Word is that M. Night Shyamalan has chosen the cast of The Last Airbender and it has a decidedly paler look than some had expected.

Entertainment Weekly is rolling with news that M. Night’s live-action film of the popular Nickelodeon cartoon will star Noah Ringer, a karate star he found in an open casting call in Texas, as the 12 year old hero, Aang. Nicola Peltz (Righteous Kill) will play his sister Katara. I can’t hate too much on those choices when I haven’t seen a ton of either actor’s work.

Where the casting takes a turn are the choices of Jackson Rathbone (Twilight) as Soka and pop star and actor Jesse McCartney as the evil prince Zuko. I know that Avatar isn’t technically anime because it was created in the United States, but could M. Night humor me and hire Asian actors? The original show is centered around Chinese and Japanese art, why would you not cast it according to that? Is it too late to have Mickey Rooney show up as a monk and pay homage to his offensive role in Breakfast at Tiffany’s?

M. Night, we get it. You want to make a film to cater to the largest crowd in America, namely White people. But you better be cure of what you’re doing. Yellowface would go over about as well as The Happening. I will reserve judgment totally for when I see the film but this could very well be the second coming of the casting for the Dragonball film. Ewwwwww.

What do you think of the cast of The Last Airbender? What will it take for M. Night Shyamalan to turn his career around?