PUBLISHED ONFebruary 23, 2024 5:18 AMByDrima ChakrabortyFantasy movies and TV shows often require actors to perform in front of a green screen, but does having to imagine their surroundings make it harder for them?
That's what Singaporean actor Lim Kay Siu, who plays Monk Gyatso in Netflix's live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender, was asked in an interview with CBS News Los Angeles.
Gyatso is the first mentor of the titular "last airbender" Aang (Gordon Cormier) from a century ago, before the latter is encased in ice.
"It would do, except that I was acting with Gordon Cormier — all 11 or 12 years old of him — who was so accomplished and so experienced that he grounded me in the love, in the playfulness," the 63-year-old responded.
"I was so honoured to act with this boy, who is now turning into a man as I meet him this year."
He added that he "really appreciates" everything Gordon, now 14, gave him as he was a very talented and gifted actor, as well as a generous person, much like Aang himself.
The Netflix series was shot between November 2022 and June 2023, which had Kay Siu travelling back and forth from Singapore and the studio in Vancouver five times.
A highlight for him was when they filmed in the same studio that the Star Wars TV series The Mandalorian was shot in.
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"This studio has panels all over and it takes on 3D projections," he explained. "So it's state-of-the-art technology and I was blown away.
"I saw the clouds moving and the birds flying and I almost lost my lines."
At the Los Angeles premiere of Avatar: The Last Airbender on Feb 15, Kay Siu said that the most important thing about Gyatso was his "humour and childlike quality" which is what, despite the wisdom and power he also possesses, "wins through in the end".
In the CBS interview, he reiterated the same thing, adding that it is Gyatso's childlike nature that also makes him Aang's best friend.
He also shared that Gyatso shares the same name as the current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso.
"I was very inspired by that when I found it out," he shared. "Because Gyatso means ocean, and the Tibetan philosophy of oceans is that the ocean is very powerful and full of waves, but don't try to command the waves or change them in any way.
"Just roll with it."
Avatar: The Last Airbender is available to stream on Netflix.
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drimac@asiaone.com