00:00 [Bell rings]
00:02 How's Manila been for both of you?
00:04 It has been amazing. I'm back in my homeland, the Philippines right here.
00:09 [Cheering]
00:11 It's nice to be back home. I haven't been here in a while because of COVID.
00:17 It's really nice. I got to see my family. It's incredible.
00:20 What about you, Dallas? I can already tell you have a lot of Fire Nation converts here because of you.
00:26 How's Manila been for you?
00:28 It's been really exciting. This is my first time in Manila.
00:32 Everyone's been very welcoming. It's so hot. Oh my gosh.
00:37 [Laughter]
00:38 It's so humid. I stepped out of the air conditioning for one second. I feel like I'm in the Fire Nation.
00:43 Throughout everything I've seen, all of you say we all need an Uncle Iroh.
00:48 Everybody says it in our lives.
00:51 I want to go to you, Gordon, because you play such an iconic character.
00:55 You basically grew up with this. What part of Aang's personality challenged you the most?
01:02 How did you embody such a classic character?
01:05 The happy side of Aang was quite easy for me because, well, you know.
01:12 [Laughter]
01:13 I think you can tell.
01:14 I feel like it was a little bit more difficult for me to tap into Aang's emotional side
01:20 such as when he gets sad because of really, really sad stuff.
01:27 I think it has to do with a lot of preparation, though.
01:30 Online there's so many character analysis videos.
01:33 You can really tap into the lore of the Avatar universe and really how fantastical the world is.
01:39 I think once everyone's in hair and makeup, we've got all of our beautiful costumes from our wardrobe team.
01:47 It really brings the world to life. It's less work for us.
01:51 We just get to do our part in breathing the same breath that the animated characters had.
01:57 You did mention, of course, this one particular scene with Daniel Dae Kim
02:01 where you said that you didn't really need to act because you were so scared of him already
02:05 as it was when you had your combat. That's right, right?
02:07 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:09 He would just pop in occasionally on set.
02:12 Because obviously he wasn't like Gordon and Ian and Gawainil where they were working quite literally every day for hours.
02:20 But when I did get to see Daniel, it was extremely intimidating because his chest was huge.
02:28 His arms were bigger than my head.
02:31 You've seen my character photos. I have a massive head.
02:34 So, yeah, Daniel, after everything was over, he was very supportive.
02:40 I'm glad that I was able to share such an intimate experience with him.
02:44 Speaking of personal experiences, Gordon, you really embodied the Avatar.
02:49 I think I told you this earlier when we had that chat.
02:51 I can't imagine anybody else playing the Avatar in Agna.
02:55 You were just this happy, goal, lucky kid.
02:58 But how did you go into the depths of this character?
03:01 How did you go through this whole process of growing up with this character?
03:04 How did you go about it?
03:06 Well, as you guys know, when I did shoot this series, when we all shot this series, I was 11 years old.
03:13 So I feel like I've grown up quite a bit.
03:16 But even in the original series, it only takes place through three months.
03:20 But you can see Aang growing as a person and even physically a little bit.
03:24 Like season three Aang, he is like, I want to say shredded.
03:29 I'm really amazed with this whole process you both have, you all have as a cast.
03:34 Because you did talk about it in so many interviews as well.
03:37 You have all these unique experiences, whether it is the cabbage bowling, whether it's writing Appa manually.
03:42 You have this group of people in the background.
03:44 For those of you that don't know, Appa is actually operated manually by a bunch of people in the back.
03:49 Right? Right, Gordon? That's correct.
03:51 Yeah.
03:52 Yeah, so speaking of course of the camaraderie, you always say throughout every single interview you had,
03:58 it really played into this whole process of you all being together as a family.
04:02 How did that affect your performance as the Avatar?
04:06 Well, you can actually really see our, I don't know, what's the word for it? Relationships.
04:13 You can see our relationships grow throughout the series.
04:15 Because Aang doesn't know these characters yet.
04:18 But you can tell the second we meet, we do actually know that we're family.
04:23 And that's kind of how it happened in real life too. So you can see it develop.
04:27 Yeah, I think I've been particularly excited for Zuko and Aang's scenes because they're amazing.
04:35 Thanks to this guy. He's a real pro.
04:38 And at such a young age to have to work those long hours, he did an amazing job.
04:42 But what I wanted to say was that in Zuko and Aang's scenes, they're much more personal and intimate
04:49 because we're dealing with real life people and living in this fantastical world that has,
04:56 where it's life or death, you know, I think you get to really feel the danger of bending in our series.
05:02 So, you know, those moments between Zuko and Aang, I think people will truly be able to relate to their relationship.
05:11 As crazy as that might sound.
05:13 [MUSIC]
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