I mentioned in my Blu-ray review that part of the featurette showed some cool footage of the kids at Space Camp and Just Jared Jr. has a video preview of that part of the featurette. Watch Gavin get in Aramis Knight’s face to show them what it’s like in the military:
Category: Asa Butterfield
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Asa Butterfield On Choosing Movie Roles
Prior to the release of Ender’s Game, Asa Butterfield sat down with Ned Ehrbar of Metro to talk about the internet, audiences, and how Glengarry Glen Ross influenced the way he chooses movie roles. Here are my favorite tidbits:
I sort of have a checklist of things. Of course you want story to be brilliant, … that’s probably No. 1 on the list. And then of course you want your character to be as interesting as possible and not just be there to fill in the gap. Then you look at the director and the crew — are they respectable, are they reputable. Yeah, if it ticks all those boxes then generally I find it’s a good project.
[O]ne of the most important parts is the character. It may be a lead, it may be a supporting part, it may just be very little. But as long as you can make your mark on the film, then you’ve sort of done your job. And one of the films I always refer to when talking about this is, do you know the “Glengarry Glen Ross” film? Alec Baldwin comes in at the start and pretty much just tells them to sharpen up. That scene, I mean that has one of the best pieces of acting I have ever seen — and it’s his only scene in the film. I think it’s definitely one of the most memorable scenes I’ve ever watched.
Read the rest of the interview HERE!
Source: Metro; photo courtesy of Zimbio
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Asa Butterfield on Youth and Technology
At the press junket for Ender’s Game last month, Asa Butterfield answered questions at a press conference, talking about youth and technology and some additional details about his audition for the role of Ender.
We heard that you are a gamer. What was it like to be in this ultimate gamers’ movie and how much do you feel your generation has been influenced by technology?
Asa Butterfield: That’s a good point I think. One of the really important discussions even in today’s society is how children of my generation are growing up around this technology. It has shaped their lives. My little sister who is four can work my mom’s iPhone better than she can. It’s crazy how much has changed in the last five or 10 years, and then imagine 50 years from now how that’s going to become an even bigger part of our lives. So to take that idea and making it such an important part of the story was really exciting because I do enjoy computer games. Being able to take some of that knowledge of mine and put it into my performance was something new.
Can you tell us about your audition for the movie and what you had to do?
Asa Butterfield: Well I first got the script in the summer of 2011 I think, and it really stood out to me. I’m a huge fan of science fiction so this is definitely one of my favorite scripts. I was flying around in zero gravity shooting laser guns. What more could you want? Then when I found that there was a book, I read the book and I loved that. When I Skyped with Gavin the director, we talked about the character, his view of him and where I wanted to take it. It was very interesting for me to be able to have that much of a discussion about such a complex character, and I ended up flying here to LA to audition in front of Gavin and just after that I got the role.
The full transcript can be found at We Got This Covered.
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VIDEO: PopSugar Interviews Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfeld
PopSugar sat down to interview Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfeld, talking to Asa about why he chose Ender’s Game, what part of Ender he wishes he could be like, and what he thought when he first saw the film.
With Hailee, they asked what Hailee’s relationship was like with Asa offscreen, whether it was hard for her to be the only female main character, and why she loves young adult adaptations.
Source: BuzzSugar
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VIDEOS: HitFix with Asa Butterfield and Harrison Ford
HitFix interviewed Asa Butterfield and Harrison Ford in anticipation of the Ender’s Game’s opening today. Watch the videos below.
Asa Butterfield:
Harrison Ford:
In the last video, Ford talks about seeing several cuts of the film. Perhaps… one that was longer?
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GIVEAWAY: Ender’s Game Poster Signed by Asa, Hailee, and Producers
It’s the eve of NovEnder 1st, Launchies! To help celebrate the launch of a movie 28 years in the making, I’ve been offered an Ender’s Game poster to give away signed by Asa Butterfield (Ender), Hailee Steinfeld (Petra), producer Bob Orci, and producer/founder of OddLot Entertainment Gigi Pritzker!
The poster is the Dragon Army soldier poster:
To enter to win, all you have to do is go see the movie and then return and post your reaction to the film on our Fan Reactions Page. After that, return to this page to log your entry into the widget below.
I’ll say again, entering is a TWO step process. Posting your movie reaction and logging your entry in below.
This giveaway will end on November 15, 2013 and is open to the US only.
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VIDEO: Asa Butterfield on Conan
Before returning to London, Asa Butterfield made an appearance on Conan. Watch the videos below!
He talks about being introduced as “Assa” and about how the legend of In-and-Out burgers didn’t quite live up to expectations. He then gives Conan a UK cussing lesson.
In this second clip, he describes a rather amazing self-injury he sustained when he played rugby and then talks about Ender’s Game. The clip shown is the Ice Battle scene. (which I can now confirm is cut from different parts of the movie)
Thanks to Team Coco for the videos!
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VIDEO: Ender’s Game Cast and Crew Visit Westminster Academy
During their promotion of Ender’s Game in London in the beginning of October, Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Harrison Ford, Sir Ben Kingsley, Gavin Hood and Bob Orci visited Film Club kids at Westminster Academy to talk about making movies. FilmClubUK just released a vid from the event.
Source: FilmClubUK’s Youtube (thanks to Tumblr user toothle55 for pointing it out)
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VIDEOS: Ender’s Game Press Junket London
As you remember, some of the cast and crew of Ender’s Game did a press tour through Europe earlier this month. While in London, they gave a number of interviews, some of which have now surfaced online. Since they all have the same sort of setup, it can be quite confusing and hard to tell which interview is which just by looking at it, so here is a comprehensive list of all London press junket interview vids I could find. Enjoy!
1. Joe Michalczuk for Sky News EntertainmentJoe basically asks all interviewees very similar questions, so the real treat here is how much they sometimes differ in their answers. Asa, Hailee, Harrison and Bob, Sir Ben and Gavin talk about
- Ender’s Game being an independent movie
- the book, the script, and the movie
- the potential of SciFi and the themes of the movie
- working with the greats/being greats working with kids
- sequels
Watch the other interviewees here:
Hailee Steinfeld…………Harrison Ford and Bob Orci…………Sir Ben Kingsley
2. Rory Cashin for Entertainment.ieNow, these are probably the best ones of the lot. The Interviewer asks interesting and insightful questions and you can actually tell that the interviewees enjoy not having to talk about the same things over and over again for once. Unfortunately, these are not on Youtube, and there is no embed code available on the site. So you’ll just have to do with links!
- Asa and Hailee on their chemistry, reading the source material when doing adaptations, physical challenges and Harrison Ford: HERE
- Harrison and Bob on the book, SciFi, Harrison returning to space, models for Graff, the younger actors and upcoming projects: HERE
- Sir Ben on what attracted him to the role, parallels between the story and the shooting experience, Asa, and telling stories: HERE
- Gavin on his history with the novel, Graff vs. Anderson, challenges of adaptation, and how he works with different actors: HERE
3. James Kleinmann for HeyUGuysUK and NerdyUKThese are run-of-the-mill interviews with some interesting tidbits. Gavin Hood, for instance, talks about why he decided to play the Giant in the Ender’s Game video game sequences.
Here is the rest:
- Asa and Hailee on their characters and their relationship, the pressure of playing an iconic lead character, and what’s special about the movie: HERE
- Bob and Harrison on the book, what attracted Harrison, casting Ender, Asa, and their hopes for the movie: HERE
- Sir Ben on what he likes about the book, lead vs. supporting roles, and wearing the tattoo: HERE
4. The Showbiz 411So far, they have only published their interview with Hailee and Asa. It’s refreshingly light-hearted and probably geared towards younger viewers. The two young stars talk about hitting it off right away, space camp, boot camp, fun on set, tight flash suits and their ideal planet.
5. Cel Spellman, CBBC Friday DownloadAnd last but not least, the most fun video of them all. Kiddy program “Friday Download” (CBBC) presenter Cel not only interviewed Asa, Hailee, Sir Ben, Bob and Harrison, he also challenged them to a match of Rock-Paper-Scissors. The whole thing is hilarious!
Note: It’s out of sync, so if that bothers you, just download it and play it with an audio delay of 2,1 seconds in VLC or Windows Media Player. Thanks to Tumblr users ceolwaerc and toothle55 for making it available.
Sources: Youtube, Youku, Entertainment.ie -
Viola Davis: Harrison Ford Tells a Lot of Dirty Jokes
Entertainment Tonight spoke with Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield, Viola Davis, and Hailee Steinfeld at the Ender’s Game press junket on Saturday. Although they talk a lot about the underlying themes of the film, the gem is definitely when Viola Davis continues her Harrison Ford fangirling and reveals that he’s got a really dirty mind and tells a lot of dirty jokes.
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Wireless Magazine Talks to the Cast of ‘Ender’s Game’
Wireless Magazine recently spoke to the cast and crew of Ender’s Game while they were in the UK and there are some interesting tidbits in the various conversations they had.
Gavin Hood: [T]his is really about a young boy trying to find his own moral centre in a world that is encouraging his more aggressive nature. From a technical point of view there’s all the great fun stuff we have with the battle room and with the simulations. In the book they are slightly different, I’d like to hope fans will feel we’ve made them more visual for the purpose of cinema.
Asa Butterfield: I think that relationship is quite important in the film. When Ender’s first taken away from his home, from everyone he loves, everyone he trusts and put into this completely alien world where almost immediately he’s alienated from his peers there’s no one that he can talk to about what’s going on so he doesn’t really know what he’s supposed to be doing. When he meets Petra as their relationship develops they start to realise they can trust each other. She almost fills the gap that his sister has left so it’s definitely not a love relationship in any sense I don’t think, I just think they’re really close friends. They don’t know anything about boyfriends or girlfriends, they’re just someone they can lean on, to help.
Ben Kingsley: Well, the ending is that one wonders whether or not, without giving too much away, the audience will be curious, intrigued and troubled to know, is this child’s soul going to be distorted forever? Or will he get back to his original self? That in spite of or because of that very taxing journey, adolescence to young adulthood, have they distorted him? I think the answer is in the film and I find it very uplifting.
Hailee Steinfeld: I think there are many, there’s everything from leadership, compassion, all these different things that are so relevant to today. I don’t know that there is a main message I think there are plenty and it will be interesting to see what the audience takes away from it because there is so much in there.
Check out full interviews here.
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EnderCast Episode #34 with Guest Asa Butterfield
It’s obvious we’ve wanted to have Asa Butterfield as a guest on our show for forever and yesterday we finally got our wish with EnderCast Episode 34, Ender Wiggin Ender Wiggin.
Listen as we try to get him to do his American accent, which he says Hailee’s said needs work, and as we ask him what it’s like to see his face plastered all over London and LA. We also got a chance to talk to producers Bob Orci and Gigi Pritzker about their journey bringing Ender’s Game to the big screen and why they’re glad it took this long.
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Asa Butterfield and Ben Kingsley Talk Ender’s Game on ITV Daybreak
This morning, Asa Butterfield and Ben Kingsley were on ITV’s breakfast show Daybreak promoting Ender’s Game. Our readers in the UK can watch the video HERE on ITVplayer!
I wasn’t able to download it, but I hope it will turn up on Youtube soon. In the meantime, here are some quick summaries as well as the best bits, or at least the ones containing information that you may not have heard yet anywhere else.
Asa Butterfield:
First, they showed some scenes from the trailer and from the clip where Ender is given Dragon Army. They then talk about the scene and the dynamics between Graff and Ender:
Host: Asa Butterfield … taking a break from his A-levels to take on Harrison Ford. … And you stare the man down in this, too.
Asa: I do, yeah. It’s … It was quite interesting how at the start of the film he is quite dominant over me in terms of military power, but by the end of it, as you said, we sort of stand eye to eye, and that’s really exciting.Two of the hosts had seen the movie and were impressed with Asa’s performance. They go on talking about
- what it was like working with Harrison Ford
- training for the zero G scenes
- how Asa managed schooling on set (he had a tutor who kept in touch with his school, and he had to take his GCSEs at the British Academy in Houston while filming)
- how he is really a normal kid who plays video games and hangs out with his mates
Nothing new there, really. The Hostess then tells a story about how her little boy plays with Asa’s little sister in the park, and how his mother had told her “he’s doing quite well” and then she found out he was actually a major star. It’s really a cute little interview, but as far as actual news or new insights go, you won’t miss all that much.
Sir Ben Kingsley:
Sir Ben was on a bit later. The clip they showed was the one where Mazer yells at Ender for losing a battle. Sir Ben then talks about how he is always a bit “gobsmacked” when he sees himself on screen because he tends to forget about scenes as soon as they are done. He then goes on to explain the tattoos, how he went through make-up, and how the other cast members looked at him sort of curiously when he came out. He talks about Asa, the major themes of the movie, and how he keeps his awards in his little library at home, interspersed with the books. Here are the best (and most revealing) bits:
On Asa and his performance:
Host: I must confess, again, that young lad, Asa Butterfield – I must confess I never heard of him until yesterday – what an actor!
Sir Ben: He’s in Hugo with me. And in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. He’s extraordinary. He’s very focused. He humbles himself to the job. And he has all his priorities perfectly placed.
[…]
Host: Speaking of young people, you surprised some young people in London the other day. You and your costars. …
Sir Ben: That was a shot in the arm. I love being with those kids. They were so enthusiastic. They’d seen a lot of clips from the film. And I think they empathized with the character; I think that Asa will provide a bridge for a lot of people, in his performance, who are struggling with those very difficult years from adolescence to young adulthood.On the themes of the movie:
Host: There’s a lot of themes in it. One of them is bullying, for example, and the other is really, at the end of it, the morality of war, isn’t it.
Ben: The morality of war, or the immorality of war, however you look at it, and when you align that with, what I find very touching in our film, the young want to please. However obfuscated and blurred that might become, the fact is that they want to get it right, they want to join, they want to be part of the bigger picture, the bigger tribe or whatever. And you do find in Asa’s performance, in the young actors’ performances, that when they hit those targets, when they “get it right”, they are delighted. They just simply want to please. It’s the older generation who take advantage of that willingness in them to please.Sounds about right to me. What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
Source: ITV Daybreak
