The Reading Eagle reports that Paramount Pictures will start filming M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender in Reading, Pennsylvania on Thursday. Here’s an excerpt:
Most of the work for the Paramount picture this week will take place at the Pagoda on Mount Penn, following the company’s return Monday after 15 days in Greenland.
Production designers and special-effects crews have been working for several weeks to prepare the local site for the film, which is set in a series of mythical nations – Air, Water, Earth and Fire – and is based on the Nickelodeon animated TV series of the same name.
McMahon added that there will also be filming in Ontelaunee Township and at the William Penn Memorial Fire Tower at a later time.
“They needed buildings to shoot all the interiors,” Shupp said. “They were looking for a group of buildings with high ceilings and specific column spacing. We showed them a number of buildings, but we couldn’t come up with enough to meet their requirements. So the interiors will be shot in Philadelphia (where Shyamalan is based).”
Opening in theaters on July 2, 2010, The Last Airbender stars Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone, Dev Patel, Jessica Jade Andres, Aasif Mandvi, Shaun Toub, Cliff Curtis and Keong Sim.
