‘Slumdog’ star joins Shyamalan’s ‘Airbender’

You just knew ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ was going to make a star out of Dev Patel. Â  The young actor has signed onto M. Night Shyamalan’s adaptation of ‘The Last Airbender’ based on the Avatar TV series. Â  Production begins in Greenland next month.

Patel joins a cast made up of relatively uknown actors such as Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone, and Jessica Jade Andres.

Ringer is a complete unknown who was tapped for the title role off an Internet audition. Patel, meanwhile, steps into a role that Jesse McCartney  had all but locked up until the actor’s second career as a musician got in the way.

“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.

Patel was “already one of the guys I was interested in. Then I saw ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ and the kid just grew in my eyes,” he said.

Paramount is set to release “Airbender on July 2, 2010. Â  Shyamalan said he is planning a three-picture story arc.

Source: Variety