ReVA interviews Brina Palencia (Rebuild-Rei Ayanami)

I had the pleasure to interview Brina Palencia, the new voice of Rei Ayanami in Rebuild of Evangelion.

Brina Palencia interview for ReVolutionOfEvangelion.org

Your Voice Acting Career

*How did you first get into voice acting?  What is your prior acting experience?  What was your gateway anime (or what anime had you seen before in general)?

When I was in high school, my boyfriend and I were big Dragon Ball Z fans, and we managed to get a tour of Funimation.  When I graduated high school, I ended up attending a community college that was just around the corner from Funimation at the time.  I remembered where it was, so I just walked in and asked how to audition. At that time, the waiting list was only a month, so in a month, they called me in to audition.  From there I got to do a lot of bit parts and WALLA (that’s the industry term for crown scenes and background chatter).  I continued doing smaller stuff for about 2 years before landing the role of Nina Tucker in Full Metal Alchemist.  After that, I slowly started to get cast in larger and larger roles.

Before getting my start invoice acting, I had done a lot of community theatre and had taken theatre in high school.  I was always interested in voice acting, though.  I was a fan of Gundam Wing, The Big O, Blood: The Last Vampire, Vampire Hunter D, Hellsing, Battle Angel, and Pokemon

*Why did you shift to a music degree instead of a theater degree?  How has this benefited your work?

With all creative degrees, there’s always a required class that everyone hates taking.  For me, the idea of learning how to build sets and setup lighting for a theatre degree was vomit-inducing.  In other words, I hated it.  I am way too lazy of a person and had done enough set striking in community theatre to know it wasn’t for me.  However, the classes that make most people cringe in a music degree filled my heart with joy.  Music theory and counterpoint were a delight.  Therefore, I decided a music degree was a far better fit.  Having gotten a music degree has opened up avenues in my acting that would have otherwise been unavailable.  I am now one of the primary music directors for Funimation.  I get to adapt the lyrics into English and direct the singers on the songs.  I think I still would have been able to sing theme songs without the degree, but the skills I developed in my university studies are what have made it so easy for me to take over the position of music director.  I think it has given me a competitive edge with my singing as well.

*How did you move up through the ranks so quickly at FUNimation?  It seems like quite a ride.  Not too long ago, I was still kind of on the fence about liking this new show airing on Adult Swim with the dubious title “Fullmetal Alchemist”, but then the Nina Tucker episode happened.  Left me tearing up.

Honestly, since I did bit parts for so long before even getting noticed, I don’t feel like it was all the quick.  I know people like Colleen, and Sabat, and Monica, and many others got leads as soon as they walked in the door.  However, once I did get noticed it seemed to escalate.  I think it was a matter of staying humble and never getting a sense of entitlement.  I see a lot of actors come through who are in the same shoes I was – doing bits for so long – and they start acting like someone owes them something.  They start asking when they are going to get to direct or why they haven’t gotten the lead in every show.  It’s a major turn-off, and with an attitude like that it will never happen for you.  It can get frustrating when you feel you never get cast, but that’s just the nature of the business.  It was so eye opening for me when I started directing.  I, too, was burdened with the fact that I rarely got significant parts, and I didn’t understand why until I started directing the people who always get cast.  On Moon Phase I had the pleasure of directing people like Monica Rial, Luci Christian, Jason Liebrecht, Jason Douglass, Chris Sabat, and I realized…There’s a reason these people get cast when I don’t.  They’re waaaaay better than me!  It takes them 2 takes to get a line that would have taken me 6.  I learned so much from directing people like them, and it’s because I was willing to learn from them that I get cast so much today.

*What help did you get from Colleen and Mike?

They were the first directors to use me in anything significant and really give me a chance.  I am especially grateful to Colleen.  After directing me as Nina Tucker she became my biggest cheerleader and always recommended me to other directors.  She was the one who hired me first as an assistant director, then promoted me to ADR director.  Mike is the one who opened the door for me to start music directing as well.  I owe them both a lot, and they are very important people in my lives.  I wouldn’t be here without them.

*Speaking of Nina Tucker…ironically, aren’t you a cat person? ^_^

Yes, I have 2 cats J

*Frequently, voice actors in Evangelion have been playing against type:  Spike Spencer is actually a really outgoing guy and nothing like Shinji, and the original Japanese VA for Rei (Megumi Hayashibara) usually plays really outgoing roles (she was Lina Inverse in Slayers, and Faye Valentine in Cowboy Bebop).  In contrast, do you feel that you’ve generally been playing more “reserved” characters like Rei Ayanami before? Or, that you’ve played such a wide range of characters, that playing a reserved character isn’t particularly unusual?

I feel like I started out doing a lot of reserved characters – Eve in Black Cat, Yue in Negima, Ai in Hell Girl, Elsa in Gunslinger Girl.  Those were all fairly early in my career.  However, since then, my range has stretched significantly.  I hadn’t done a character like Rei in a while when I was cast as her.  However, it was pretty easy to slip back into that mindset.  Like slipping on a pair of your favorite old boots.

*You sort of started out in voice acting just as the big 2003-2004 boom was ending, and we started entering into the crash era.  Do you feel that your views on how the industry works are significantly different from the earlier generation of voice actors?  Some folks like Spike Spencer and Tiffany Grant started out back when the *original* VHS tape companies were coming out.  Were any of the shows you worked on even released on VHS, or do you belong to the DVD era?

I belong to the DVD era.  I must say, I didn’t even realize there was a boom in 2003-2004.  That was when I barely even worked at all.  The slowing of the industry was hard for me to notice, since I was getting cast so much more often during its downturn then I was when it was booming.

*How do you feel that FUNimation was able to rise to its current (circa 2009/2010) pre-eminent state, during years when once major names like Geneon and Central Park Media shut their doors?

I think it was a matter of using technology to their benefit.  Rather than letting illegal downloading get the best of them, they used the same technology to make shows available online through iTunes, Hulu, YouTube, and the Funimation website.  I think they realized this technology was not going to go away, so they tried their best to take advantage of it.  I don’t think any of the other companies did that to the level that Funimation did.

*In the past few years, we see that you’ve been making your way around the convention circuit:  do you still feel “new” like at Anime Boston 2007, or do you feel you’ve settled in now? Which were the best ones you went to?

I feel like I’ve settled in now.  I was so lame at Anime Boston.  I hardly even spoke the entire time I was there.  I just had difficulty believing that anyone cared what I had to say.  That concept still baffles me, but I’ve learned to embrace it.  I think the best convention I went to was, hands down, Armageddon Expo in New Zealand.  Why?  Because it was in New Zealand!  Also, Colleen was my travel partner, and I couldn’t have asked for a better one!  Honorable mentions would have to be Anime Boston (even though I sucked at it), Sakuracon, and Anime Central (specifically the year I pranked Michael Tatum at opening ceremonies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix-OgRXitCg)

*When you’re at conventions, do you ever feel a driving need to strip your shirt off and dance around on stage in your bra?

No.

*To shift gears, what live-action acting projects have you been up to?  We’ve seen you in commercials and other small stuff, but then you got the coveted role of senior anchor on GamestopTV.  Do people notice you for that more than big anime roles you’ve done, and if so do you think that’s kind of weird?

I’d say I get as much attention from being a host on GameStop as I do for my anime roles.  As far as new projects, I am involved in the horror webseries Throwing Stones and was recently cast in a zombie film called Archaic Redemption as Chasity.

*What about live-action independent films?  Where might we have a chance of seeing these?  And don’t you have an upcoming spot in the TV series “The Good Guys”? (episode: The Whistleblower)

I was on the Good Guys, and I have a small part in an up and coming episode of the TV show Chase.  It should be airing February 9.  She is toward the end of the episode.

*What are other major projects on the horizon for you?  You were just announced as the lead in Summer Wars, and that was huge in Japan.

Yes, I’m very sad we didn’t get an Oscar nomination.  I knew it would be a long shot as soon as the possible nominations shrunk down to 3.  However, I am extremely proud of the work we put into it.  I am also happy with the theatrical run we got.

*You’ve also been cast as Ciel in Black Butler; what’s with that kid anyway?  He’s got this amazing super-butler who caters to his every whim (platonically) yet he still seems pretty glum.   Oh I admit, things seemed a bit quaint at first, what with the whole “I freak out when everyone *except* Sebastian makes physical contact with me” thing, but he’s allergic to cats, while Sebastian loves cats.  This sounds like disaster waiting to happen.

It’s a beautiful show and I can’t really explain much about why he is the way he is without giving any spoilers.  You’ll just have to watch!

*Was it simply not meant to be, between Chibitalia and Holy Roman Empire?  Or does hope spring eternal and love conquer after all these years?  What is it about Chibitalia that makes people just *assume* he’s a girl?  And why are the other countries always bullying Chibitalia around and invading him?

He’s just too sweet and trusting, I suppose.  I think the fact that he always wears girl clothes makes it a little confusing.

*Team Edward, Team Alucard, or Team Switzerland?  Now that FUNimation is finishing up the Hellsing Ultimate OVA series, any chance you’ll be appearing in them? (given that most of the characters have been cast by this point, probably a cameo, something along the lines of one of the familiars Alucard summons?…)

Though Funimation owns the rights to Hellsing now, we did not dub it in house.  It was dubbed in LA.

Rebuild of Evangelion

*Were you surprised that FUNimation got the license?  How did you first hear about it?  Were you surprised that they cast you as Rei Ayanami?  Did you audition for Rei or were you hand-picked?  If so, what was the audition like?

I was hand-picked by Mike McFarland.  I had never even heard of Evangelion before getting cast.  I just thought it was a random role.  She never speaks, so I was only in there for barely 2 hours of work.  It wasn’t until it was announced that I truly understood the level of fandom surrounding it.

*Were you worried or excited to step into a role that’s already one of the biggest in anime, with a  pre-existing, large fanbase? (it is said without hyperbole that Rei Ayanami is so big in Japan that literally any magazine she appears on the cover of, will instantly sell out, i.e. when Rebuild of Eva 1.0 came out in Japan, Rei appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone Japan http://darkdiamond.net/web-notes/rolling-stone-does-evangelion/).

I wasn’t worried at all until the announcement was made and the messages started coming in.  They were all nice and wishing me luck, but the sheer amount of them was overwhelming.  Once I realized how popular the show was I got very anxious about the release.

*Did the original English dub for Rei Ayanami by Amanda Winn-Lee influence your performance? Either that you were trying to stay faithful to what the legions of fans were expecting, or that you were trying to intentionally distance yourself as much as possible from the original?

I have never heard her performance.  Mike wanted me to focus more on my own performance and not have to worry about voice matching anyone.

*Had you even seen the original series before?  Did you know who Rei was, and what you were taking on? [mention that Princess Leia analogy Mike used]

As I said before, I had no idea how popular the show was.  Though Mike did try to warn me by saying, “As far as nerd level, I just gave you the role of Princess Leia.”

*Well, you probably heard bits and pieces about it from other anime industry people you were with (as with any popular show).  What did you think of the show *before* you got formally introduced to it?

I genuinely knew nothing about it.

* Did Mike McFarland and/or Colleen Clinkenbeard sit you down and make you watch the entire original series to prepare? Did you guys have a DVD party or did you watch it alone?  All in one big marathon or one episode at a time?

Colleen was my producer when I was directing, so yes.  I was required to watch the series on my own before working on it.  Mike has never been my producer, and directors don’t require that of their actors.  Though, Chris Bevins had me sit and watch the first four episodes of Beck when we first started on it.

*Did they make sure to have you watch the Director’s Cut versions of episodes 21-24 (the ones that are in the Platinum Edition from 2004).  Rei has a lot of new scenes in those that explain stuff.

I have never  seen the original series.  Mike wants the movies to stand alone.

***Surely, they made you watch the *actual ending*, the aptly named “End of Evangelion”?  If so, what did you think of it?

Never saw it.

* How did you prepare and research for Evangelion, and Rei Ayanami?  What kind of help did you get?  I.e. what specific coaching or instructions did ADR director Mike McFarland give in hard scenes?

Um… Rei doesn’t talk, so not much.  I mean he gave me the background of whatever I needed to know about the scene, but she pretty much only says 2 or 3 words at a time.  As far as I remember, none of her scenes are hard.  They come pretty naturally.

*Do you think that Rei has Schizoid Personality Disorder? (Shizoid and autism are actually two distinct things, though many just generically say “its like Rei has autism”)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizoid_personality_disorder

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeEFBMxhfIs&featuret#t=3m3s

I don’t think about her having and specific type of personality disorder.  I just think that she, like many, has endured a lot in her life.  She is overwhelmed by emotions that she doesn’t have the capacity to handle properly.  Instead, she buries them deep – to the point that it seems she has no emotion.

*What were the difficulties presented by playing a character as non-emotive and stoic as Rei is?  She has few lines, though as a result each of them is loaded with importance.

I completely agree.  I’ve never had difficulty with those kinds of characters.  Anyone who knows me now will find it hard to believe, but I was extremely quiet when I was in elementary and middle school.  I actually had a fellow classmate ask me if I was capable of speaking because he had never heard me talk before.  I completely understand what it means to seem like you have no emotion, all the while you more than you know what to do with.

*Were there any scenes or lines that provoked a significant amount of debate over how to perform them?  [and if so, describe the debate in detail and how you chose to resolve it]

Nope.  Mike and I are pretty much always on the same page.

*Were there any aspects of the series or events which you had particular difficulty understanding (not necessarily involving Rei)?

I choose not to overwhelm myself with the philosophy of it while recording.  It is my job to interpret the world only through Rei’s eyes, and I will continue to do that until it is finished.  Then I might go back and try to figure out what it all means.

*Please explain “the Chekov method” that you use?  [And if its this refers to that “pretend the character is doing a gesture, then don’t do it” method, how do you deal with characters like Rei, who are intentionally mysterious and not very emotive?]

The Chekov method deals a lot with the physical.  You think about what element your character would be (water, earth, fire, air), where their center (or focus) would be on the body, what kind of symbolic gesture they’re doing with each line (like if they want something it would be a pulling gesture).  However, I didn’t use Chekov with Rei.  Because I can personally relate to her so easily, I used more of a Stanislavski Method, which deals with your character’s objective and what obstacles come their way.  I’d rather not disclose what her actual objective is until we’re completely done dubbing, though.

*SPOILERS:  “Rei Ayanami” is basically the “soul” of the progenitor alien “Lilith”, embedded into the cloned body of Shinji’s dead mother Yui.  So on the whole, her soul/mind is this non-humanoid, superpowered alien who is trapped in human form.  How the heck do you method act something like that?

Like I said, I don’t complicate it.  I have a very simple goal that I focus on, and anything keeping me from that goal is just another obstacle.

*Given the analogies Mike McFarland has made saying that in terms of popularity Rei is sort of “the Princess Leia of anime”…well, knowing what we know now, looking back at the Rei shower scene when he falls on her…would you say that “the Rei/Shinji shippers” are “the Princess Leia/Luke Skywalker shippers of anime fandom”?  (damn them, damn them all to hell).

I think the feelings Rei has for Shinji are incredibly powerful, but not sexual in any way.  I think the same for Leia’s feelings for Luke.  I can’t speak for the boys.  Does that answer the question?

*This got cut out of the Rebuild series, but in the original series Toji and Hikari (played by your friend Leah Clark) were the B-couple on the show…and Rei develops as a character to the point that she’s having meaningful conversations with *Toji* of all people in episode 18, and Hikari *literally gets jealous and thinks Rei is trying to steal Toji from her* …are you happy you don’t have to fight Leah in a live triangle?

Been there. Done that multiple times (Negima, Suzuka).  I’d do it again.  I love working with here in any sort of role.

*The Japanese voice actress stated that director Hideaki Anno told her that its not so much that Rei doesn’t “have” emotions, but she doesn’t “know” what human emotions are, they’re like an alien concept to her…to the point that she has to figure out that you smile when you’re happy.  How did you try to convey such a bizarre character nuance?  I think the way the final line played out (“I…don’t know what to do in situations like this”) really nailed it, though.

I didn’t know Hideaki Anno said that, but it makes me really happy!  I think that explains it better than I could have.  That’s exactly how I feel!  It didn’t take much trying.  That was just my first instinct.

*Did you think Rei’s selflessness was a positive thing, or a bad thing?  Because its sort of a deconstruction of the yamato nadeshiko stereotype:  Rei thinks so little of herself, has such little ego, that Shinji’s shocked at how near-suicidal her actions are.

I think it’s bad to be that way in real life, but it’s wonderful in the show.  Makes the story much more interesting.

*How long did it take to record the entire movie?  Was it spread over a series of days, or did you do it all at once? (given hew few lines Rei has, but then again they’re all very important and very difficult)

We did it all at once in less than 2 hours.  The second movie was 3 hours (I think).

*Did you interact much with the Rebuild dub actors, or did you all record one at a time and never interacted with each other? I realize that only really expensive Ghibli movies can afford to have all actors record at the same time, but what about FUNimation regulars?  i.e. if you and Colleen were in the office on the same day, did you just record scenes with Ritsuko and Rei together?

We never record together because it is way too complicated to try and get good sound, while trying to match the mouth in the animation, while interacting with the other actor.  That is something reserved more for pre-lay actors who have the show animated to them.

*Brina…we’ve heard that at Anime Expo and other cons you keep getting barraged with fans shouting out deep interpretive questions, which frankly are better suited to *the Japanese writers*.  You do know that a theory randomly shouted out during Q&A might not necessarily be fully thought out, right? (all the unverified “Hey Brina, how do you feel Eva conveys this philosophical concept” questions.  Sorry about those, they tend to crop up.  Though the show *is* about a bit more than giant robots fighting each other….)

Right or not, I frankly don’t care at this point.  It’s nothing that will help me with my character.  If I need to know a philosophy, Mike will tell me.  Otherwise, Rei doesn’t care, so I don’t care.  Now once the show is completely over, then I will be dying to know!

*Rei is a vegetarian, because director Hideaki Anno is a vegetarian.  Didn’t you mention somewhere that you yourself are a vegetarian?

Yup, for 6 years now.

*What I think is really ironic is that…many of the voice actors on the show actually have really strong music and singing backgrounds (you, Allison Keith-Shipp) but there really isn’t any singing in the show, and being a movie it doesn’t really have an intro song to record an English cover of.  Are you disappointed?  I mean I’m not sure how they could work in Rei singing, she’s very stoic.  One thing is that in the original series, literally every episode has a variant cover of the theme song “Fly Me To the Moon” done by a different voice actor from the series.  But I’m not sure if you guys can do that for copyright reasons (it wasn’t actually in Rebuild)…though FUNimation did have that troupe of “Rei-clones” at AX singing it so….

I’m happy to sing when I get the chance, but it doesn’t disappoint me that Rei doesn’t sing.  She’s still awesome.

*By the way…this is sort of skewed because most clips loaded to youtube tend to have been taken for a reason, but…it seems like people physically ambush you at conventions and *demand* that you sing the themes from anime series you worked on, like you’re a bipedal jukebox of some kind.  Are you happy to put up with this, or should everyone give it a rest?  Shouldn’t they be more worried with you know, “interacting with the voice actors”?

I don’t mind it at all.  The only reason I wouldn’t do it is if I had a sore throat.  In that case I would just say no.  I won’t ever do anything I’m not comfortable with.  Singing is something I like doing pretty much all the time.

*What do you think of the mountain of porn fanart about Eva characters, specifically things like putting Rei in hardcore sex scenes with Shinji and/or Asuka and/or Ritsuko? (Revolutionofevangelion.org has a strict zero-tolerance policy on porn fanart; other sites think we’re weird for this, but we’re trying to have “standards” and *make people watch the actual show* and not their own fantasies)

I HATE IT!!!! I know it’s bound to happen, but I hate that there are characters I do that are getting disrespected like that.  I hate the One Piece porn even more! That is straight up wrong!

*Hideaki Anno is on record as saying that Rei tends to be more popular in Japan, while he was surprised that Misato and Asuka were fairly popular in America because in Japan they’re sort of unusually strong female characters and scare off the fanboys.  Most of the fanboys there and here, crave blank, submissive femae characters who are basically walking meat puppets.  They want Rei to be a helpless doll…like on Dollhouse!  But isn’t Rei’s central storyarc how she *finds her personhood* and own self worth?

I love Dollhouse! Great show!  Anyway, I don’t think she’s a meat puppet at all.  I think she’s incredibly hardcore!  And yes, she slowly finds herself as the story progresses.  That’s my favorite part of the story.

*Basically, is Rei the fanboy’s doll?

No.  Though there are many dolls of her you can buy, so I guess, technically, yes.

*Have you had to deal with any crazy obsessive fans yet?  Amanda Winn-Lee had some true nightmare stories:  things like fans writing in letters asking if she ever exercised naked while talking in the Rei voice (shudder).  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yuu2SFIWb_Y&featuret#t=3m10s

That’s horrifying, and no.  No crazies…yet.

*Do you enjoy Doritos?

I don’t eat junk food, but I loved them when I was in high school.

*How do you feel Rei’s blue hair influences the character, and how did this inform your method acting? How vital is it to the character? Because after Dragonball Evolution, in which Bulma didn’t have blue hair for some reason (there’s flying people and green aliens in Dragonball, but suddenly blue hair isn’t realistic?!) we got worried that people might think her blue hair isn’t essential to the character.

It doesn’t affect how I play the character, but I probably wouldn’t recognize her without it.

*Some people say Evangelion was “about” fight scenes, or random religious symbols, etc. but most of the people I’ve run into are so drawn to it for the psychological character drama.  What do you think?  The “Hedgehog’s dilemma” scene actually presents this pretty succinctly, I’m surprised people didn’t think the “message” was clear.  It’s a character drama.

I focus much more on the character drama of it.  Rei is so badass, she doesn’t make many noises while fighting, so most of what I voice is about the character relationships.

*Overall, what were the scenes from Rebuild of Eva 1 that you enjoy the most (both Rei, and in general)?

I liked it when she slapped Shinji.  That was cool.

*In your opinion and as Mike, Colleen, and others have explained it to you, who do you feel is the main female character of Evangelion?  Or is it more of an “ensemble cast” with no one “main character”?

I guess I never thought about it.  I suppose I consider Rei to be the main female character since she is really the only one I care about.

Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0

*Have you met Tiffany Grant yet? [we know you have at least once at the Minnesota con].  How will you handle the sparring between Rei and Asuka in the second movie? [make up some funny answer, like “with quiet dignity, and grace”]

I have met her before, and we plan on arm wrestling soon.

*The problem is that in Rebuild of Eva 1.0, Rei’s scenes play out almost exactly as they do in the original six episodes.  The only differences are in omissions (and more fanservice this time).  But in Rebuild of Eva 2.0, they start drastically changing the plot.  Without giving too much away, its as if…well, the second half is loosely like the Eva-03/razor-armed Angel storyarc stopping at episode 19 (good stopping point), while the first half has some bits from the Monster of the Week arc….but most of those episodes got cut because they were too standalone, and they started making up *entirely new plotlines* for Rebuild which simply have no equivalent in the original series.  Its now clearly a separate continuity, not like the original series.  Rei, in particular, is *drastically* different in the second movie, compared to this part of the original series.  Do you feel that this ultimately helps to differentiate your performance as Rei in Rebuild?  That you’re not just redoing scenes almost lifted from the original series?

I would assume so.  I can’t say for certain since I’ve never seen the original.

*There is no right answer for this, I’m just very worried and sympathize that this will be difficult:  in the original series, Rei actually does have a “character arc”, but its so subtle and *gradual* that you’d only notice if you watched the series in marathon and paying close attention.  Subtle things like minor shifts in her body language from episode to episode, she starts making eye contact more often, that kind of thing.  But while Rebuild of Eva 1 covered six episodes (and presumable, Rebuild 3 and 4 will too)…Rebuild of Eva 2 crams about 12 episodes of storyline into one movie.  They cut out a lot of the more standalone episodes.  The result is that at the start of 90 minutes, Rei is basically behaving as she was in episode 9, while at the end she’s behaving as she was in episode 19.  Even in the original series, Rei’s behavior was drastically different between the two…but now, this subtle character change that was supposed to happen in gradual steps is happening *really really fast*.  So, no real correct answer here…are you worried about how to “organically” portray this rapid character development?  She starts off the movie flat and borderline autistic, and ends very emotional.  Good luck, we sympathize that it will be extremely difficult.

I’m not worried in the slightest.

*Did Rei say really say “poka poka”?!

Sure.

*Do you think a live-action Evangelion movie, produced by Weta Workshop, could succeed in telling the story?  I mean that it is *theoretically* possible to make them, if the right director and actors are in place?  That its not “unfilmable”?  Even good ideas for movie adaptations can get ruined if crazy people are in charge (i.e. M. Night Bialystock’s hack job on Last Airbender).

I think it would be difficult to cover it all in one movie.  Maybe if it was a series of movies, that would be better.

*God’s in his heaven?

I’m an atheist, but okay, “All’s right with the world”.

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