"Avatar: The Last Airbender" executive producer and director Jabbar Raisani shared how Appa and Momo were brought to life for the live-action series.
The director and VFX supervisor Marion Spates revealed the beloved "Avatar" animals were based on the animated series and their real-world representations.
'Avatar: The Last Airbender' Showcases Creation Appa
Raisani and Spates had to deal with the fact that the animals from the original series were hybrid animals. Hence, the team had to look at various animals in building Appa's live-action look.
"So we started with imagery from the animated series and said, 'Okay, what are real-world representations of these visual ideas?' And from there, built this library of visual information and language that we would then use to inform the physical and digital builds of all the creatures," Raisana shared.
For Appa's head, the team used buffalo as an inspiration but his tail was based on manatees. During the filming, the production built a half-back mechanical bull that the cast would ride on its back. The VFX team had to make changes to bring emotions to Appa.
'Avatar: The Last Airbender' Shares Process With Momo
Momo, a winged lemur in the series, is known for his humor, especially when paired with Sokka. Raisani explained that the team used different monkeys and lemurs for performances to ensure Momo's accurate personality.
During the filming, the team used a little furry ball as a reference for Momo. However, during the filming, the cast had to act with nothing on it since Momo was completely created using the computer.
Showrunner Albert Kim also expressed his excitement over Appa and Momo. "Audiences will love the characters, the emotional journey, the storyline, the epic action, the humor," he stated.
