posted
Well it's been a while since i've read any news on the progress of Ender's Game. From what I understand it's still in limbo, waiting for Wolfgang to finish other projects.
I am curious to know whether the movie will stay true to the harshness of the books, rather than just being aimed at kids. I remember reading the script merging the events of Game and Shadow into one movie. So my question is: Will we see life in Rotterdam? To go further, will we see the unfortunate event with Stilson and Bonzo? Will the movie stay true to the multicultural playground we've come to love from the books? If we're looking at covering both Shadow and Game, will we see Achilles?
Could the movie go down the animated avenue? I for one doubt it, but it could fix a lot of problems with casting and the difficulty of portraying some of the scenes.
I apologise for this post as many others before me have probably asked questions of a similar nature.
P.S - Just picked my first Alvin Maker book the other day and would like to say how amazed I am at how well OSC is able to change his voice in the novels. I feel like i'm reading from a completely different, yet equally brilliant author.
Posts: 14 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
There is a big chance that Ender's Game will not come out. Currently, its not even in pre-production. Why?
At the signing he said "Its very hard to find child actors. It takes a while to find a good one and let alone two. And when there are two out there, they are never in same movie."
Posts: 72 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Theyre definetely there, you just gotta be a little creative.
Violet from A Series of Unfortunate Events can definetely play Valentine, except for the fact that she is probably a bit too old.
Posts: 13 | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I thought that the screenplay was still being worked on, that one of the two writers had "moved on" to other projects, and that WB has until October to get it moving, or they lose the rights.
Posts: 1862 | Registered: Mar 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
I dont see why finding child actors is the biggesdt drawbacks. there are so amny people that would be obsessed with being in amovie.they could justdo sort of like American idol does and go to a buch of towns and say every kid btween the ages of lie 6-12 or soemthing audition. the biggest problem wil be getting the movie to be ass emotionally charged and hve the children as adults theme work without having the kids do stuff that noone would let kids do even in a movie.
Posts: 26 | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I don't think it's about finding a child actor, it's about getting Mr Peterson free to do the movie. There are plenty of child actors that are perfectly capible of carrying the movie, but might not thrill the adult fan.
I can't see Warner Brother making an Ender's Game movie as an extremely violent dramatic R rated feature. I think Warner wants a movie for kids- and that might not include the major parts of the plot most important to the fans.
But I question if Warner Bros wants to deal with the negative reaction on the internet to an Ender's Game movie made for kids. Bad buzz can kill a movie, especially with a sci-fi genre movie. For so long all that's been talked about on the internet is how everyone expects to see graphic fights of Ender killing Stillson and Bonzo and wanting Ender to act like an adult even if he's suppose to be a little boy.
Posts: 14 | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I don't see how Ender's Game could be made into a movie since it spans like six years. Would they film the movie a little bit at a time over six years to make Ender's aging believable?
Posts: 5 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Well, they could break it up, especially if they're trying to incorperate Bean. But the Harry Potter movies have the kids grow up as they film those, though admittedly there are 7 of them.
What really interests me is- will they keep the nationalities of the kids in the book the same? If memory serves, Bean is both Greek and African, Petra is Armenian, Alai is from the Muslim world somewhere, etc, etc. The only American that I can think of offhand is Ender himself, and Peter and Valentine, of course. Would they stick to those, or just find a gaggle of American kids to play all the roles?
I'm not sure I'd want an Ender's Game movie, though, because I would hate a "kiddified" version. Give Ender a joystick and a video screen, and boom, boom? Lots of kids playing spaceman, with kindly adults that really did care for them watching benignly? Lots of what made the book good was the culture of Battle School, the dynamics of the groups, watching them shift and change. If the movie gets made, I hope it's at least PG-13, if not R. A waste, otherwise.
Posts: 9 | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
Alai was from the nation called Niger. Not to be confused with a racial slur.
IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by LordRahl: I don't see how Ender's Game could be made into a movie since it spans like six years. Would they film the movie a little bit at a time over six years to make Ender's aging believable?
I thought the movie was going to take place all within a year?
Posts: 14 | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Therese: I'm not sure I'd want an Ender's Game movie, though, because I would hate a "kiddified" version..
Funny you should put it that way. I bought Ender's Game on Audio book to listen to on the plane this summer. But I felt like I was listening to someone reading a children's story. The reader was doing a good job, it just felt, juvinile for some reason.
I do see Ender as a child when I see the story in my mind, but not as a snot faced, little kid child. The way I remember my own childhood. Althought I may have been a snot faced little kid child, I don't remember that. I just remember things, and how I felt. So it's all just me.
Posts: 14 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I think a CGI movie of EG would be the best way to bridge the gaps. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within had it's problems, but the visuals weren't one of them.
Can you see the logistics of setting up a battle in mock zero G with many (can't remember off hand how many in an army) children on wires flying around a huge sound studio?
Posts: 6683 | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
40 + 1 children in an army so a total of 82.
Though its not as if in any war movie they use the actual numbers they make it look like there's alot more.
IP: Logged |
posted
No they didn't. At least not as many as were actually in the real battles. There was a lot of good camera work, and special effects (yes even then. They had their ways).
Posts: 238 | Registered: Jun 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I dont think enders game could be "kiddified" and still be enders game. If you remove the conflict and controversy, its just a bad sci-fi. They have to show the children as intelligent and advanced, using the best tech and the best training. When I read enders game, I dont see flashing lights and Starship Troopers effects. I see it the way it would be in 20 years, and not flashy. They would have to make it flashy for a kids movie.
Posts: 883 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
Ender's Game is a book I hope is never made into a movie. It will be very hard for a movie version of EG to live up to the mental image that I (and many) have in their minds.. because all of our visions as to what these kids should look like is very different.
I remember going to see "Dune", excited as could be.. this was the one book that, above many others, I thought represented everything sci-fi should be.
And the movie -sucked-. Big changes from the book (weirding modules? etc.) Paul, roughly 14 in the books, was played by a darn near 30 year old in the movie.
I'm sorry, but this is one of those books that I think, if done as a movie, would be a disaster. I love this book; but my gut tells me so many fans would be dissapointed, and too much of the heart of the story would be "hollywood-ized". It's kinda like OSC in one of the audiobooks "everyone wants to make this a date flick" EG is just not a date flick.
Look, if there is any book in the series that could be made into a movie that I think would work it would be "Speaker of the Dead" which builds as a very solid standard drama with tons of choice dialogue.. of course, the problem is, it'd be a good movie for say, SciFi channel, but sci-fi melodramas/suspense so far haven't done good box office (see the excellent "Dark City")
*shrug* I'm sure it's good for OSC's finances, and hollywood loves blockbuster books to movies. But I would remind them of all the fantastic books that have been adapted.. terribly.. (see: the most recent adaptation of "Hitchhiker's Guide" which is far worse then the BBC mini-series reproduction)
Posts: 202 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
ArCHeR: It's true, they had their ways. The behind the scenes of Darby O'Gill and the Little People is more impressive in some ways with the forced perspective work than the modern CGI. But when you see a soldier in Sparticus, it's a person. Not a computer generated image. That's what I'm saying.
tmservo: On one level I agree with you. I don't know that a movie could possibly do justice to what's in my head as I read the novel. But I know a lot of die hard Tolken fans who felt the same about LOTR, and most of them are generally happy with the resulting movies.
What about the idea of some kind of animated Ender's Game? Whether it's CGI, or Anime style...
My concern is the leaving out of some of the subtle, but valuable portions of the story in the interest of time. I've wondered if it couldn't be some kind of mini series. Along the lines of Taken.
Posts: 14 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Ah, but sometimes it's not a real soldier. For example, in the movie Zulu (I think that's what it's called, not sure) Shaka's army is seen at the crest of a hill. But only a third of those soldiers are real, as each one had two shields attatched to each side of his own.
Then there are the background paintings that are meshed in with the real soldiers. Not during the actual fighting, but in the "Two armies staring at each other" parts, or in camps.
Anyway, my point is that you won't see someone spending the kind of money on extras that would be needed for every soldier you see to be a real person.
Posts: 238 | Registered: Jun 2004
| IP: Logged |
Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
To make it fun for the child actors I wish you could get it so that laser tag lasers had actual beams to them, that way if you used all 82 people and didn't film all of it at least the kids would still have fun.
As for movie adaptions of books, I'll be happy as long as they don't like screw up more thn 50% of the book, it takes ALOT of effort to make me disappointed in a book/movie.
IP: Logged |
posted
BTW, I'll say this: for those who pine for a movie, even though you've read the books, pick up one of the audiobooks. I particularly enjoy "Speaker of the Dead" the audiobook, but all of them are very well done.
Posts: 202 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
Audio books? I tried one once, I think they ahd one guy do all the voices.
IP: Logged |
posted
I don't know about that.. the ones on Audible.Com are sensational; including afterwards from OSC, with 5 readers providing different voices and narration.. the reading of some of them is incredible.
Posts: 202 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Audio books? I tried one once, I think they ahd one guy do all the voices. [Frown]
That's normal for audio books. You generally have to go to a radio drama to get different voice actors doing the different parts.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I just really wonder if Warner Brothers follows the fan forums about Ender's Game and realizes that the OSC fans don't want to see the movie made?
It's really a shame, but from the pov of Warner Bros, why make a movie that the fans are gonna hate?
An Ender's Game movie is gonna cost atleast $100+ mill to make, and they can only make their money back if it's a broad appeal PG or mild PG-13 movie. That's not gonna change no matter how long they wait to make it. Ender's always going to be a child, and the MPAA is never going to allow that much violence in a movie with a child without penializing it harshly. Warner Bros has got to know that if the internet buzz is negative, the movie may never have a change, no matter how much they spend on advertizing.
Posts: 14 | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Personally I would like to see it made into a movie. It could get more people interested in books that they never would have read otherwise. Now I realize that it also makes some people less inclined to read the books because they can just watch the movie. But those are the people who wouldn't get anything out of the book anyway.
And as for it being a difficult movie to make. Each movie is a particular challenge. But it doesn't mean it isn't worth the effort. Yes some of the scifi things will be challenging especially nullG but with a combination of live actors, creativity and animation most things are possible. Our technology is so advanced many people would be surprised at the things that can be done, if a person makes the effort to try. And Who knows, the techniques used in this movie could set precedents for future movies.
Posts: 31 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
It would be a wonderful movie, but they could not tone it down. there is not much the MPAA could do much as long as there was not extreme violence. The Ender-Stilson scene has been in a hundred movies and the Bonzo-Ender scene has been in several (not EXACTLY, but I think you know what I mean) and that would probably be the most violence there would have to be. If they incorporated Shadow the most violent moment that could be construed would be Achilles killing Poke, and you dont actually see that.
Posts: 883 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
