David Trumbore of Collider had a phone interview with Asa Butterfield today and they talked at length about how it was working with director Gavin Hood and what it was like acting with such a large cast of kids.
Gavin is an amazing director. I haven’t worked with a director like him. Whereas other directors are quite passive with how they let their actors work, Gavin – especially because he wrote the screenplay – he already knew exactly how he wanted the characters to be. Of course he let us bring our own ideas to it. He was always very enthusiastic, he was always encouraging us, he was always there on the stage. If we needed motivation he was there shouting at us … not angry, just to get the right emotion. Because there were a lot of child actors on the set, the enthusiasm that he brought really got us into that sort of mindset, so it was really helpful.
Asa also comments about what it was like working with Harrison Ford and Sir Ben Kingsley.
I had far more scenes with Harrison than I did with Sir Ben. Sir Ben’s character’s only in it in the last third of the film, but they’re both amazing.
Of particular interest is his mention of the scene where Ender disobeys orders and we get to hear a bit of detail on how that scene has been adapted for the film.
One scene that I really remember is a scene with me and Hailee (Steinfeld). We’re in the Battle Room. She’s hit her head on one of the floating objects. I’ve jumped out … I’ve disobeyed my orders and jumped out to catch her. When I hit her, we start spinning. Of course, in zero gravity, there’s nothing to slow you down.
Overall it’s a fantastic interview, so be sure to check out the entire thing over at Collider. Hopefully we’ll see more interviews with the cast start to come out after the awards ceremony tonight.
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