He needed to prepare to play a heartless tyrant. <\/p>
When Daniel Dae Kim needed to prepare to play the heartless villain Fire Lord Ozai in Avatar: The Last Airbender<\/a>, he knew exactly where to look for inspiration \u2013 the world of politics.<\/p>\n The acting legend has lent his talents to the Netflix remake of the wildly popular Nickleodeon series<\/a>, playing the tyrannical ruler of the Fire Nation who dreams of conquering the world, and a terrifying father to characters<\/a> Zuko (Dallas Liu) and Azula (Lizzy Yu).<\/p>\n Speaking exclusively RadioTimes.com<\/a> about how he approached playing such a chilling villain, Kim explained that he looked to real-life politicians for inspiration, saying: \u201cWhat was really interesting to me about Ozai was a couple of things.<\/p>\n \u201cOne was his role as a father. As one myself, and as someone who has tried to guide two children \u2013 two boys, in fact \u2013 the choices that Ozai made were the start for me in exploring the character. What were his intentions? Where did they go wrong? What does he want for this character? What, in the end, does he really want from Zuko?\u201d<\/p>\n Kim added: \u201cI started there and I also explored his own sense of ambition \u2013 why does he want to throw this world out of harmony? Why does he want to throw it out of balance so much? What is the source of this desire to conquer the entire world?<\/p>\n \u201cI looked to our politicians and our political situation to start that exploration.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking about acting alongside Kim, Lizzy Yu, who plays his on-screen daughter Azula, told RadioTimes.com<\/strong>: \u201cIt was crazy, I mean [he\u2019s] an absolute legend, insane.<\/p>\n \u201cKnowing that he\u2019s going to play your dad is is so nerve-wracking, and then you get there and he\u2019s so much taller than me and so muscular and I\u2019m just there trying to be myself and also super nervous \u2013 so I think that also helped my character be nervous around him! It was an absolute dream.\u201d<\/p> The new Netflix series, which has been described as a \u201creimagining\u201d of the original animation, stars Gordon Cormier as youngster Aang, who discovers he\u2019s the Avatar (the only person in the world capable of mastering all four elements) and is expected to save the world from an enemy hell-bent on stopping him.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not Kim\u2019s first rodeo when it comes to Avatar: The Last Airbender, either.<\/p>\n In the original animation, the star lent his voice to General Fong, a high-ranking officer in the Earth Kingdom. This time around will see him switch sides as he takes on the fiery villain.<\/p>\n Avatar: The Last Airbender is coming to Netflix on 22nd February. <\/strong>You can check out the\u00a0best series on Netflix<\/a>,\u00a0best movies on Netflix<\/a>\u00a0or visit out\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0for more to watch.<\/strong><\/p>\n Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only \u00a310 \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>subscribe now<\/strong><\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to\u00a0<\/strong>The Radio Times Podcast<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div> <\/body><\/html>\n He needed to prepare to play a heartless tyrant. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":45972,"template":"","categories":[6,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/02\/daniel-dae-kim-based-avatar-the-last-airbender-villain-on-real-politicians.jpg",620,802,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/02\/daniel-dae-kim-based-avatar-the-last-airbender-villain-on-real-politicians-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/02\/daniel-dae-kim-based-avatar-the-last-airbender-villain-on-real-politicians-232x300.jpg",232,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/02\/daniel-dae-kim-based-avatar-the-last-airbender-villain-on-real-politicians.jpg",620,802,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/02\/daniel-dae-kim-based-avatar-the-last-airbender-villain-on-real-politicians.jpg",620,802,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/02\/daniel-dae-kim-based-avatar-the-last-airbender-villain-on-real-politicians.jpg",620,802,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/02\/daniel-dae-kim-based-avatar-the-last-airbender-villain-on-real-politicians.jpg",620,802,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"He needed to prepare to play a heartless tyrant.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/45971"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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