Ender's Game movie

[PsychoPere]

True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld is in talks to play Petra Arkanian. The article also says that Harrison Ford is among the contenders for Colonel Hyrum Graff.

[RoJoHen]

I realize that it's called "Ender's Game" and that he plays a game throughout the whole book...but I don't like that the article calls him a "gifted young gamer." Makes it sound like they recruited him because of his awesome skills with the Wii.

Also, I knew it was unrealistic to expect them to cast this movie with a bunch of 6-year olds, but these kids do seem a bit older than I would have prefered.

[Owain Taggart]

PsychoPere wrote:

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True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld is in talks to play Petra Arkanian. The article also says that Harrison Ford is among the contenders for Colonel Hyrum Graff.

Hailee Steinfield is a good choice. Though I can't really picture Harrison Ford as Graff for some reason.

RoJoHen wrote:

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I realize that it's called "Ender's Game" and that he plays a game throughout the whole book...but I don't like that the article calls him a "gifted young gamer." Makes it sound like they recruited him because of his awesome skills with the Wii.

Haha yeah. It does make it sound different than it actually is. Makes it sound like someone who's owning everyone else online at CoW.

Also, I knew it was unrealistic to expect them to cast this movie with a bunch of 6-year olds, but these kids do seem a bit older than I would have prefered.

The feeling I'm getting is that the ages might all be changed so that they're older kids in the story as there's no way it would happen as is in the book, due to some rules in Hollywood.

[Scout101]

Well, if it was filmed as written, it would be a pretty messed up little movie, wouldn't it? If you could get the 5 and 6 year olds to sit still long enough to make a coherent movie out of it, you'd have children killing other children, which might detract from things just a tad. If they're tweens or teenagers, at least it's ALMOST mature enough to not be so disturbing...

[Talosian]

The age isn't that significant. We had centuries of theater in which female characters were played by men, and Western civilization somehow produced its greatest works under those constraints. Of course, Orson Scott Card isn't Shakespeare.

Having said that, all else being equal, I would prefer somewhat younger characters. But, I'm more concerned about the fact that Hollywood will be unable to get the strange, somewhat cramped feel of the book. We view an epic war through the vantage point of a handful of small children, the most important of whom is cut off from the outside world most of the novel. Kubrick could do the story more than justice, and make a better film than the novel. This will not rise that standard, unfortunately.

[Mysterion]

[QUOTE=Owain Taggart;5380661
Hailee Steinfield is a good choice. Though I can't really picture Harrison Ford as Graff for some reason.

[/QUOTE]

Ed Harris would be better.

[Owain Taggart]

Scout101 wrote:

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Well, if it was filmed as written, it would be a pretty messed up little movie, wouldn't it? If you could get the 5 and 6 year olds to sit still long enough to make a coherent movie out of it, you'd have children killing other children, which might detract from things just a tad. If they're tweens or teenagers, at least it's ALMOST mature enough to not be so disturbing...

Yeah, exactly. I think there are rules in Hollywood that prevent things like that from being filmed.



And Oh yes, Ed Harris is a great choice for Graff! Failing that, Gary Sinise would also be good.

[xortex]

I don't see this as having series potential as the kid becomes an unfortunate child abused by society's system. He's a victem of his own desires. He's not even an anti-hero. Sadistic kids will love it.

[Caliburn24]

The direct Ender sequels are slower with less action and get pretty esoteric and strange. I don't think they would work well as movies. The spin-off series with Bean would make much better films, but even those books are lacking many of the story hooks and pacing that Ender's Games has.

Card can't write action scenes or really build tension very well in my opinion, so I don't think any of his stuff outside the first Ender book would make for a compelling movie.

[RoJoHen]

While Speaker for the Dead is arguably better than the original novel, I agree that it wouldn't really make a very good movie. I think Ender's Game is going to be hard enough to adapt. A sequel that takes place a thousand years later and features the main child character as an adult, plus weird tree aliens, just isn't going to translate very well to the big screen.

No, if Ender's Game gets made, I fully expect it to be a single movie deal.

[Kelso]

Ben Kingsley is playing Mazer Rackham!

Umm... HELL YEAH!?!

[CorporalClegg]

So has it been said if Val and Peter in this draft? I can never keep track.

RoJoHen wrote:

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While Speaker for the Dead is arguably better than the original novel, I agree that it wouldn't really make a very good movie. I think Ender's Game is going to be hard enough to adapt. A sequel that takes place a thousand years later and features the main child character as an adult, plus weird tree aliens, just isn't going to translate very well to the big screen.

No, if Ender's Game gets made, I fully expect it to be a single movie deal.

Correction: It wouldn't work for a modern audience. I think, given the right people, it could make for an excellent film. The problem is, it isn't 40 years ago, and I doubt there's a filmmaker with the cojones to give it a go.

[thumbtack]

PsychoPere wrote:

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Harrison Ford is among the contenders for Colonel Hyrum Graff.

Does the role require acting, because Ford decided to stop showing emotion 20 years ago.

[RoJoHen]

thumbtack wrote:

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Does the role require acting, because Ford decided to stop showing emotion 20 years ago.

Did you see him in "Cowboys vs. Aliens?" He did a great job there!

[Scout101]

also, no. Graff doesn't show much in the way of emotion. CARES in his own way, but pretty cold/collected