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More on ENDER'S GAME
Well, looks like ol Orson Scott Card is on the ol book tour, and he's spreading the word. I'll be keeping my ear to the ground on this one waiting to hear anything definate. Until then... here's the report....
Last Wednesday (May 12) we saw Orson Scott Card give a reading and talk
about his upcoming projects. He is a popular science fiction and fantasy
writer, and he was been trying for years to make his "Ender's Game" book
into a movie.
After a few script tries and false starts, he will finish a new script this
week that keeps the focus of the story on Ender, the young boy and hero of
the book. This also keeps the screenplay more like the book. Orson was
forced to abandon this approach with earlier scripts, because studios
wouldn't risk a big movie that's so dependent upon a young actor.
But then Orson found out that Jake Lloyd read "Ender's Game" and wants to
be Ender. So Orson has made a new script, will fly out to Hollywood later
this month to pitch it, and if he can get Jake to sign on, the movie has a
chance.
Also, Orson has a new book coming out this August entitled "Ender's
Shadow." This is actually a retelling of Ender's Game, but from the
perspective of a different character (Bean).
Orson's dream would be to do a screenplay for "Ender's Shadow" as well, and
shoot both movies at the same time with the same actors, then release them
a few years apart.
This is all according to what we heard Orson Scott Card tell us, and he
said it was fine to spread the word.
Thanks for doing and maintaining your site. It's a blast to read.
Sincerely,
Tom B
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Some friends of mine and I had the pleasure of an extended conversation with Orson Scott Card after a local booksigning.
The guy is a dynamo. He's got Ender's Game coming out. He's working on a tv project. He's already got OTHER BOOKS in the planning stages. And he's very passionate about all of this.
From listening to him, I really don't think he's milking Ender's story for cash as you fear; he honestly seems to have more to say about Bean and Ender from Bean's perspective. He's excited about it. Also....
Card has ANOTHER book planned after _Ender's Shadow_. It's called _Shadow of the Hegemon_ and ties Bean in with Peter Wiggin's unification & control of the Terran political system. Good stuff. :) -
Hey Cuthbert51, have you even read Ender's Shadow yet? If so, then maybe you are right. But if not, then how do you know that it will ruin the movie, eh?
Why not read the book first and then evaluate its possible affect on the movie.
Just my thoughts.
Grey -
well how about comparing it to
Star Wars ANH and Troops ;)
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Is anyone else concerned about this movie. I LOVED Ender's Game. But I can definately see Hollywood turning it into a movie about a kid vs. really bass-ass looking cg buggers. Which is not what the book is about. It be a much better movie if we didn't even see the buggers at all, only hear references of them. Please, don't screw up this story, I beg you!
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On www.hatrack.com (Orson Scott Card's official website) there is a link to the first four chapters of Ender's Shadow. I haven't read them yet (I'm supposed to be working), but I'm sure they give a good idea of exactly what Mr. Card is trying to do with the companion novel.
As for the movie, I'd be happy with just one that was at least semi-faithful to the source material. A second would be gravy. Not that I have any faith in Hollywood to deliver even the first... -
Decide for yourself. Orson has put a few chapters of "Ender's Shadow" on the 'net at:
http://www.hatrack.com/osc/books/shadow01.shtml -
Ender's Game the movie? This could work, but I agree that the aliens should not be shown, just hinted at (or maybe just show an alien fleet). The book was amazing and if THEY can pull this one off it could be brilliant but I am reluctant to think that Hollywood would let such movie pass by without pressing to get Bruce Willis a part.
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Hasn't this kid been getting TERRIBLE notices on Phantom Menace? Come on now. I saw like a 30 second clip of Anakin with Shmi... and he was TERRIBLE. To the studios, I say go ahead and make ender 12 or 13. For one thing, you can find a capable actor. And frankly -- I love the book, but a 6 or 7 year old killing others in fistfights? Symbolic and meaningful in the book's context, yes -- but not too damn likely. The Ender-centric script is a must, though.
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A few years back, I might've been excited to hear that Card was pushing hard to turn Ender into a movie. I think it has great potential like so much of Card's work. Unfortunately, Card's work and potential have seemed to have dried up lately. The edge that made one reviewer refer to reading his work as, "like playing pattycake with Baby Huey" is gone. A while back Card posted an Ender script on the web and, frankly, it stunk to high heaven. His last few books were very disappointing. I think the best he could do for Ender and all his fans is to sell the rights with a guarantee of script approval and then get the hell out of the way of the process.
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ENDER'S GAME and SPEAKER OF THE DEAD remain the best sci-fi books I've seen come out in a long time - I can only hope the script and the movie do justice to Card's work. There's no question but that in the right hand's ENDER'S GAME could make a stunning movie. Of course, the same could have been said of STARSHIP TROOPERS, which still awaits a decent film adaptation.
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I saw Scott Card at a signing in NYC & he gave basically the same news. That Jake Lloyd wanted to do the film & his parents wanted him to so it looks pretty good as long as they can get the ball rolling quickly. Ender's Game is one of my favorite books & I would love to see it come to the screen if done well. I think that Jake Lloyd is the PERFECT choice for the role (I saw Episode I last week & I have no doubt about this). I also trust that Scott will write a wonderful script. Keep the fingers crossed. -John
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OSC wrote *Ender's Game* was to illustrate the real problem of child warriors. Around the world, children, as young as age 6, are being drafted into armies and are being forced to fight in wars they cannot begin to understand. They are often forced to kill their parents or watch their parents being killed and then told that they were responsible for their deaths.
From what I have seen of Jake Lloyd, he should be able to pull off the role. The only thing is that if *Ender's Game* is made now, Jake will be 11 years old. OSC will probably have to compromise on that aspect of the book, because I understand how it may be difficult to find talented actors who less than 10 years old to play the role. But don't think that it is unrealistic for a child of Ender's age to be forced into the situation that he was placed. That was the very point of *Ender's Game*.
Next question - who should play Peter? -
When i read these scifi book i like to think about how they could be made into movies... when it came to this book the only way i could think of it as a movie is if it was a cartoon. the characters are to young to be real kids so i say go ahead and make this movie animated...
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As much as a I enjoyed Ender's Game and would likely part ways with $6.50 to see a film version, I can't help but be critical of OSC's plan. Frank Herbert (whose skill as an author is several notches above Card's) tried on numerous occasions to adapt Dune for the big screen and gave up on every one. Good novels contain a great amount of psychological depth and plot complexity that cannot be accurately translated to film in a mere 1 1/2 to 3 hours. Card is trying to take a story and transcend it between to very different mediums. Ender's Game is probably not "action-oriented" enough to work as a movie. In addition, it has a very repetitive pattern--Ender has family problems, Ender plays a souped-up version of Lazer Tag, Ender tries to defeat a VR giant, Ender gets in a fight, repeat (and throw in a few original scenes to move the plot along). Even the final battle would be pretty dull on film, just a bunch of kids playing video games. Sure, you could cut to scenes of the actual battle between the humans and buggers, but that would ruin the surprise when Ender finds out that his "final test" was actually the real thing. That plot twist was one of the highlights of the book; to mess with it would be criminal. It would also be near-impossible to find a group of child actors capable of pulling the roles off convincingly (and if the "Mannequin Skywalker" rumors are true, then Card's decision to pursue Jake Lloyd as Ender will inevitably whip up a real shitstorm with the fans). There's a heap of great works of SF that I'd love to see on film--Hyperion (I'm 100% sure I'd wet myself with glee after seeing a CG Shrike on the big screen), The Snow Queen, The Man in the High Castle, Snow Crash (which should be obvious by my user ID), Foundation--but the fact remains that it would take nothing short of a miracle to make them truly work. This is Hiro Protagonist, over and out...
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What the hell are you talking about? "Child warriors"? This is a widespread problem now? Well, shit. I knew sooner or later some evil mastermind would realize the fearsome untapped potential for deadliness in the preschool set. May God have mercy on us all! Seriously buddy, what the hell were you smoking?
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I was thinking, but given that the book is probably much too big to translate well into a movie, why not go back to the original short story? Seems like that would translate well into a movie, and would eliminate a lot of the repetition the movie might have. (Not to mention some of the book, especially Ender's early life, would be completely unintelligible onscreen. "Thirdie lost his birdie" and such. Same problem Dune faced, on a lesser scale)
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I have yet to see a movie adaptation that does justice to a book. I read 2-3 books a week and see on average 2 movies a week so I enjoy both mediums, however a book has so much more depth than a movie that a screenplay just cant portray the same experience you get from reading it. Now this is not to say that I havent liked these movie adaptations (I loved StarshipTroopers the movie but it was not the book and was not as good as the book) but there is not a movie out there made from a book that I can say I liked more than when I read the book. I would like to see Enders Game the movie because I love movies and I think they could make a good movie out of it...will it be as good as the book? Definitely not!
There has to be a seperation between the two. You cant compare a book to a movie. A movie just cant give as much a book can in my opinion...but a movie can still be good when looked at on its own merits as movie not in comparison to the book its based on.
In parting I'd like to say to Hiro that I too would like to see Snow Crash the movie but I'd also like to see The Diamond Age too.
Out -
A number of the comments on this thread bear a little scrutiny by anyone who feels strongly about the state of Science Fiction interpretation in Hollywood today. In this case, as it relates to Orson Scott Cards adaptation of
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Not much to add to the thread, except that i just finished an advanced copy of _Ender's Shadow_ and found it pretty darn good. Quite a different Bean we have in this book than from the first. It really works to have the same story told from his POV. Made me go back and read _Ender's Game_ for the fourth time...but this time it doesn't quite excite me like it used to.
Don't forget to read Card's novelization of _The Abyss_ !!
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Unlike Frank Herbert, who, according to Hiro Protagonist, couldn't figure out how to make Dune into a good movie, OSC has considerable experience in stage production. Chances are, if anyone could make EG work as a movie, he could.
If there's any doubt in your mind as to his ability in this area, read the introduction to Ender's Game.
Sugar-Rat, regarding some of Card's other stuff being made into movies: I actually made a story board for a movie version of Freeway Games for my film class last year. My teacher said that of all the presentations that was made, mine seemed the most like it could really be made into a movie.
That's the power of Card, folks =)
Anyway, anyone interested in Card discussion should try the Highly Unofficial Orson Scott Card Mailing List. Anecdotally proven to be the friendliest and most courteous Card discussion group on the 'net!
For more information, go to http://www.timp.net/osclistgallery/
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Is anyone else out there longing to see an adaptation of Cordwainer Smith's work - "Scanners Live In Vain", "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell" and other stories in his "Rediscovery of Man" series? Ah - if only...
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In my "movie geek-turned-brilliant director" fantasies, I imagined adapting ENDER'S GAME into a perfectly faithful, intelligent movie that would miraculously please all the fans of the book. That dream is now iced, but what remains are my real doubts that it could work as a film at all. Just as Ender was humanity's last hope, the fate of the movie will rest on Jake Lloyd's shoulders (or brain). It would be a near impossible feat for any child actor to pull off. As for the script, one of the most crucial and entertaining aspects of ENDER'S GAME was the thoughts of Ender that preceded and followed nearly every line of dialogue. So many film adaptations have struggled to compensate for the huge loss of the internal psychology of the characters, and failed. DUNE's "whispering of thoughts" didn't really come off well. ENDER'S GAME is so subjective (only occasionally does it switch from Ender to Valentine's POV, except for the Graff/Anderson stuff) that I feel it's impossible for the film to achieve greatness like the book does. But since ENDER is my all-time favorite novel, I'm hoping for at least a moderate success.
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There is a difference between reality and EG when it come to kids as soldiers. 1st, in EG the children at battl;e school would have scored much higher on the bell curve than prolly most of us here (the bell curve in relation to IQ being centered at 100), The children of EG are not conscripted and forced to fight, they are given a choice. They aren't handed a gun and told to fire, they are trained in military tactics and methods. These ain't ordinary kids here.
Now, about the prob of finding kids to act in it... how about not finding them? Now that Y2K is over, and the computers survived, lets go like "Final Fantasy: The Movie" and use CG chracters exclusively!!!
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