"The First WaterBender"

You never know when the next child star will come and Nicola Peltz is every bit the next potential one. She scored roles in the independent comedy Harold as well as in more high-profile films like the Christmas comedy Deck The Halls and the crime thriller Righteous Kill. Now the 15 year-old has landed what is her biggest role to date as waterbender Katara in M. Night Shymalan’s film adaptation of the popular Nickelodeon animated TV series, The Last Airbender.

Peltz says she was so excited to take on the role because of how much she loved the character from the original series that she felt little pressure.

“It’s very exciting,” Nicola says, “I’m very lucky and blessed to be able to play Katara because I did watch the series beforehand and I looked up to the character. And for Night to direct me in this film is a huge dream come true so I’m very lucky and I’m very excited.”

However, Nicola says the audition process for the role was as epic as the series itself.

“It was very, very long,” she remembers, “I sent out a tape, then I met with the casting director, then a few months later, I met with Night in L.A. And then, wildly, another few months later, he called me down to Philadelphia with a few other people for each role. And then, he said, ‘I’m really interested in you guys. To be completely honest, I can’t tell you 110% because I still have to look at a lot of people for each role, but I am going to tell you right after the summer.’”

“I was like, ‘You’re going to make me wait the whole summer to hear this?’” Peltz continues, “And he’s like, ‘Yes.’ In October, he said, ‘I’m still really interested in you for the role. I want you to start training.’ So I started training, then a week into training, he called me and he was like, ‘You got

"The First WaterBender"

the role,’ and I flipped out. I didn’t believe it until I was in my costume on set, but, yeah, I definitely flipped out and my brothers got me a Carvel cake when I got it, so I was very excited.”

Peltz went into detail about the training she had to do for Katara.

“I did a lot of training two years ago in October,” Nicola recounts, “I started tai chi and kung fu and hockey helped me and kung fu and I also did ballet for a little bit, which also helped me with my kung fu and tai chi. And then, in February, we moved down to Philadelphia and we did boot camp. We did a lot of wire work and a lot of training and we did it through the last day of filming.”

However, one of Nicola’s co-stars, Noah Ringer, who plays the main character Aang in the film, completely blew her away with his training.

“He’s such an amazing martial artist,” Peltz says of him, “It’s not even funny. It’s crazy. I would be like stretching, so I could just like prepare myself for the trouble that I’m going to go through that day, but he, in the corner, would just be flipping. I’m like, are you kidding me? You don’t need to stretch anything? He’s like, ‘I’m good. I’m good.’ He’s just like flipping over and over, jumping on wires. I mean, seriously, and he really did help me in martial arts, which I’m very thankful for.”

Another co-star Peltz had praise for is Jackson Rathbone, who plays Katara’s Southern Water Tribe comrade Sokka and also plays newbie reformed vampire Jasper Hale in The Twilight Saga.

“He rocked the ponytail in Airbender and in Eclipse, he rocked the blonde and very pale,” Nicola says of him.

And of course, another person Nicola had praise for was director M. Night Shymalan.

“Oh yeah, never will I forget that,” she says, “Like I said, I’m so lucky and blessed

"The First WaterBender"

to get the role of Katara because I looked up to her and I loved the cartoon, but Night to direct me in this film is huge for me. It’s such a dream come true. The Sixth Sense is one of my favorite movies.”

“I respect his directing so much,” Peltz continues, “He’s such a great director. Besides that, he’s such a great person and he’s a family man. Night really did shine in the movie and that’s why he does all his films in Philadelphia, so he can be close to his family.”

Peltz also shared what it was like to shoot some of the film’s scenes in Greenland.

“I had seven layers on,” Nicola recalls, “So thank God, I didn’t have to do too much, otherwise, I’d be waddling through it. The first scene, I attempted water rending and I water rend someone and I only use my arms thankfully because like I said, we had seven layers and it was crazy. We had to practice just to look normal walking because it’s so stiff and the fur is here, so just to look here, you can’t use your eyes, you have to turn your whole body.”

“I thought Greenland was amazing,” she adds, “I want to go back there. I think it’s so beautiful, so untouched, so amazing land and the people there are great. They loved Jackson [Rathbone]. The little kids, the little extras, the last day on set shooting in Greenland, they all pile on Jackson. One kid is sitting on his head, one’s like piling all over him, and I have the best picture in the world, it’s so funny.”

Nicola was then asked why they would have to film scenes all the way in Greenland with CGI technology so easily at their disposal now.

“Frank Marshall answered that exact same question, ‘Why did you go all the way to Greenland to shoot that if you have this amazing CGI,’” she replies, “And he said,

"The First WaterBender"

‘It helps the characters to be in the environment.’”

“And I completely agree with him because you’re experiencing just what those characters would experience and it does help your acting because it’s more realistic,” Peltz says, “Yes, you’re freezing your butt off, but I think it’s a good experience.”

Finally, Peltz shared with us a custom-made waterfall that was built on set for a scene shot in Philadelphia.

“It was amazing,” Nicola says, “You walk into when you’re on set and you felt like you were in this whole other world.”