10 Worst Defences Directors Had For Bad Movie Moments
7. "The Stilted Dialogue & Acting Is Inspired By European Filmmaking" - The Last Airbender
M. Night Shyamalan has extensively defended his critical and commercial flop The Last Airbender from its many detractors, though surely his most peculiar attempt to deflect criticism saw him "explain" why the movie's dialogue and performances feel so wooden throughout.
In an ITN interview shortly after the movie's release, Shyamalan claimed that his "stilted" filmmaking approach was part of his intentional attempt to mimic the tropes of European cinema:
"I'm not doing a straight-up American movie anymore. The tonality are changing. I always had a European sensibility to my movies and the pacing is a bit off to them and it feels a little stilted and they need more electricity."
That's... a fascinatingly wordy way to amid that his movie didn't really work and yet claim that it was always part of the plan to be "off." Credit to him for taking the bullet for the mediocre work from his cast, though.