posted
Read the comments on the announcement at aicn.com. Rich G at 10:47 am says:
quote: Orson Scott Card had his own panel at NYCC on Saturday, and he talked about the Ender's Game movie. He said that he and Petersen split because Petersen wanted to make a movie that was called Ender's Game but had no relation to the book that Card had written. He also said that he is currently talking with a director who "gets it" and has ambitions of making a movie that could contend for Best Picture, not just be another summer sci-fi blockbuster. On a side note, he called this director "she," so feel free to speculate who that might be. (Oscar ambitions, good with kids... Jodie Foster, perhaps?) Furthermore, he said he had finished the fifth draft of the screenplay and offhandedly referred to it as the "Battle School" story, so expect a good dose of Bean and the other kids, not just Ender. As for casting, he said that if the story is about a worldwide search for Battle School candidates and you don't have 80% of them from southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and Africa, then you're not doing the story right, despite Hollywood's white-centric preferences. And as for Ender himself, he said he was so optimistic about the movie's development, the kid who will play Ender (not cast yet, of course) is probably in first grade now and will be in fourth grade by the time they get filming.
posted
I'm glad that Card has the necessary control to prevent this from becoming something like the farce that was the The Dark is Rising film, or the SciFi Earthsea miniseries.
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posted
On the other hand, if OSC relented a bit and let a mediocre movie get made, it doesn't mean it can't be followed in a short time by a remake. (ala The Incredible Hulk)
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posted
Whedon said he directed Serenity, not because he's really interested in directing, but mostly because he didn't want anyone else to screw it up. Also, the guy's got a new show with fox coming up, so I'm thinking he's likely busy right now.
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quote: the story is about a worldwide search for Battle School candidates
is somewhat concerning to me. That sounds like a movie that's trying to be a foundation for both Ender- and Bean- series movies, not necessarily a good translation of the novel Ender's Game, a book which was pretty much about Ender and his experience.
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posted
Don't read too much into that sentence. He's just saying that if battleschool kids come from all over the world, the racial distributions should reflect the racial distributions of the world, not of North America. It was a comment about casting, not plot. The story was at one point more about Graff and Mazer, but that was many, many drafts ago.
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quote:Originally posted by docmagik: The story was at one point more about Graff and Mazer, but that was many, many drafts ago.
I hope that sometime after the movie is made these drafts become public. By now, this thing has been given so many revisions by so many people that it would be really interesting to see some of the interpretations that people came up with.
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quote:Now I'm curious about what Petersen wanted to do with the story.
Agreed - but I'm also curious about what OSC wants to do with the story. Given the talk about integrating Bean and the other battle school kids more into the story, and the way the same story was rewritten in Ender's Shadow, I'm not entirely sure his conception of the story is the same as what I've always thought of as the story... (And by that I mean, in short, a story fundamentally about Ender.)
quote:As for casting, he said that if the story is about a worldwide search for Battle School candidates and you don't have 80% of them from southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and Africa, then you're not doing the story right, despite Hollywood's white-centric preferences.
Actually, if you think about it, the Battle School search would probably end up being white-centric too, assuming the world powers running it are mostly white. There would probably be a bias along with some favortism. So, it actually might make sense for 80% of the kids to not be from Asia and Africa.
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posted
I don't think there's any basis in the Enderverse for the leadership of the battle school to be mostly white.
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posted
Did you guys consider that Petersen just might be right and Card - wrong? Petersen probably knows better how the movies should be done, what works and what not.
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In terms of financial success, quite possibly. In terms of sticking with the books' plot, almost certainly not.
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Any possibility of my believing that Peterson knew how to convert an epic story into a brilliant movie ended with 'Troy'.
Earnest, huge, lumbering, dull. I didn't care whether a single character lived or died. There was no humour. OSC may have liked it. I didn't.
Serenity's chief power was to make you care about each individual - and to wish to preserve the great dynamic of the characters together.
I want to see Battleschool kids who are brutal, weird, messed up, awful, lovable. Not sure Peterson could have provided that.
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quote:On a side note, he called this director "she," so feel free to speculate who that might be. (Oscar ambitions, good with kids... Jodie Foster, perhaps?)
quote:Originally posted by docmagik: Don't read too much into that sentence. He's just saying that if battleschool kids come from all over the world, the racial distributions should reflect the racial distributions of the world, not of North America. It was a comment about casting, not plot.
Time will tell, of course. It's certainly easy to over-read from what small snippets of information are available, simply because there are so few.
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Funny - I have journal entries from when I was about 13, and totally obsessed with acting, talking about how BAAAADLY I wanted to play Petra if they ever made a movie of Ender's Game. I just found that old journal the other day. Darn, but I'd still love to play Petra. Curse my age!! And my womanly figure!
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posted
I'm a long time lurker but when I saw this talk at dark horizons http://www.darkhorizons.com/news08/080603k.php I had to post about it. It basically says that Ridley Scott has waited 20 years to get his hands on a unnamed book to make into a sci-fi movie.
Given that Ender's Game recently came up for grabs again and the 20 yr time frame mentioned, I think it's at least a good possibility. And how cool would it be if Ridley Scott got the directing gig!
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Awwwwwwwwww enders game will probably rated R so my brother won't be allowed. You know petra naked all the time and rose de nose with his computer penis. boo hoo
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quote:Originally posted by T:man: Awwwwwwwwww enders game will probably rated R so my brother won't be allowed. You know petra naked all the time and rose de nose with his computer penis. boo hoo
I can say with pretty strong certainly that EG will NOT be rated R. For one, if I'm not mistaken most Mormons aren't big on R-rated movies. I don't know if they follow a strict rule against viewing them, or if some do and some don't, or what. In any case, I think that if OSC has anything to say about it he won't let it fall into that category. Second, it doesn't make sense to adapt a novel that is well known for its teen/young adult appeal and make it so that you have to be 17 or older to see it. The studio executives would be shooting themselves in the foot!
Also, I'm absolutely positive that we won't be seeing fully nude children. If there's one taboo that Western society is adamantly opposed to it's child pornography, and no studio is going to risk inviting such comparisons, no matter how un-sexualized the context is. I don't even think it's legal to film it. It's easy enough to just have the kids wearing boxers and t-shirts or something, and it doesn't affect the story at all. You can bet that the shower fight between Ender and Bonzo will be changed as well. Wet, naked boys grappling with each other doesn't translate well to film.
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Yeah, I've always thought the nude scenes were the biggest barrier to the book becoming a movie. Rose's Computer Penis is wierd enough to read about.
Ridley Scott would be a good director, but didn't Card mention that the director is a "she?"
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posted
They won't film any naked children, at least not in any way that could be construed badly. Petra will probably not be naked at all, and while we might see a few naked boy butts (there being a precedent for that in film), I doubt we'll see much else.
The shower scene, however, could easily be filmed without actually showing any naked children. After all, the talking takes up most of the time, the actual fight lasts only about ten seconds. Nudity would be easy to avoid with camera angles.
On the other hand, the shower scene will be difficult to construe correctly on film. The main points, to me, of the shower scene were that Ender evaded Bonzo by intelligence, that Bonzo truly wanted to KILL Ender, and that Ender fought so ruthlessly because it was "life or death". I'm not sure how to get all that across in filming the shower scene. Even if you had Bonzo say "I'm going to kill you" - it'll only sound like hype. Most importantly, how do you get across that Ender was using soap and steam to even the size advantage?? For those reasons, I think we may see the scene changed significantly.
On the other hand, Bonzo and Ender will have to have SOME showdown, because it's too big a part of the book to leave out - and Bonzo will have to die. For these reasons, I think it highly unlikely that Ender's Game would be rated anything less than PG-13, and may even get an R rating for violence alone. It's a great story, but one kid killing another will likely not sit too well with the rating board.
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posted
I think the fight where Bonso dies could reasonably take place in zero-G. It would certainly allow Ender to use his intellect to best the larger boy.
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posted
Most movies I've seen would show us that Bonzo had the intent to kill Ender by having earlier scenes where he laughs at others' pain, tortures small animals, and fondles a sharp gleaming object while watching his intended victim from a distance.
Or they could do a flashback where he kills somebody before coming to Battle School. (Unlike with Ender, nobody would know about this but Bonzo.)
But are you even sure Bonzo will be in the movie at all? They can't squeeze everything in.
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quote:Originally posted by docmagik: Don't read too much into that sentence. He's just saying that if battleschool kids come from all over the world, the racial distributions should reflect the racial distributions of the world, not of North America. It was a comment about casting, not plot. The story was at one point more about Graff and Mazer, but that was many, many drafts ago.
I just read through this thread for the first time, because I normally avoid threads about the Ender's Game movie simply for the reason that I know I'd be so highly subject to falling into utter fanboyism.... Ender's Game, the novel, has haunted my dreams since childhood; rereading the novel can always be relied upon to throw me into a dream of zero-g laser tag.
I read however these quotes, and was somewhat relieved to see that the idea was to not make an overtly "racialist" statement (rereading also some of the early works of Howard and Lovecraft has filled my mind with the difficult question of racialism). I know this would be a controversial thought to state, but it makes one wonder:
If the Battle School really existed, and the Earth were combed for superior intelligence among children, how WOULD such a factor be measured in real life? Furthermore, WOULD the diversity of the students accurately reflect the world's population by race/nationality, or would there be a bias towards one group above another-- and if so, would this be because of (1) the benefits of greater educational facilities in more developed nations, (2) the inherent "rooting for the home team" vibe of any nation/culture that might be ascendent in such a situation, or (3) the development of an accurate and completely fair means of testing natural DEVELOPMENTAL ability which would allow any impartial observer to define native genius in an individual, regardless of upbringing, race, etc....
It's the nature vs nurture question, I suppose. If your formative years occur in an environment that is more intellectually stimulating, will you be "smarter" ? or more qualified? And back to the fictional world-- are we dealing with a level playing field?
Mr. Card's statement, if held true and carried out, is bold and equitable, and he is a wise man to dodge this line of questioning, because in today's culture of the "politically correct" or "culturally sensitive," his answer is the only one that leaves him impervious to any possible criticism of racism/racialism/jingoism/etc.
Man. I shouldn't post this late at night.
I really hope this movie ever materializes, and beyond that, is done really, really well.
Anyway, that's my food for thought. Discuss, or not... I'm not trying to be provocative, or to start a flamefest or anything-- I realize the hotbutton nature of such a topic, and how easily it can devolve into something really heavy where feelings can get hurt, but I'd love to read what people might think.
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Like I've said before, I hope he takes his sweet time making the movie. Take as long as you like. In another four months, I will be out of the military, and any longer than that and I will be just about old enough to play one of the adult characters AND I'll have experience in uniform to bring to the table.
I'm telling you, ever since my long awaited debut as "Lawyer in Background #77" in National Lampoon's Pucked , my fans have been clamoring for more! That 60 second spot I did in a Navy training video in 2006 just didn't satiate my ferocious fan base Posts: 2532 | Registered: Jul 2001
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