posted
Should I not be posting this? Because nobody seems to be showing as much excitement to finally see a cast being lined up for this long awaited production as this topic intends. If I'm crossing boundaries I don't mean to offend, but my biggest concern is the amount of emphasis they will put on the Fantasy Game. After all, that is probably the most important aspect of the rest of Ender's life. It is, to my understanding, how Jane or "the bridge" came to be. If I'm wrong correct me. Ender's life is Epic and completely selfless. And yet there is an almost parallel story that is in it's own way just as tragic, but without so much selflessness. Of course I'm talking about Bean. I know I'm pushing my luck, I'm lucky enough to even see one Ender movie come out in my lifetime, but I wish so bad that I would hear about some attempt to persuade them to just shoot two movies. Ender's Shadow and the following books are way too great to be kept in the dark. I've ranted enough I suppose, I hope this post remains and someone responds to something in it.
Posts: 7 | Registered: Feb 2012
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posted
No offense. It's just that we have had not just year but DECADES of posts about this, and then nothing came if it.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Well something is coming from it, and it is either gonna be really epic or a huge flop and I'm really hoping for the former. But now that it is being done, since it took so long and in this wonderful era of cinema, maybe it will actually be done right.
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posted
My expectations are low for it. The script is supposedly pretty solid, but they've dropped whole characters (or merged them) because there are so many in the book. I'd expect other changes as well. There's also the fact that it's being directed by the guy who made Wolverine, and that movie was horrible. The effects were decent, certainly, but the acting was flacid and the script was terrible.
I really hope Ender's Game is good, but I'm not holding my breath. It is extremely rare that a movie based on anything is good, unless of course the company sinks a tremendous amount of funding into it and hires all the right people. I'm kind of expecting another Wing Commander.
Posts: 1324 | Registered: Feb 2011
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Robert Scott Lewis: If you're looking for a community excited and willing to discuss the up-to-the-minute development of the film, feel free to check out http://www.philoticweb.netPosts: 2689 | Registered: Apr 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Taalcon: Robert Scott Lewis: If you're looking for a community excited and willing to discuss the up-to-the-minute development of the film, feel free to check out http://www.philoticweb.net
This is true.
I guess the people here are more excited about OSC's novels, rather than this film. Don't get me wrong, I think we'll all probably see it and talk about it when it gets released, but it's so far off right now that there's not a whole lot we can say about it. Nothing new, anyway.
Posts: 1324 | Registered: Feb 2011
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posted
Since the decision has been taken to cast neither Jake Lloyd nor Haley Joel Osment as Ender, and they haven't even cast Dakota Fanning as Valentine, I think everyone's just far too disappointed to work up any enthusiasm for the movie.
Posts: 1528 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Frankly, I think its all a matter of perception, and people will not like the movie if they don't go into it with the right perception. You are focused on the fantasy game because it is important to Ender's life in events AFTER Ender's Game. But they aren't making the entire series, and they likely never will. Those books are irrelevent to this movie, because for all intents and purposes, they don't exist. They are making Ender's Game. Is the fantasy game critical to story being told in Ender's Game? The truth is, probably not. Sure, it plays a significant role in Ender's game, but you can effectively tell the story that the book tells without focusing on, or even really including the fantasy game.
And that brings me back to my point of perspective. People tend to judge a movie adaotuib on how similar it is to the book, but that's a mistake. A movie adaption isn't an attempt to mimic a book, its an attempt to essentially tell the same story that the book is telling, but in a different medium. In that regard, a movie is its own separate entity. So that should be the focus, has it told the same story of Ender's Game and has it told it well? It doesnt matter if some characters have been eliminated or merged and it doesn't matter if some details are different. If its a good movie and the story rings true to the book, I will be happy with it.
Posts: 38 | Registered: Oct 2011
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quote:Originally posted by Bella Bee: Since the decision has been taken to cast neither Jake Lloyd nor Haley Joel Osment as Ender, and they haven't even cast Dakota Fanning as Valentine, I think everyone's just far too disappointed to work up any enthusiasm for the movie.
Hahaha, what? If they cast Jake Lloyd or Haley Joel Osment as Ender, I would think that they had lost their flipping minds.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
I could care less about big name actors who, by the way, are too old to play these characters. And I guess it is conceivable that the fantasy game won't play much of a role in the movie, but I just wouldn't see how else the movie would end. And I think that Card wouldn't have let "the guy who made wolverine" do this movie if he didn't think it would get done right. It WAS a long time coming. I'm not looking for the book on the screen, I'm looking for an accurate depiction of who Ender is.
Posts: 7 | Registered: Feb 2012
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quote:Originally posted by Bella Bee: Since the decision has been taken to cast neither Jake Lloyd nor Haley Joel Osment as Ender, and they haven't even cast Dakota Fanning as Valentine, I think everyone's just far too disappointed to work up any enthusiasm for the movie.
Hahaha, what? If they cast Jake Lloyd or Haley Joel Osment as Ender, I would think that they had lost their flipping minds.
Aw, darn. I thought we still did sarcasm on this forum. I was just pointing out that we were all actually semi-excited for this movie way back when these guys were age appropriate. I remember back in 2003 or so, when there was an Ender movie thread every couple of weeks.
ETA - Thanks for the pics though. I had no idea that aging was a process.
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If OSC hadn't been such a stubborn control freak, the movie would've been made twenty years ago and we could currently be getting excited about the remake. Plus he'd have twice as much money.
Anywho, my feeling is that the more he's involved with it, the worse it will be. I'll still see it, of course, because contempt prior to investigation is not a way to go through life.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Viola Davis won't be playing a new character, she'll be playing a gender-inverted version of Major Anderson, who, if I recall correctly, was in charge of managing the battle room games. Since when I first read Ender's Game, I imagined Major Anderson as a woman for a while (most of his scenes are in the exchanges at the beginning of chapters where there is no narrative besides the dialogue), I have no problem with casting Anderson as a woman.
It's likely the Fantasy Game will have a minor role if it has any. Maybe the Anderson/Graff exchanges will show them looking at footage from Ender's gameplay and discussing what it could mean, but I doubt it will go anywhere beyond that.
Posts: 1029 | Registered: Apr 2007
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I actually think this is a necessary addition. Those "men behind the curtain" scenes were great in the book, but in a movie it would just be silly. Adding this character would give new depth to the film, which is a good thing. The problem comes in the execution, but that's how it is for everything.
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C3PO is right. It's not a new character. It's Major Anderson. OSC had Anderson as a woman as long back as in his 1999 draft of the screenplay.
Posts: 2689 | Registered: Apr 2000
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quote:Originally posted by C3PO the Dragon Slayer: Viola Davis won't be playing a new character, she'll be playing a gender-inverted version of Major Anderson, who, if I recall correctly, was in charge of managing the battle room games. Since when I first read Ender's Game, I imagined Major Anderson as a woman for a while (most of his scenes are in the exchanges at the beginning of chapters where there is no narrative besides the dialogue), I have no problem with casting Anderson as a woman.
It's likely the Fantasy Game will have a minor role if it has any. Maybe the Anderson/Graff exchanges will show them looking at footage from Ender's gameplay and discussing what it could mean, but I doubt it will go anywhere beyond that.
I think the byplay between Ford and a younger, black and female superior will be interesting, and do a lot to develop Graff as a character- and Graff is of course our main insight into Ender himself.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Originally posted by odouls268: Woah woah, wait wait...
There's going to be a movie?
Slow down here. I'm not buying it.
There would have to be a studio and a director interested first. When are we gonna get to see a script?
Can Orson be rewritten?
I'm gonna go ahead and assume that you are joking.
Posts: 1324 | Registered: Feb 2011
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Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
Graff is a Colonel, he is Anderson's superior officer, it is Admiral Hermanjinnangariihavenoideahwathisnameisdude who is his superior, the Polemarch from the International Fleet.
Who the audio book made a New Yorker from Brooklyn AAAAAAAAAAARGH :argh: He's Indian!!
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quote:Originally posted by Jeff C.: I'm gonna go ahead and assume that you are joking.
No, dingdangit, I am NOT joking. I want to see the script first! That way, if I don't approve of the script, I can just write my OWN version and post it online. I might even shop my version around to some studios and see whose version wins the day!
Lord knows we don't want the Buggers being movie adapted into some kind of furry bear like wookie wannabes, or to have it revealed in the first act that Ender isn't playing a game.
Posts: 2532 | Registered: Jul 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Taalcon: C3PO is right. It's not a new character. It's Major Anderson. OSC had Anderson as a woman as long back as in his 1999 draft of the screenplay .
Never heard of it. Sounds like a bogus accusation to me.
Posts: 2532 | Registered: Jul 2001
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I guess the people here are more excited about OSC's novels, rather than this film. Don't get me wrong, I think we'll all probably see it and COMPLAIN about it when it gets released.
quote:Originally posted by Blayne Bradley: Graff is a Colonel, he is Anderson's superior officer, it is Admiral Hermanjinnangariihavenoideahwathisnameisdude who is his superior, the Polemarch from the International Fleet.
Who the audio book made a New Yorker from Brooklyn AAAAAAAAAAARGH :argh: He's Indian!!
Actually this was my source of confusion. Shamrajnigar is voiced by Gabriel De Quer (with what sounded to me like a Long Island accent, rather than Brooklyn, but yeah), and when I listened to it, I forgot whether Graff was talking to Anderson or Shamrajnigar- the only context given is that Shamrajnigar gives orders to Graff, and Anderson takes orders from Graff. So I forgot that Anderson is a major, under Graff.
Adding to the confusion, in the 20th anniversary edition, Graff was voiced primarily by Stefan Rudniki, but Rudnicki doesn't read the pre-dialogues throughout the book, those are done by somebody else who sounds like William Frakes.
And then later OSC does an atrocious Indian accent for the command school commandant. Still one of the best audiobooks ever made. It's in my top 5 along with Adams' original H2G2, and Thomas Harris' Silence of the Lambs.
And I say that thinking that Amanda Carr is the worst VO reader I've ever heard- being actively repellent as Valentine. But Rudnicki is that good.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
I'm not sure which audio book I was using but yeah. I could tell for sure it was Shamrajnigar when he said "the fleet can handle itself until you get me a commander".
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quote:Originally posted by Taalcon: C3PO is right. It's not a new character. It's Major Anderson. OSC had Anderson as a woman as long back as in his 1999 draft of the screenplay.
For eye candy purposes alone, I'm in favor of this change.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
This movie is definitely happening. It starts filming at the end of this month in Louisiana with Harrison Ford attached as Hyrum Graff, Asa Butterfield as Ender, and a few other interesting choices.
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Hmmm I wonder if they will put some pounds on Viola Davis for the the time spent at the cabin to keep with the lone comment about Anderson gaining a little pooch after spending so much time on Earth.
Granted that would be a very odd detail of the book to worry about.
Posts: 2302 | Registered: Aug 2008
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quote:Originally posted by AchillesHeel: Hmmm I wonder if they will put some pounds on Viola Davis for the the time spent at the cabin to keep with the lone comment about Anderson gaining a little pooch after spending so much time on Earth.
Granted that would be a very odd detail of the book to worry about.
I doubt it. It would be nice for the fans, but given that this is a movie, they will probably all look the same throughout the entire film. Look at how they are dealing with the aging of the kids if you need a good example.
Posts: 1324 | Registered: Feb 2011
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I have better expectations than it seems most do. Before Wolverine, Gavin Hood made Tsosie. He tried to frame Wolverine's character as like Tsosie, but Ender Wiggin is a much likelier match. Unless he feels he learned his lesson and doesn't try and do that, then who knows what will happen.
If Ender's game does well financially there will probably be sequels running up the Shadow series and so forth.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Hello everyone. I am not surprised to find this level of apprehension regarding Ender's Game movie adaptation. Especially since there is no chance anyone would attempt this story using age appropriate actors. But, for the most part, the majority of the audience will not know the difference. We will just have to bite our tongues and be willing to accept what ever license they take with the book. The present cast will be watchable at least, though I am not thrilled with Harrison Ford being in this picture. The casting for Valentine and Petra are fairly good, I would have preferred Chloe Moretz to play Petra.
Well, it's just opinion. What I do hope will come from this is a few more of my favorite stories making the big screen. There is such a wealth of material out there that it angers me sometimes when trying to select something to watch from the drivel that gets made into movies.
I hope the movie is a success for OSC, he has given us many happy hours turning the pages of his books. Best of luck.
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