Tag Archives: Enders Game

New Production Photo Revealed From Ender’s Game

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Courtesy of the Ender’s Game Production Blog, we have another picture from the set of the highly anticipated film adaptation. The new photo shows Ender Wiggin, played by Asa Butterfield, and the monitor in the back of his neck. You can see the new teaser image above.

Roberto Orci, the producer who runs the Tumblr blog said this along with the picture:

Though Ender’s world is one worth saving, it sometimes comes with a price. The novel was amazingly prescient about a great many things: remote controlled drone wars, the internet, the influence of blogging, hand held computing tablets like the I-Pad, and of course, electronic surveillance implants. Implanted tracking and monitoring chips are no longer a science fiction concept. They exist now. And one day, they may be as advanced as the monitor implanted into Ender, which allows Colonel Graff to “see through his eyes” and know: HE’S THE ONE.”

The project is currently filming, and is scheduled to be released November 1, 2013. It is being directed by Gavin Hood with an all star cast.

Written by Orson Scott Card, the story is set in a future utopian version of Earth. It follows a young boy who is a strategist of the genius level who becomes drafted by the International Fleet to battle and destroy to Formics. Formics are a dangerous alien race that threaten mankind. And if Ender fails, then Earth will be gone forever.

The cast, which includes several award winners, is as follows:

  • Asa Butterfield – Ender Wiggin
  • Harrison Ford – Colonel Hyrum Graff
  • Abigail Breslin – Valentine Wiggin
  • Hailee Steinfeld – Petra
  • Aramis Knight – Bean
  • Moises Arias – Bonzo
  • Jimmy Pinchak – Peter Wiggin
  • Suraj Parthasarathy – Alai
  • Conor Carroll – Bernard
  • Khylin Rhambo – Dink
  • Brandon Soo Hoo – Fly Molo
  • Ben Kingsley – Mazer Rackham
  • Viola Davis – Major Anderson
  • Caleb J. Thaggard – Stilson
  • Stevie Ray Dallimore – John Wiggin
  • Andrea Powell – Theresa Wiggin
  • Nonso Anozie – Sergeant Dap

Producer Alex Kurtzman Talks Adapting Ender’s Game

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We love the Ender’s Game production blog, but its sometimes-updated ways are making us anxious for more information. Apparently, MTV felt the same and recently talked with producer Alex Kurtzman about the project.

Written by Orson Scott Card, the story is set in a future utopian version of Earth. It follows a young boy who is a strategist of the genius level who becomes drafted by the International Fleet to battle and destroy to Formics. Formics are a dangerous alien race that threaten mankind. And if Ender fails, then Earth will be gone forever.

“I’m really proud of the work everybody’s done on ‘Ender’s.’ Particularly because it’s a very complicated sprawling book that a lot of people have tried for a very long time to figure out how to make,” Kurtzman said.

He also talked with them about the difficulties of taking the original book, written by Orson Scott Card, and successfully transferring it to the big screen in a way that is understandable for all audiences.

“[Director] Gavin Hood, the minute that we read his script we realized that in a miraculous way he’d managed to distill down the essence of the book and the big moves to a very understandable clear format. He had made changes that were I think totally protective of the novel, he hasn’t changed any of the plot, it’s just about not being able to put all of it in one movie. He really distills it down to its essence in a beautiful way and that was an amazing thing to see. It’s an amazing thing to see the movie come to life because it’s such a special and different movie.”

It is not just the director, Gavin Hood, getting praised by Kurtzman. He also has nothing but great things to say about the cast of the adaptation which includes Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, and Abigail Breslin.

“Asa [Butterfield] is unbelievable in it. Hailee [Steinfeld] and Abigail [Breslin] are incredible. Harrison [Ford] and Viola [Davis] are just, they’re weirdly exactly what you imagined when you read the book, or at least I did,” he admitted. “It’s really going to be a special movie. We’re about halfway through it, maybe close to halfway but it’s been a wonderful shoot so far.”

“We’re just happy to support the vision of the book,” he added. “It’s such a treasured novel and it’s very rare that you get an opportunity to work on something like that so we were very psyched.”

Kurtzman definitely seems thrilled about the way the film is turning out. It will definitely be interesting to see how the film as a whole turns out as well as how scenes set in the Battle Room come together.

Ender’s Game Release Date Delayed To November

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Summit Entertainment has moved Ender’s Game way back from March 15th 2013 to November 1, 2013. They haven’t said why the massive move happened despite the fact that the film was without competition on both release dates, and filming has already begun. However, November 2013 already has some big name films premiering such as Singularity, Marvel’s Thor 2 and the already highly anticipated The Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire all arriving within weeks of Ender’s Game. 

Written by Orson Scott Card, the story is set in a future utopian version of Earth. It follows a young boy who is a strategist of the genius level who becomes drafted by the International Fleet to battle and destroy to Formics. Formics are a dangerous alien race that threaten mankind. And if Ender fails, then Earth will be gone forever.

The cast, which includes several award winners, is as follows:

  • Asa Butterfield – Ender Wiggin
  • Harrison Ford – Colonel Hyrum Graff
  • Abigail Breslin – Valentine Wiggin
  • Hailee Steinfeld – Petra
  • Aramis Knight – Bean
  • Moises Arias – Bonzo
  • Jimmy Pinchak – Peter Wiggin
  • Suraj Parthasarathy – Alai
  • Conor Carroll – Bernard
  • Khylin Rhambo – Dink
  • Brandon Soo Hoo – Fly Molo
  • Ben Kingsley – Mazer Rackham
  • Viola Davis – Major Anderson
  • Caleb J. Thaggard – Stilson
  • Stevie Ray Dallimore – John Wiggin
  • Andrea Powell – Theresa Wiggin
  • Nonso Anozie – Sergeant Dap

 

New Production Photo Shows Asa Butterfield and Co-stars in Training

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After years of development, now that the film adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game is underway, it seems we are getting new photos everyday. Thanks to the new official production blog, we are getting new looks at the film everyday.

While the photo released today is just of the actors training for their roles, it is nice to see that things are moving forward and they are taking the production seriously. 

The photo was posted on the blog with the explanation below:

Houston, we have a problem. We don’t know how to land the Shuttle. Good thing it’s just a simulator safely on the ground at SPACE CAMP in Huntsville, Alabama. Aramis, Moises, Asa & Suraj (pictured above from a monitor in the MISSION CONTROL ROOM ) and the rest of our cast agreed that to do Ender’s Game right, they had to train as though they were really headed into ZERO G. And this wasn’t just an afternoon spent taking a vanity tour. From the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), which simulates extra-vehicular shuttle missions in Earth’s orbit, to the microgravity training chair that prepared astronauts for moonwalks during the Apollo program, the week at Space Camp was genuine prep for the feeling of reality that this movie deserves. And after all, the army that trains together stays together.”

The kids named in the commentary are Aramis Knight, who plays Bean; Moises Arias, who plays Bonzo; Butterfield, who of course plays Ender; and Suraj Partha, who plays Alai.

Ender’s Game is set hit theaters on March 15th, 2013.

The cast, which includes several award winners, is as follows:

  • Asa Butterfield – Ender Wiggin
  • Harrison Ford – Colonel Hyrum Graff
  • Abigail Breslin – Valentine Wiggin
  • Hailee Steinfeld – Petra
  • Aramis Knight – Bean
  • Moises Arias – Bonzo
  • Jimmy Pinchak – Peter Wiggin
  • Suraj Parthasarathy – Alai
  • Conor Carroll – Bernard
  • Khylin Rhambo – Dink
  • Brandon Soo Hoo – Fly Molo
  • Ben Kingsley – Mazer Rackham
  • Viola Davis – Major Anderson
  • Caleb J. Thaggard – Stilson
  • Stevie Ray Dallimore – John Wiggin
  • Andrea Powell – Theresa Wiggin
  • Nonso Anozie – Sergeant Dap

Ender’s Game Producer Posts New Photo From Set

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A brand new set photo has been released courtesy of the new Ender’s Game Production Blog. While they haven’t yet released any photos of the cast, it seems they are going to build up to it.

Ender’s Game producer Roberto Orci has posted a second production blog entry and says:

If you think regular school is tough, try it in a rotating space station. And by the way, do you have a hall pass for hall number 0058? Because if you don’t, you could end up scrubbing the showers. When you first arrive at Battle School, all you perceive is its utility, its functionality… that is until you enter the BATTLE ROOM, where there is no up, no down, and ZERO G’s. Movie making can become overly reliant on digital worlds, and nothing can replace a well-built set that you can see and touch and stand in the middle of, fooling you into thinking you are really there. Enjoy this small taste of Ender’s big world. We’ll see a lot more in the weeks to come.

Directed by Gavin Hood, the March 15, 2013 release stars Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, Abigail Breslin and Hailee Steinfeld.

Ender’s Game Prize Pack Exclusive Giveaway

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Optionated is excited to offer our readers a chance to win free copies of the novel Ender’s Game written by Orson Scott Card. The film adaptation of the novel is currently in production and is filming in New Orleans. Along side the film we are giving away copies of the novel and audiobook.

Ender’s Game is set in Earth’s future; the novel presents an imperiled humankind who have barely survived two conflicts with the Formics (an insectoid alien species normally called “Buggers” by most of the population). These aliens show an ant-like group behavior, and are very protective of their leader, much like Earth ants protecting their queen. In preparation for an anticipated third invasion, an international fleet maintains a school to find and train future fleet commanders. The world’s most talented children, including the novel’s protagonist, Ender Wiggin, are taken at a very young age to a training center known as the Battle School. There, teachers train them in the arts of war through increasingly difficult games including ones undertaken in zero gravity in the Battle Room where Ender’s tactical genius is revealed.

What You Get:

One first place winner will receive a copy of Ender’s Game paperback as well as the audiobook.

One second place winner will receive just a copy of the paper back novel.

Two third place winners will receive copies of the audiobook.

About The Novel:

Reception to the book has generally been positive. It has also become suggested reading for many military organizations, including the United States Marine Corps. Ender’s Game won the 1985 Nebula Award for best novel and the 1986 Hugo Award for best novel. Its sequels, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind, and Ender in Exile, follow Ender’s subsequent travels to many different worlds in the galaxy. In addition, the later novella A War of Gifts and novel Ender’s Shadow take place during the same time period as the original. Ender’s Game has been adapted into two comic series.

A film adaptation of the same name directed by Gavin Hood and starring Asa Butterfield as Ender is planned for release on March 15, 2013.

How To Enter:

Send and email with your name and shipping information to contest@bsckids.com. Please make the title Ender’s Game so we know which contest you are entering. If you follow us on Twitter (@Optionated_) or Facebook you get two chances to win, just make sure you include the name you follow us under in the entry email. We will be announcing winners on April 2nd! Good Luck!

Giveaway Items provided by Macmillan Publishing

Official Production Blog For Ender’s Game Begins

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Production and filming has begun on the adaptation of Ender’s Game written by Orson Scott Card and with the production beginning, the production blog has also begun.

It seems after years of rumors, and hopeful fans, the science-fiction cornerstone novel is finally making it to the big screen. 

Even though production has begun, we do have to wait a while till se see any trailers or official images. However, the film’s producer Roberto Orci has at least given us a new production blog that fans of the novel and adaptation can follow in the meantime.

At the Tumblr Ender’s Game blog you’ll be able to follow updates from the set, from both Orci and guest bloggers, and presumably photos too. Right now there’s just one image up, and while it’s not especially thrilling, it’s worth sharing anyway.

Right now, the blog hasn’t revealed anything incredibly tantilizing but be sure to keep an eye on the blog to see everything they release over the course of the production.

Ender’s Game is set hit theaters on March 15th, 2013.

The cast that include several award winners is as follows:

  • Asa Butterfield – Ender Wiggin
  • Harrison Ford – Colonel Hyrum Graff
  • Abigail Breslin – Valentine Wiggin
  • Hailee Steinfeld – Petra
  • Aramis Knight – Bean
  • Moises Arias – Bonzo
  • Jimmy Pinchak – Peter Wiggin
  • Suraj Parthasarathy – Alai
  • Conor Carroll – Bernard
  • Khylin Rhambo – Dink
  • Brandon Soo Hoo – Fly Molo
  • Ben Kingsley – Mazer Rackham
  • Viola Davis – Major Anderson
  • Caleb J. Thaggard – Stilson
  • Stevie Ray Dallimore – John Wiggin
  • Andrea Powell – Theresa Wiggin
  • Nonso Anozie – Sergeant Dap

Ender’s Game Finally Begins Production

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It’s true, Ender’s Game has finally begun production with the start of principal photography. Considering this film has been attempted to be made into a film several times, it is great news to hear that it has finally made a step forward under the direction of director Gavin Hood.

According to the official press release, the production has began in New Orleans, Lousiana.

Ender’s Game is the big screen adaptation of the novel that was released in 1985 and is written by Orson Scott Card.

The press release also included an official description of the film thus far:

“In the near future, a hostile alien race (Formics) have attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of Commander Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) and the International Fleet (IF) Military are training only the best young children to find the future Mazer. Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy, but strategically brilliant boy is pulled out of his school to join the elite. Ender easily masters increasingly difficult war games, distinguishing himself and winning respect amongst his peers at Battle School. Ordained by Graff as the IF’s next great hope, Ender is promoted to Command School. Once there, he’s trained by Rackham himself to lead his fellow soldiers into an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and humankind.”

The visual effects which are being overseen by co-producer Digital Domain, began filming on Monday at the Big Easy Studios in New Orleans and is scheduled to continue through June 8th.

Director, Hood, is working on the film from his own screenplay although writing duo Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orciare are producing as well even though they didn’t help with the script.

The press released some of the behind the scenes names involved in production which includes:

Costume designer Christine Bieselin Clark, who co-designed the outfits in TRON: Legacy and worked with Gavin Hood previously on X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  Sean Haworth and Ben Procter, of The Thing and Transformers: Dark of Moon are on board as production designers. Also cinematographer Donald McAlpine, and Oscar nominee whose credits include Moulin Rouge!, Peter Pan, Predator, Romeo + Juliet, The Edge, and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is working on the project.

Casting for the project is as follows:

  • Asa Butterfield – Ender Wiggin
  • Brendan Meyer – Stilson
  • Harrison Ford – Colonel Hyrum Graff
  • Abigail Breslin – Valentine Wiggin
  • Hailee Steinfeld – Petra
  • Aramis Knight – Bean
  • Moises Arias – Bonzo
  • Jimmy Pinchak – Peter Wiggin
  • Suraj Parthasarathy – Alai
  • Conor Carroll – Bernard
  • Khylin Rhambo – Dink
  • Brandon Soo Hoo – Fly Molo
  • Ben Kingsley – Mazer Rackham
  • Viola Davis – Major Anderson

Ender’s Game is set to hit theaters on March 25, 2013.

More Actors Come to Play in Ender’s Game

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The film which may already be in production, continues to grow in numbers as they add another familiar actor to the ranks. Nonso Anozie joins the jeesh, playing the part of Sergeant Dap in the film adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s novel Ender’s Game, Deadline reports.

One of the best novels of its’ time, it is a science-fiction masterpiece in which children are pitted against one another to save the human race from extinction. The cast for Gavin Hood’s adaptation of this book has been coming together quickly and the movie has built a lot of momentum; if not close fanatic attention.

Anozie was last seen in Joe Carnahan’s survival thriller The Grey, but the British actor could be seen everywhere from Guy Ritchie’s RocknRolla to Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky to last year’s Conan the Barbarian. Anozie will also show up in the second season of “Game of Thrones”, where he plays Xaro Xhoan Daxos.

In addition, Anonzie will also be joined by Stevie Ray Dallimore; Joyful Noise; and Andrea Powell; “One Tree Hil”l; as the parents of Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, John and Theresa Wiggin. The original story of Ender’s Game doesn’t flat out say this, but because the three Wiggin children are extraordinarily gifted it’s assumed that the parents of the children are just as intelligent. It’s later addressed in a prequel short stories by Orson Scott Card titled “The Polish Boy” and “Teacher’s Pest.” Ender who is going to be played by Hugo star Asa Butterfield, is the greater sum of his parents constituent parts, excelling in intelligence, leadership and empathy.

An excerpt from my previous article, Viola Davis Joins the Jeesh in Ender’s Game:

“Andrew Wiggin is the third child of a family in a world that only allows two per household. Specially licensed to exist, Ender; a nickname which he has grown to think of himself as; is sent to Battle School.”

“This school is for the brightest geniuses on Earth who have the character traits to lead and to win. ”

I think Lionsgate caught on to a formula that works. They bought Summit Entertainment which is producing this film. Combined they have produced movies such as the Twilight Saga films and the upcoming film The Hunger Games. Could it be that Lionsgate is focusing on optioning titles that already have a large following? Well I hope they’re prepared for backlash if the movie adaptation remains true to the novel and shows Ender killing other children. We’re not even talking teenagers here. For decency, I’m sure they won’t be that stupid. However I hope they shoot a scene of Ender giving a Stilson the bully a good thrashing. Just so I can hear him say to the bully’s remaining friends:

“You might be having some idea of ganging up on me. You could probably beat me up pretty bad. But just remember what I do to people who try to hurt me. From then on you’d be wondering when I’d get you, and how bad it would be.” – Excerpt from Ender’s Game

The large ensemble cast for the Summit Entertainment production, currently includes Harrison Ford, Sir Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, Hailee Steinfeld and Abigail Breslin. The film is expected to be released March 15, 2013. Filming begins in New Orleans this month.

Viola Davis Joins the ‘Jeesh’ in Ender’s Game

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It’s pronounced jay-eesh and it means army, allies and friends. If you don’t have one, then you won’t be surviving battle school. Welcome to Ender’s Game. Based on the novel of the same name by Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game is a science-fiction masterpiece where children are pitted against one another to save the human race from extinction.

Viola Davis, an Oscar nominee for her role in The Help; A movie that’s already won three Screen Actor Guild Awards; has signed up for two movies, both which are novel-to-screen adaptations. Davis will be playing the lead in the supernatural thriller Beautiful Creatures and a supporting role in Ender’s Game reports Variety.

In Ender’s Game, the role Davis will be playing is that of a military psychologist, probably one of the many to monitor the mental stability of each student at the battle school; notice I said stability, not health or well being. The children of this story are continuously pitted against one another in mock battles that take place in their orbiting space station, all in preparations for an alien invasion that may wipe out all of humanity.

Davis will be joining a growing a cast of stars including Harrision Ford, Ben Kingsley, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin and many more. The movie; which would do well to draw from the Marvel comic book adaptation due to length; is to be directed by Gavin Hood; X-Men Origins: Wolverine; and is set in Earth’s future, telling a story of a young boy Andrew “Ender” Wiggin that will be played by Asa Butterfield. Production is gearing up now in New Orleans, aiming for a March 15, 2013 release.

Andrew Wiggin is the third child of a family in a world that only allows two per household. Specially licensed to exist, Ender; a nickname which he has grown to think of himself as; is sent to Battle School. This isn’t some school for the magically gifted, those with mutant genes or other special powers. This school isn’t for just the smart either, nerds who spend their time with their heads buried in books, studying furiously. This school is for the brightest geniuses on Earth who have the character traits to lead and to win.

In the book series of Ender’s Game, after the main plot is satisfied, Ender and his Army is divided and sent their separate ways. As they have saved humanity and hold an undefeated battle record; longest run ever in the history of the school; each member of Ender’s army is sought after by each sovereign nation of Earth to lead their armies; or assassinated by the competition. Even if they were just supporting members of the army, they were heralded as saviors.

This is how well I think the cast members of The Help are doing right now. The popularity in the media is so high that each movie in pre-production is trying to get their piece of a winning army.

Orsen Well Card really was a prophet, envisioning such a dystopian future. “Human beings are free except when humanity needs them.”