With The Green Knight becoming a success with critics and audiences, one might think that Dev Patel has proven his chops for blockbuster tentpoles. However, in a new profile in The New York Times, the actor revealed that has no plans to put on superhero tights any time soon, and it is all because of The Last Airbender.
While it may be surprising to some, it stems from one single role that he took early in his career that he regrets. During his discussion with the Times, he refers to a movie that he considers one of the worst he’s ever done.
“I shouldn’t even bring it up,” he says, “but do a quick IMDb search and you’ll know what it is.” The film he is referring to is M. Night Shyamalan’s viciously maligned blockbuster The Last Airbender, a film that featured Patel as the villain turned eventual anti-hero Zuko. He had snagged the role shortly after his feature film debut, Slumdog Millionaire, broke records at the 2009 Academy Awards.
According to Patel, being surrounded by green screen and special effects was too much to wrap his head around:
“I didn’t really flourish in that position. I take my hat off to all those incredible actors that do Marvel movies where it’s, like, big, noisy fans and green screen and tennis balls and whatnot.”
He expanded on his feelings on the live-action adaptation of the popular cartoon in a separate interview with Total Film:
“I was probably miscast, and the film didn't hit the mark. It was a really hard process for me because it was such a bigger machine than what I was used to from Skins, that I felt a bit adrift at sea."
Needless to say, he seems to have found the right film to dissolve into with The Green Knight. Collider’s Matt Goldberg praised the retelling of the Arthurian legend, calling it “a darkly beautiful affirmation of life itself.”
The Green Knight is currently playing in theaters across the United States.