Life and Death in the Northern Water Tribe Nation

Our story so far ~ "The Last Airbender" is set in a world balanced on four nations - Water, Earth, Fire and Air. In each society, there are masters who can manipulate their native elements - Waterbenders, Earthbenders, Firebenders and Airbenders -- while the one person who can master all four is the Avatar.

When the current Avatar, a 12-year-old boy still learning to master his powers, seemingly dies, the Fire nation launches a war for global domination. One hundred years later, two teens discover and free the Avatar and his flying bison from suspended animation, and he must fight to restore harmony among the four nations.

My buddy Rick and I are extras in this new movie being directed by M. Night Shyamalan, the man who gave us “The Sixth Sense,”, “Signs,” “The Village” and who, somewhat oddly in light of this litany of creepy movies, also wrote the screenplay for “Stuart Little.” The set is a huge palace, covered in ice, replete with courtyards, fountains, a bridge and oh so much more. I can’t tell you oh so much more than that, however, because we are all forced to sign a confidentiality agreement – daily – promising not to take any pictures, etc.

All of this movie magic is constructed in a huge hangar at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Other shooting has already been completed in Greenland and at the Pagoda up in Reading. [Ask yourself - when was the last time you saw Greenland and Reading mentioned in the same sentence?]

Apparently, in these four nations you are one of three kinds of people: a villager doing what comes naturally, a warrior who protects the villagers while they do what comes naturally or if you are really cool (yeah, pun intended), you are a bender possessing the ability to manipulate whatever eponymous element you have at hand.

Rick is a Water Tribe villager. He was supposed to be a warrior but when he went for his costume fitting, they said, “Rick, you’re a villager,” and so he is. I am a Water Tribe warrior. I was supposed to be a villager but when I went for my costume fitting, they said, “Dan, you’re a warrior,” and so I am.

Being a warrior carries with it certain privileges, namely that I get a weapon! In wardrobe, they told me that I would get either a sword or a spear. I know what you’re thinking: Is it really wise to give someone who says things like, “Growing old is required; growing up is optional,” a weapon of any kind? Is it? Well, while I secretly wanted a sword, I got a spear, and a fine piece of weaponry it is with a sharp point, a sharp hook and, uh, a tassel. It’s a little over 6-feet long [As they say, “The longer the spear… “]. To tell the truth, I feel like one of the Winkie guards from “The Wizard of Oz” – you know, the one near the end of the movie after Dorothy throws water on the wicked witch who says, “Hail Dorothy! The Wicked Witch is dead,” and then gives her the broom to take back to the Wizard.

Water Tribe warriors wear a costume that can only be described as “Doctor Zhivago” meets with “The Wizard of Oz” in order to “Sink the Bismarck.” Brown suede boots give way to ice blue, cotton velour pantaloons. Dan is also wearing a blue tunic top beneath his matching knee-length, ice blue, cotton velour, ten pound (I think) coat, trimmed in fur at the bottom, around the neck and up the middle. A 4-inch wide silver belt with a buckle the size of a coaster holds the whole thing together (but the suspenders help too). The helmet – oh yeah, a helmet – is grey with fur flaps in the back and over both ears. It has a spike on top for that Kaiser-like effect. On Wednesday, it rained so our grand outfits were further complemented by a clear plastic emergency poncho and black galoshes over the boots.

The Water Tribe Nation is supposed to be pretty cold, hence the heavy clothes. As you see in the synopsis above, we are getting our ice cold asses kicked by the godless Fire Nation warriors. I mean, if they’re Nazi Germany, we’re Poland. It’s pretty bad. How bad? Well, in wardrobe, the lady told me that I will probably be killed. I don’t mind that but I don’t want to be tortured – I hate when that happens!

Despite being a future society, these guys are incredibly backward in many ways. No jewelry is allowed on set – no chains, no rings (not even wedding rings) and no watches. We all walk around saying, “What time do you think it is?” Women aren’t even allowed to wear nail polish. Something else that is particularly troubling is that no one in the Water Tribe wears glasses. Apparently, in the future, everyone’s insurance covers Lasik eye surgery. During takes, I have to stick my glasses beneath my coat and trust that the belt will keep them from falling to the floor. Of course, the “floor” is actually the courtyard of the palace, covered with snow. The “snow” looks to be something like white sawdust and they have crates of the stuff.

Much of the time – make that most of the time – is spent standing around waiting to do something, anything. Shyamalan is all over the place. By the way, don’t believe the IMDB website stat that he is 5’11”. Sorry Night (all of us in his inner circle call him “Night”), you’re 5’8” at best. On Tuesday, Night was dressed in a black T-shirt and a pair of jeans that looked worse than jeans that I threw away because they were too ratty to give to charity. But nothing succeeds like success so I reckon he can wear whatever he damn well pleases. He looked better on Wednesday – only one hole in the jeans (left knee), another black T-shirt but a spiffy red World Champion Phillies cap completed the look, so he’s OK!

Dressing down means that you don’t have to worry about spilling something on yourself at lunch. Not true, however, for us villagers and warriors and benders. Before lunch on Tuesday, they handed out lobster bibs to protect the merchandise. As we waited in line outside the holding tent, a plane taking off from PIA flew low overhead and I imagined the pilot coming on the intercom saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, if you look out the right side of the aircraft, you will see futuristic villagers, warriors and benders locked in a cataclysmic struggle to save the world from evil domination. And yes, those are lobster bibs they have around their necks.”

If you’re doing nothing on set, you stand around. If you’re doing nothing in the holding tent, you sit around. There are a few hundred of us extras including children as young as 6 years. They have a school tent set up outside the hangar. People young and old seem to find a variety of ways to amuse themselves. At our table, a spirited game of Apples to Apples was underway a couple of chairs down. Others read books or had an iPod plugged in. I found a copy of the Philadelphia Daily News and read it cover to cover. We all know that this feat can be accomplished in about 7 minutes so you won’t be surprised to learn that when I did it again about a half hour later, it took even less time and, indeed, even less than that the third (and final) time I put myself through such literary hell.

The highlights of my week came on Wednesday. Good God Almighty, I was actually in two scenes – one in the morning with just eight of us and another late afternoon with just four! The first one was just us Winkie wannabe warriors running across the courtyard with fireballs exploding over our heads. Yep, real fire – fake snow but real fire! The afternoon scene was an extravaganza in which the village is apparently under attack. Villagers – men, women, children - are running everywhere.

It looked a lot like the Acme the day before Thanksgiving.

Anyway, soldiers are running around trying to protect the citizenry. We four charge out, run down to the bridge, go up two steps, cross the bridge, go down four steps and then two more and finally stop, take a defensive position and point our spears toward the unseen enemy. Cut!

I know… you’re breathless. The trick here is that you have to know your route and where the mark is on which to stop. You also have to realize that these wacky villagers, especially the kids, don’t necessarily stay to one side of the bridge as they’re running toward you and knocking them down is considered bad form.

I’m proud to say that everyone got through it OK – each of the ten or twelve times we shot it. I also don’t mind saying that I’m proud of myself, personally, because, remember, I’m… not… wearing my… glasses! Up and down steps, zigzagging around people for about an hour. Jeez, I hope the scene is in the movie just so I can finally see what I was doing!

Every time we came back to our start positions to do it again, we were standing right next to Shyamalan and the crew and he would be watching the take, nodding his head, talking about it with someone. I kept waiting for him to say something like, “What’s with the guy in the middle – is he blind or something,” but he didn’t. The second assistant associate co-director who was in charge of our little group said we did very well. I hope so. I hope he doesn’t just say that to all the Winkies.