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YAY! What great news for sci-fi buffs, movie-buffs, OSC buffs, great-storytelling buffs, and any other buffs that might appreciate the great family film that this is sure to be. First Narnia, now this. I'm a very happy kid.
But unfortunately there will be those (just like there were with Narnia) who say that this is only getting made because of the success of Harry Potter and LOTR (and now Narnia), and although they're probably correct (nothing against WB, but studios aren't known for taking REAL risks), that shouldn't be held against EG. Just like Narnia shouldn't be compared to HP & LOTR, EG shouldn't be compared to them either.
Every story deserves a teller.
Posts: 12 | Registered: Mar 2006
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I don't really see what Ender's Game has to do with those other films, seeing as how it has nothing to do with fantasy or magic.
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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I don't see the connection either. Though successful, EG doesn't have anywhere near the readership of HP or LOTR. And dozens of movies are made each year based on "out of this world" storylines, or popular books. Plus, EG has been under contract with Warner Brothers for a couple of years now.
Posts: 786 | Registered: Jun 2003
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I agree EG is extremely different, but what WB sees is a fantastical film starring children in a school for the gifted. Let's hope they don't try to market the film as a HP clone, though... because for those of us who love it, it's obviously a completely different genre and is intended for a slightly different (though overlapping) audience.
Posts: 12 | Registered: Mar 2006
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I don't think that they're that stupid. After all, Harry Potter never beat anyone to death. Ender's Game isn't a light-hearted child-friendly adventure, and as long as OSC is involved in writing the script or any other aspect of the production, I'm sure that the studio will demonstrate the proper respect for the source material.
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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I doubt it will come off as similar to Harry Potter. My worry, given that they chosen Wolfgang Peterson as the director, is that they will try to make it too much of an action movie - with the emphasis on battle school battles, spaceship wars, etc. I can easily see how someone who knows the general plot but doesn't really understand the story would interpret it as that sort of a action sci-fi plot - it appears to be what the artist who drew the cover was thinking.
I think EG will only work well if it is focused on being a psyhcological drama first and foremost, exploring Ender's character and his relationships at battle school.
Posts: 8120 | Registered: Jul 2000
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All science fiction/fantasy stories get grouped into the "unreal" category. I agree that EG does need to be clearly apart from the Harry Potter franchise.
The problem with making EG a psychological drama is that you lose some of a main base for the film, the younger viewers. Please don't jump on me for this, but in my opinion if you focus too much on characterization in any movie you will bore at least half of the teenage/kid faction. Seems to be that character stories are best suited to a literary medium and action stories the visual/audio. Movies that want to reach more of the younger audience need the fast-paced action found in most sci-fi/fan blockbusters.
I just don't think that all of the introspectiveness (is that a word?) of the written EG would be suitable for an adaption. You'd have to do a shift from the character story to the plot story; there's no way an audience will be able to connect with a movie Ender or Bean like the depth seen in the books in anything like two hours.
Posts: 973 | Registered: Apr 2005
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When I heard they were going to make a movie for Ender's Game. I was afraid of it being a disapointment like the bad attempt at Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers. I don't that is going to happen here. You can see it in his books that Mr Card really listens to his fans. I don't think he would allow the movie people to change things around too much.
Posts: 2 | Registered: Mar 2006
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Wait. Where did you see that Wolfgang Peterson was chosen as the director. I troll the movie sites pretty and I have not heard one word like that. If that is true....great. I am not a Wolfgang Peterson fan.
Posts: 263 | Registered: Nov 2005
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I really hope that it isn't catered for a younger audience. I don't want the story to be compromised for sales sake. If it is a script that highlights the plot from the Ender and Bean book, then I want to see the slums of Rotterdam as harsh as it had been described, I want to see that sickly death look in Bonzo and Stilson's eyes while Ender has their blood running down his forehead. I really just want them to stay true to Ender as a character as well.
Posts: 14 | Registered: Aug 2005
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No matter whos writing the script to the movie, they're gonna have to make the scenes where Ender kills Bonzo and Stilson especially powerful because those scenes should bring out the worst of the EG world. They need to show how previously innocent children grow up so fast. I go to movies a lot and i personally don't think that this movie will be as good if it's just 2 hours long. There's a lot of information and emotion and the book and my opinion is that the movie needs to be at least 2 1/2 hrs long. If you look at other deep movies, like The Thin Red Line, you will see that the movie's length plays to its advantage. I know a lot of people may vote against me on this, either because they think that the book isn't deep or because they just want a lot of special effects in the movie. However, the critics won't be fooled by just special effects, they need to be surprised when this movie hits theaters.
Posts: 1158 | Registered: Feb 2006
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I don't think that the Stilson killing is going to be included. It's not actually necessary, and it might make it hard for the audience to sympathize with Ender when they see him beat a kid to death right at the start of the film. Remember, the movie won't be able to convey what was going on in his head as well as the book does, so it'll just look like he killed him for the heck of it.
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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It could be included as a flashback sequence, but other than that, I'm inclined to agree with you, neo-dragon.
Posts: 135 | Registered: Mar 2006
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I think the stilson killing should be in there...... it is a part in the story that if left out could confuse some people who havent read the book... and the audience isnt soposed to sympathize with ender we are soposed to be curious and wonder about why he does what he does and most importantly we are soposed to see that ender isnt perfect but he is as perfect as they come.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Feb 2006
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The amount of material there almost demands the kind of screen time that would take two movies. Lord of the Rings was originally one movie, but P. Jackson fought for two, before taking it to New Line and getting them to suggest it be made into three.
Especially if the Ender's Shadow plot is going to be integrated into the film, there's just so much to it that can't possibly be done. Will the Peter/Val storyline survive? Graff/Anderson behind the scenes stuff? How much of Bean's life is going to be explored? The fantasy land game that Ender plays at his desk? His interpersonal relationships with all the other kids?
It boggles the mind to see how it'll all fit into even a 3 hour movie. Stilson's murder would have to be put in a flashback, but to me it'd seem so out of place it'd be jarring, and not in the good sense. Besides, leaving it out, like leaving out the Scouring of the Shire would leave Ender's Game functional as a movie, just as LOTR was left functional. SotS was important (heck it tied together a lot of the book's themes and totally changed my feelings at its end), but for a film, I understand why it was left out, doesn't mean I agree with it, as it happens I don't, but I understand it.
Still I wish this would be split up a bit. You could almost make a trilogy out of just Ender's Game by breaking it up into home life/first year at battle school. Then battle school in all it's glory. Then the end of battle school/command school and the last bugger war.
I wish you luck OSC. It must be painful having to cut stuff from the movie. On one hand you know you have to, to make it functional and fit the time constraints, but on the other hand as a writer who loves his work, you must be sad to see a lot of it go. If anyone can make it work, you can.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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quote:Originally posted by lisha_rose: I think the stilson killing should be in there...... it is a part in the story that if left out could confuse some people who havent read the book... and the audience isnt soposed to sympathize with ender we are soposed to be curious and wonder about why he does what he does and most importantly we are soposed to see that ender isnt perfect but he is as perfect as they come.
Of coures the audience is supposed to sympathize with Ender. The story will not incite the appropriate emotional responses if he looks like a crazy little maniac. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who's totally unfamiliar with the story. Seeing a small child beat another small child to death is going to make Ender seem like Peter. And let's face it, there's probably not a single part of the book that some fans won't argue is crucial to the story, but they obviously can't include everything, and the Stilson incident really doesn't offer much that the audience won't get from the Bonzo incident. In fact, given that there's two books worth of material to put in a 2 hour (Maybe 2.5 hours... who knows?) movie, having both beatings seems redundant.
And let me clarify: when I say that I don't think it will be included, I don't mean that it will simply be gone, and Graff will still come to the Wiggin house talking about it, thus confusing the audience. I mean that they'll probably rework the story so that Stilson isn't involved at all.
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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Ok, I have to disagree with you on the sympathizing with ender part. That's the mistake so many movies are making these days. They patronize the main character to the point where the movie just plain sucks. The movie needs to be more like a camera over Ender's shoulder. It has to be like Ray, where it shows both the good and the bad. It doesn't patronize and it doesn't antagonize. Just the hard facts and at the end of the movie it lets the audience decide what to think. I'm not comparing Ender's Game to Ray, I'm just saying that if Bonzo and Stilson scenes aren't in the movie, fans aren't gonna like it and newcomers aren't going to be as moved. Without those scenes, Ender's emotional problems aren't going to be understood as well and people aren't going to be able to understand the desperate situation Earth is in. You have to look at it this way: Ender's Game is such an important book because of ALL of it's material. It's characters are believeable and the political and ethical questions it raises could just as well be taking place now. The movie needs to take what the books created and use the various techniques that filmmakers like Terrrence Malick and Steven Speilberg have used to constrict it into a reasonable time-frame. However, if you ask me taking out the Bonzo and Stilson scenes is like taking a liver out of a human being. It just doesn't work.
Posts: 1158 | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:The story will not incite the appropriate emotional responses if he looks like a crazy little maniac.
You'd be surprised how easily you can make a film audience sympathize with crazy little maniacs as long as you give them the narrative POV.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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why sympathize with ender the reason the battle school took him is because of what happened with stilson partially. they new from the beginning that if needed ender could be a killer. He knew how to survive even in circumstances when all seemed hopeless that no matter what he wasnt going to survive but the great thing about ender is he always found a way to get himself out of the trouble for good
Posts: 50 | Registered: Feb 2006
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In any case having both killings is redundant given the time limitations, and the Bonzo incident it obviously the more important one of the two. As I understand it, none of the earlier scripts had the Stilson incident, so I'll be surprised if it makes its way into the version that Card is working on now. It's one of those things that fans of the book will miss, and although it does serve a purpose in the story, the movie doesn't really need it. Kind of like the Scouring of the Shire in LotR.
Posts: 1569 | Registered: Dec 2004
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I think it might be kewl to see bonzo's face change to stilsons while Ender is killing him and then a very short flash back i mean like 30 secs or so just an idea
Posts: 50 | Registered: Feb 2006
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They should pit all the actors vying for the role of ender into a giant room where they would all do battle for the role - we could call it the "battle room" and their would be lasers last one still able to wiggle his toes wins - and OSC needs no help with writing he once defeated Chuck Norris by starring at him icily for three days untill chuck ran away crying - OSC then round house kicked himself in the face for a clean shave
Posts: 201 | Registered: Mar 2006
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quote:Originally posted by ckat: When I heard they were going to make a movie for Ender's Game. I was afraid of it being a disapointment like the bad attempt at Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers. I don't that is going to happen here. You can see it in his books that Mr Card really listens to his fans. I don't think he would allow the movie people to change things around too much.
I might get a bit of flak for this, but (here goes ) I think Starship Troopers, as horrible as it was - is 200x better than the book. The book, I just had to stop reading it a little more than half-way through. It was so boring and complacent I just couldn't bring myself to finish reading it.
I haven't read any of Heinlein's other material - but is he as random and boring in his other books? He inserted flashbacks (in Troopers) that were merely memories of a discussion with the protagonists math teacher? I mean come on. The guy, did not know how to write.
I'm no professional, by any means but good LAWD this guy's book was boring.
Posts: 317 | Registered: Feb 2005
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just an idea
