Netflix’s ‘Avatar’ stars swoop into Manila
Fil-Canadian Gordon Cormier’s happy homecoming; co-actor Dalls Liu’s wishes for his friend
YOUNG actors Gordon Cormier and Dallas Liu, stars of Netflix’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender” series, successfully spearheaded the launch of the live-action adaptation in Manila last week. The pair enjoyed a rousing welcome and a bustling day of engagements with regional press, local influencers, and other delegates from across the Asia Pacific region.
The reception for Cormier, who portrays the main character of Aang in the show, was particularly special given his half-Filipino, half-Canadian mix.
Thrilled to return to the Philippines after the prolonged Covid-19 outbreak, he expressed, “This is amazing. I’m in my homeland! Filipino right here. I haven’t been [back] here in a while, so it’s really nice. I got to see my family. It’s incredible.”
Now 14 years old, Cormier recalled at a media conference he was only 11 when he booked the role of Aang. Asked how he reacted in finding out he bagged the iconic role, the actor simply replied with three words: “Tears. Crying. Happiness.”
“[After that] they pulled me in for ‘Getting to know you,’” the teenager continued. “They said it was still between me and a few other people, so they wanted to get to know me.”
Comier recalled how he just kept chatting with the production-powers-that-be until they finally told him, “We searched the whole world for Aang — the whole world! And then we found him, and he lives 15 minutes away from the studio.”
That’s when all the “tears, crying and a lot of emotional words” started pouring out from the talented Filipino-Canadian.
Meanwhile, Liu, who plays Prince Zuko, shared that he was pranked by his own agents and manager on getting the role.
“I had a final test, and my manager called me saying, ‘OK, it’s between you and this other guy. And he’s really handsome. He is such a talented actor and a better martial artist than you.’
“So I was like, ‘Yeah, no pressure,’” Liu continued. “But when I got the call, they told me they had found Zuko, and I got it. And, like Gordon, there were a lot of tears, and it was very emotional. I was just excited to have a job more than anything.”
The pair then talked about their respective processes in approaching the role of Avatar’s beloved characters, with Liu first saying, “Unfortunately, Zuko has gone through a significant amount of really extreme trauma, and that’s really hard to relate to. So there were different points in my life that I had to pull from that worked well for specific scenes.”
Meanwhile, Cormier shared he felt like he “grew” with his character and noted how easy it was for him to portray the more “happy” side of the young Avatar since he had always had the same demeanor.
“I think it was a little more difficult for me to tap into Aang’s emotional side when the sad stuff [happen to him],” he qualified.
Amid discussions of character psychology, both actors expressed anticipation for viewers to experience how their characters grow as the series progresses, not just emotionally but physically, promising intricately choreographed fight sequences throughout.
Finally, when asked if they became fast friends on the set of Avatar, neither boy was shy to reply in the affirmative. Liu even went as far as sharing what he wishes for his good friend, Gordon, as he turned to Cormier and said, “To have a strong base in your heart is extremely important [so] I hope the people supporting you at home keep your chin up and give you strong words of affirmation and continue to champion you through your journey.”
“Avatar: The Last Airbender” is now streaming via Netflix worldwide. It also stars Ian Ousley (Sokka), Kiawentiio (Katara), Ken Leung (Commander Zhao), Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Iroh), and Daniel Dae Kim (Lord Ozai).