with that.

No changes are being made here. Sokka's skin is still going to be darker, his actor just isn't naturally that skin color. It's impossible for Sokka's actor to be Water Tribe, since that is a race specific to the Avatar World.

Whether or not you believe racism remains an issue in the U.S., you cannot deny the under- and mis-representations of people of other cultures and colors in American mainstream cinema, television, commercials, books, comics, you name it.

What if they had chosen a blond actor to play Harry Potter (and didn't dye it)? There would be controversy, because the book specifically and on multiple occasions states the color of Harry's hair. In Avatar, it goes even further than descriptions -- we have actual character models, in full-color, detailed illustrations, with character histories that come from very specific cultures. You can argue that since it's a fantasy world, the characters are not Asian or Inuit because our countries/races don't exist in the Avatar universe. But you can't deny that the actors chosen to play the characters do not resemble their characters, and the Avatar universe has cultures which strongly resemble cultures in the real world; and yet, the casting list shows no effort being made to live up to either the Avatar universe cultures or the real-world cultures they resemble.

Since there are many, many excellent adult and child actors out there who happen not to be caucasian, it seems very strange to me that anyone would decide to give this movie an entirely white cast -- and that goes for ANY movie except one which is specified to take place in an entirely caucasian area or world. Our world is not made up of only caucasian people. Neither is the Avatar world. So why is the cast?

Dear friends, I send out much luck to you all who are able to attend the protest! I wish I could go but I can't. =/

*sighs* I like how whenever Asians and Asian Americans fight for equal opportunity, we are constantly turned away. Had this been in the case for Hispanics and Blacks and African-Americans the outcome would have been so different...

I wish I could go. I'd really like to. But I live in the Boston area, way too far away for me.

I want to do more to help out with this, I really do. I've sent my letters, but I feel like I can do nothing else, and people on ASN are telling me that the cast has already begun practicing and that this is a waste of time. Are there any newspapers we can write to, any popular magazines? I might email the Boston Globe and I've already written to Anime Insider, though I don't know if they'll put my question asking their opinion about the cast in February's magazine.

I'm so furious that they intend to cast diverse extras but made the main four characters white...unbelievably mad. This is crazy! I can't believe Hollywood is getting away with this, it saddens me.

If you are going to protest, you might want to write up a quick press release and fax/e-mail it to Philadelphia media (TV news, newspapers, philly.com).

Here's a quick guide: http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Press-Release

This will let media outlets know that this is going on and maybe bring them out to take pictures, interview, etc. And even if they don't, they will know that there's a controversy over the casting, and they will have your contact information and know where to find information and interview contacts should they choose to cover it later.

Information on ATLA casting, (just to stay updated.)

Jackson Rathbone dished to MTV about his new film and his band 100 Monkeys: 'I'm focusing mostly on music and another movie I have coming up. We're going to be working on 'The Last Airbender' with M. Night Shyamalan, so that's very exciting.' On his audition: 'It was great. They flew us all out to Philly.

I got to meet the other castmembers that they hired on. I got to read with them, even. It was a blast. It was a great chance to get a free trip to Philly and get a chance to meet M. Night. He's an incredibly nice guy, and I think we hit it off pretty well, and now I get to play Sokka.'

A young warrior of the Southern Water Tribe, Rathbone's Sokka will accompany his cinematic sister Katara Nicola Peltz] as they help the heroic Aang [Noah Ringer] take on evil. Jesse McCartney
is also reportedly onboard..

Jacks on the Nickelodeon animated series: 'It's a fantastic show. I've always loved that kind of deep, mythical fantasy. It's got a lot about the four elements: water, fire, earth, wind. It's just really cool. It's a really interesting series and such a cool character. I've always liked the show, and I thought it would be fun. It's a chance to do something a little funnier. Something less serious than Jasper.'

Due in theaters in summer 2010, Airbender has already begun to face a bit of controversy over the casting of white actors like Rathbone, Ringer and McCartney to play Asian characters:

'I think it's one of those things where I pull my hair up, shave the sides, and I definitely need a tan [On his transformation to play Sokka]. It's one of those things where, hopefully, the audience will suspend disbelief a little bit.'

I think 'Airbender' has a lot of suspenseful twists as a TV show, but I think it's something he's really looking forward to, for expanding his own horizons. He has kids. How many films has he made that his kids would be able to watch?

So I think it's really great that he's making a family film. I have a sister; it's exciting to make a film that my whole family can enjoy. It's just an action-packed, epic film. I'm starting to do martial-arts training..

..which is going to be so much fun, and we're doing a lot of interesting work with the green screen. It's such a mythical world. We get to go to Asia, go film abroad. It's just going to be such a blast.'

Oceanup.com - http://www.oceanup.com/2009/01/jackson-rathbone-the-last-airbender.html

I still do wish for a more asian cast, but I guess it won't be change considering....*cries*
Let's just hope.

We still don't have an official confermation with Jesse McCartney, so *crosses fingers* let's hope.

I don't understand how those individuals who believe "race is not an issue" can continue to make that claim. If the director has intentionally implied that ethnic minorities are being sought for roles in which the main Avatar cast inhabit and interact and from which the main characters will derive their lineage, how can they justify NOT casting the main characters as ethnic?

If M. Night would prefer to have all the Water Tribe extras be of an ethnic background, then it must stand that Katara and Sokka should also be of a similar ethnic background. The same for Zuko, Toph, etc, if the director wants the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom extras to be of a general ethnic type.

I posted a comment anonymously by accident, forgot to log in. I live about 45 min outside of Philly and I plan on going even if it's by myself. Any advice on what to bring? I was thinking a picket sign that says "Aang Aint White" maybe some flyers with comparative pictures of the characters and the actors?