EnderWiggin.net – Ender's Game Movie Fansite

Category: Movie News

Fansite Exclusive: New ‘Ender’s Game’ Movie Still of Salamander Army

Now that you’ve seen EnderWiggin.net’s exclusive reveal of the official Salamander Army logo, as well as the logos for Dragon, Rat, and Asp armies, it’s time to show you why that was just a teaser for today’s reveal. (make sure you enter to win a set of Ender’s Game army magnets or pin buttons HERE)

I’m very happy to be one of four fansites revealing the second official still from the Ender’s Game movie, which, as of today, is 253 days from release. This new still is chock full of amazing new content for fans who have been dying for more since December, when we got our first look at Colonel Graff staring down young Ender Wiggin.

Without further ado, here is a first look at the Battle School mess hall with Salamander Army:

Not only do we see Asa Butterfield as Ender Wiggin again, you get your first look at Hailee Steinfeld as Petra Arkanian (left), Khylin Rhambo as Dink Meeker (right, next to Ender), and Moises Arias as Bonzo Madrid (end of the table on the left). Since there’s a whole lot more going on besides these four characters (see the Battle Room sphere on the board!?), be sure read my still breakdown article coming later today.

In the meantime, I get to dish a little bit more about our visit to the set last year.

We’d been given a list of people we might be seeing and Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, and director Gavin Hood’s names practically screamed themselves from my laptop. I was pretty pumped. We’d also be talking to Conor Carroll (Bernard), Khylin Rhambo (Dink), Aramis Knight (Bean), and Suraj Partha (Alai).

I went into the set visit expecting to see and speak to these seven people, which made me unprepared for all the other people we got to spend time with that day. One of the first surprises of the day was when we were introduced to producer Roberto Orci, which almost made my head explode.

I’d only seen photos of him and hadn’t a clue he’d be there on the set, much less that we’d be spending the day with him. And while it sounds odd to be a “fan” of a movie producer, you have to keep in mind that I’m a huge fan of things like LOST, Fringe, the Star Trek reboots, the Hawaii Five-O reboot, all of which he’s produced or written. I see his name everywhere. And since I have a young son, I’ve seen or been forced to listen to the Transformers movies at least two dozen times which, again, he wrote.

We were in a room whose walls were covered in concept art and storyboards and I almost felt like I should avert my eyes because I’m so used to not seeing such things until a DVD release. A presentation began and we met several producers from Odd Lot Entertainment.

They told us so much in that first hour and a half that I admit I was confused. I’d never expected them to be so open and passionate about the movie, rivaling us fansites. It was like sitting in a room with fans who were 10 times the fans you were. It was humbling to say the least.

After the presentation, they took us on a set tour that included the Launchie barracks that we saw in the first still, Ender’s private quarters, and the infirmary. We were taken to the video village where we saw some scenes being filmed. Garrett Warren, the film’s stunt coordinator came by to talk to us and was so fun to meet.

We headed over to interview the very well-spoken and lovely Hailee Steinfeld, a very intense but also very nice Asa Butterfield, and director Gavin Hood. While it was amazing to interview the young actors who would be playing Ender and Petra, it was eye-opening to talk to Gavin Hood. It was immediately plain to us that he’s a huge fan of the book and after talking to him, I personally felt like the film was in great hands with him.

Having been a fan of Game of Thrones for over ten years, it was surreal when the monstrously large Nonso Anozie (Sergeant Dap in Ender’s Game and Xaro Xhoan Daxos in Thrones) walked– or rather, hunched over — to get into the room. Getting to then discuss movies and Pop Tarts with him was just amazing. We met a lot of the Battle School cadets, including Bean, who all seemed to be great kids who were huge fans of the novel and extremely excited to be a part of the film.

Our tour continued after lunch with a meeting with costume designer Christine Bieselin-Clark, who actually let us touch the flash suits. Nerd out!

We continued on to the props department, which was really cool because even that guy could bring up scenes from the book as if it was nothing. We then talked to set designers Ben Procter and Sean Haworth, who immediately passed our now standard Did-You-Read-Ender’s-Game Test. We were back to sitting in the Launchie barracks again and with that scenery around us, I think the sole question in all of our minds was just, “How do you build something like this from the ground up?” It was a continual thought in my mind as we walked through the Battle School and Eros sets.

And with that, yes, we did get to walk around on Eros. We were actually very fortunate in that they were at the point of production where they were filming Ender’s final battle scene. We stood on that set and I had to resist the urge to turn to my fellow tourists and shake them senseless in excitement. All I will say at this point is that the finale scene that I’d imagined seemed like a shriveled raisin compared to what they had in production.

As if that wasn’t enough, towards the end of our day, they told us they were able to get us 10 minutes with Sir Ben Kingsley. Let me tell you, sitting in a dark Formic room frantically trying to think of questions to ask a knighted actor is a whole lot of pressure.

Those of you that have been reading my site for a while have probably wondered why I seem so on board with the film despite some the changes (which are inevitable with a book to film adaptation). Hopefully this gives you a better idea of why. Everyone we met from the crew to the actors to the producers were all fans of the book and were all so excited to be working on the movie.

As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve left out specific details and quotes, as that’s all still to come as we approach the movie’s release come November 1st.

To stay up to date with all the latest news about the movie, the actors, and upcoming book releases in the Enderverse, be sure to follow EnderWiggin.net, available on the following social media networks:

If you’ve been looking for an Ender’s Game podcast, be sure to check out the podcast EnderCast, which I co-host with Kelly from Ender News.

February 20, 2013
EnderWiggin.net Exclusive: ‘Ender’s Game’ Salamander Army Logo
“Ender,” said Alai.

Ender turned around. Alai was holding a little piece of paper.

“What is it?”

Alai looked up at him. “Don’t you know? This was on your bed. You must have sat on it.”

Ender took it from him.

“I don’t want to go,” he said.

(above is a fan-created image by EnderWiggin.net)

It’s been a long time since our very first glimpse at the Ender’s Game movie and I’m very happy to announce that those of you that have been patiently (and impatiently!) waiting for the next release need wait no longer.

Tomorrow at 1100 Eastern, return to EnderWiggin.net for a fansite-exclusive first look at the second still from Ender’s Game, which will feature a new still with an expanded look at the Battle School. However, to tease what’s coming, we’ve got something really special to reveal.

Today the four Ender’s Game fansites that flew to New Orleans, Louisiana to visit the set of Ender’s Game last May are exclusively presenting to fans four Battle School army logos.

EnderWiggin.net is very excited to give you an exclusive first look at the official SALAMANDER ARMY logo from the Ender’s Game movie:

To see the other three logos head over to:
- DRAGON ARMY at Ender News
- RAT ARMY at Ender’s Ansible
- ASP ARMY at Ender’s Game Fansite
Don’t forget to return tomorrow at 1100 Eastern time for your first look at the second still from Ender’s Game. You won’t want to miss this!

In the meantime, be sure to follow EnderWiggin.net!

If you’ve been looking for an Ender’s Game podcast, be sure to check out the podcast EnderCast, which I co-host with Kelly from Ender News.
February 19, 2013
Cryptozoic Obtains Rights to Develop Games for Ender’s Game Movie

Cryptozoic Entertainment, a company that specializes in licensed games and trading card games such as their extremely popular World of Warcraft trading card game, has obtained the rights to develop a game and trading card game based on the Ender’s Game movie. (confirmed by Ender News)

At the 2013 Toy Fair in New York City, which was held earlier this week, Cryptozoic had on display the tentative logo for Ender’s Game on display. Unfortunately, although there are products on display under the Ender’s Game sign, those don’t appear to be Ender’s Game related.

If you haven’t bought their games in the past, their work looks really amazing judging by their current games available for The Walking Dead and the World of Warcraft TCG.

And WHAT? There are Fringe trading cards? I better not go looking for them otherwise I’ll end up buying them…

So what do you guys think? Are you looking forward to playing a Battle Room board game?

Image credit: Greyhawk Grognard

February 15, 2013
Brandon Soo Hoo Talks Fly Molo with J-14

J-14 Magazine recently spoke with 17 year-old actor Brandon Soo Hoo, who plays Fly Molo in Ender’s Game. Here’s an excerpt from their exclusive interview:

J-14: How would you describe your character in ‘Ender’s Game?’ How are you like him? How are you different than him?

Brandon Soo Hoo: My character, Fly Molo, is a veteran soldier in Battle School. At first, he is introduced as Bonzo’s lackey, but he eventually comes to recognize Ender as the superior commander. I can definitely relate to Fly’s second-in-command role. A leader will always feel the majority of the pressure in a high-stakes situation, whereas the lieutenant is usually allowed to function below the radar. However, I’d say that unlike Fly, I would have a bit of trouble putting up with Bonzo. I have mild authority issues.

J-14: What was the most challenging scene for you to film? Why?

Brandon: The most difficult to film was probably the zero grav close up shots. Core body strength is the key to appearing weightless and I don’t think I had enough of it. Imagine flexing every inch of your body for five-minute intervals while wearing several layers of motorcycles attire. Now, rep that around twenty times. Now put a camera on your face, say some lines, and try not to look like you’re dying.

J-14: What drew you to this movie?

Brandon: When I was 11, my teacher gave me my own copy of ‘Ender’s Game‘ (thanks, Laura). It is still among my top five favorite books of all time. It’s funny because when I was reading the book, I was thinking, “If this book is ever made into film, I hope I can work in it.” I was thinking Han Tzu, but Fly Molo works too!

With there being no Han Tzu cast, it was safe to assume that Soo Hoo’s character had become Fly Molo and Han Tzu combined, just as others we’ll likely learn about going forward. Still, it’s interesting to hear more about the “new” Fly Molo and how he begins as Bonzo’s wingman.

What do you think about this insight into the movie version of Fly Molo? And yikes, sounds like it was a really tough shoot!

Source: J-14 via Ender News

February 7, 2013
Rumor: James Horner to Score ‘Ender’s Game’

According to Film Music Reporter, two time Academy-award winning composer James Horner has signed on to score the upcoming film adaptation Ender’s Game.

As a longtime fan of Horner’s music in truly amazing scores such as Titanic, Braveheart, and Legends of the Fall, I’m trying my best not to utterly freak out over this possibility. But since the site doesn’t quote a source, I’ve tagged it as a rumor until I can get confirmation.

Horner brings an incredible amount of experience to the film, having scored over 150 films in his career in movie music starting back in 1978.

January 30, 2013
The New York Times Talks ‘Ender’s Game’ with OddLot Co-Founder Gigi Pritzker

Today, the New York Times published an extensive article giving us a bit of background on OddLot Entertainment, the production company responsible for finally making the film adaptation of Ender’s Game a reality, by talking with one of its co-founders Gigi Pritzker.

During years of development at Warner over the last decade, Wolfgang Petersen, who planned to direct “Ender’s Game,” referred to its protagonist Wiggin Ender as a science fiction equivalent of Antoine Doinel in François Truffaut’s “400 Blows.” The depth of the lead character is something Ms. Pritzker sought to preserve as OddLot began to carve a film story from what has now become a series of books.

She joined Lynn Hendee and Robert Chartoff, who were supposed to produce the film for Warner, along with Mr. Card and others. They hired Gavin Hood, the filmmaker behind both the South African teen crime drama “Tsotsi” and “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” as writer and director. OddLot bought out the work done earlier for Warner, but Mr. Hood essentially started from scratch, ultimately creating a story that is built around a young actor, Asa Butterfield, who is 15, but is intended, like “Hunger Games,” to attract viewers well into their 30s.

“I think ‘Hunger Games’ cracked the code,” Ms. Pritzker said of a shift in film culture that has since made “Ender’s Game” one of Hollywood’s most closely watched projects.

The article goes on to talk about her passion for the project and that being the reason it finally went into production.

Mainly, Ms. Pritzker said, the aim has been to create a working business, rather than simply to underwrite movies from a family fortune. In putting together “Ender’s Game,” for instance, OddLot joined Digital Domain in providing about 75 percent of the budget, some of that offset by advance foreign sales, while Summit contributed the balance.

In a telephone interview last week, Robert G. Friedman, co-chairman of the Lionsgate motion picture group, credited Ms. Pritzker with having spotted the potential in “Ender’s Game” at a time when most of Hollywood had given up on it.

“A lot of these things sort of hide in plain sight,” Mr. Friedman said. “It takes somebody’s passion to unearth them.”

It’s certainly nice to hear that the filmmakers seem to have a deep appreciation for the story. Does this give you guys hope that the film adaptation will be a success come this November?

Source: The NYT

January 14, 2013
Hi-Res Version of Ender and Graff Still

Thanks to Summit, we now have the unwatermarked version of the first official still. The image has been uploaded to the EnderWiggin.net Gallery.

With a hi-res still, we can do a better analysis of the details of the image including something Kelly and I talked about on the premiere episode of EnderCast: Graff’s shoulder pin.

As you can clearly see, his pin does indeed have the IF Phi on it. As mentioned on the EnderWiggin.net Facebook, it’s possible we’ll be sitting in line for midnight premieres of Ender’s Game on Halloween 2013! Any cosplayers out there ready to start making their IF costume for SDCC? I know if I knew how I would be!

Another thing to note about the still is that you can now clearly see that there are six people standing on the same side as Ender, which makes it safe to assume that there are only 12 launchies to a barracks, since the soldiers are standing on numbers starting from 01 with the girl in yellow on the left and then going to 02 under Ender’s feet. There also appears to be an additional girl on Ender’s side of the barracks.

Pick up any other details? Comment and let me know what you find!

December 17, 2012
PHOTO: First Official Still from ‘Ender’s Game’ with Ender and Graff

This morning brings to us the first official still from next year’s film adaptation Ender’s Game, brought to us exclusively by Entertainment Weekly.

The still, which shows child military genius Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) with Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford), is from the barracks at Battle School in space, where Ender is in training with the International Fleet among the world’s brightest young soldiers.

In the background, you can see the insignia for the International Fleet as well as their beds, no doubt a cold contrast to what they’ve just left at home. Alai (Suraj Partha) stands next to Ender. Behind Graff there’s a female cadet and several unidentified cast members (most likely background).

In the photo above, we get a first glimpse of Hugo’s Asa Butterfield (right) as Ender, standing in line with other new recruits (a.k.a. “Launchies”) early on at his time in the Battle School. He’s facing off with the imposing Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford, center) over whether his emails to home are being blocked. It’s telling that the two characters are clashing over communication, since they’ve got major communication issues with each other. In the novel, Ender could never be sure whether Graff was manipulating him, or whether he simply saw great potential in him and wanted to foster it.

The actors tried to mirror their characters’ emotions. “The relationship between [Harrison] and Asa was very close,” explains Hood, “but he didn’t overly befriend him off the set. He helped Asa by allowing that slight sense of intimidation to be there.” Getting intimidated by Indiana Jones himself? Sounds like a cinch! What was harder for the cast of children was filming the movie while going to school. “The kids have to attend school for at least three hours of class every day, plus do homework, so you can only shoot with someone like Asa for five hours of your day,” says Hood. “There was no time for fooling about or not knowing your lines or being unprepared.” To everyone’s delight, Butterfield (along with every child actor) proved himself a true professional. “Asa being prepared meant that we could focus on the scenes, and these are complicated scenes for a young actor,” says Hood.

Source: Full article at EW.com

December 5, 2012
Orson Scott Card Reveals Details of ‘Ender’s Game’ Movie

Thanks to an EnderWiggin.net reader, we got a tip that there are a series of videos from a book signing that Orson Scott Card did earlier this month for his book ‘Ruins‘ which was released on October 30. The signing was held at a Barnes & Noble bookstore in Orem, Utah.

In this first video, Card jokes about how he was offered a part that involved cool uniforms, but insisted that he’s improving the look of the movie by only appearing by voice as a pilot on a shuttle as Ender and Graff.

He goes on to reiterate what he said in a previous interview about how few scenes are in the movie from the book but this time says there are NO scenes from the book in the movie.

There are no scenes from the book in the movie, and there are no scenes in the movie from the book, but that’s actually not a surprise. That’s pretty much the way my scripts were too because Ender’s Game is an unfilmable book. That’s something we learned 20 years ago.

I find this particularly confusing, as if there are no scenes from the book in the movie, then what exactly is going to happen in this movie called ‘Ender’s Game‘? It certainly sounds like it follows the story. Perhaps he means that there are no lines from the book in the movie?

If you filmed every scene it would be a four and a half hour movie, and I don’t care how much you love Ender’s Game, four and a half hours is a long time to sit in a theater. We also discovered very quickly that one battle in the Battle Room is one too many. You gotta see it happening, but it’s like watching Quidditch. How exciting was that? You already know how it’s gonna come out, you just wanna see them fly around a little bit, bingo it’s over. And that’s kind of how Battle Room is. It’ll look great, but we’re not going to follow these battles closely.

Looks like I’m going to have to agree to disagree with Mr. Card on this one because I really preferred watching Quidditch over reading Quidditch! I also don’t really think that one Battle Room scene is necessarily enough to appease not just fans, but newcomers. Summit will of course want non-book fans to come to see the movie and I’m not entirely convinced that one or even no battle would make the point of Battle School clear to these viewers.

In the second part, Card talks a bit about how Harrison Ford is in person, mentioning that he’s a very shy, quiet person who goes off into a corner once the cameras are off. He goes on to talk about meeting the other kids and how they suffered doing their wire work, but ended up being in the best shape of their lives.

He touched more upon the script and how they went with Gavin’s script over his.

Here’s the thing about movie. It’s going to be different from the book. It has to be. It couldn’t be filmed the way it was, the way the book is. And so what I’m hoping is, it’s brilliant. I would love it if Gavin’s script was really good. Now I did a reading of the script that I was really proud of, but you could lose your job greenlighting a film scripted by the author. That’s just the truth. And you can’t lose your job over greenlighting a film scripted by the director. So they went with the one where nobody loses their job, whether it wins or loses.

He goes on to tell his fans to go see the movie once and if they love it, bring their friends back and if they don’t, bring their friends back to show them how awful it is. Still, he sounds confident about how things will turn out. “I am very hopeful that it’s going to be terrific.”

Later, Card takes questions from fans and the first one is actually one that I’d been dying to know as well, so it was great seeing this asked.

I read Ender’s Game back when I was 17 in the 80s. The thing that really grasped me is that in it you talk about the internet, you talk about laptops, wireless internet, chatrooms, […] and identities online. What gave you the insight?

The novel by 1985, while the internet was not open for public access yet, there were services like […] and Delphi. I had been on bulletin boards, I knew about flame wars. I mean there was all kinds of stuff like that.

Despite his answer, I still found the things he described in Ender’s Game to be very prescient in that the desks he “created” in the 80s are now the tablets of today. (not laptops imo)

There are three more videos that you can watch here: Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Source: Donovan Heap via Roko

November 30, 2012
Summit Releases Official Synopsis for ‘Ender’s Game’

Summit Entertainment has released the official synopsis for Ender’s Game. As a fair warning to people who have not read the book, this synopsis contains book SPOILERS.

In the near future, a hostile alien race (called the Formics) have attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet 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 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.

Arriving at Battle School, Ender quickly and easily masters increasingly difficult war games, distinguishing himself and winning respect amongst his peers. Ender is soon ordained by Graff as the military’s next great hope, resulting in his promotion to Command School. Once there, he’s trained by Mazer Rackham, himself, to lead his fellow soldiers into an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and save the human race.

Note that I say book spoilers. With Summit pulling Mazer Rackham’s presence as Ender’s teacher this early on, it sounds like the movie will possibly be eliminating the long timeline put forth in the books to condense the story down.

What do you all think? Will Mazer’s relativistic space travel be cut and the story’s timeline be altered for the film?

November 19, 2012
60% of ‘Ender’s Game’ to Feature Visual Effects

As is to be expected with a movie set in space with aliens and children flying in zero gravity, a large part of Ender’s Game will feature visual effects. According to a recent China Daily article, over half the movie will feature special effects to be worked on by Galloping Horse, the company that recently acquired Digital Domain.

About 60 percent of the film, focusing on conflicts between humankind and aliens in the Earth’s future, features special visual effects, according to Ivy Zhong, vice-chairperson of Galloping Horse.

Digital Domain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September and sold off their projects, which hopefully won’t delay post-production too much, since Ender’s Game will be the first project the two companies focus on. The need for that much special effects certainly makes the delay in the movie’s release look like a very good thing.

Source: China Daily

November 10, 2012
‘Ender’s Game’ Officially One Year Away

We still have a long way to go, but today ‘Ender’s Game’ fans can look at their calendars and know that we’re now officially one year away from the release of the movie starring Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, and Ben Kingsley.

November 1, 2012
‘Ender’s Game’ to Be Released in IMAX Theaters

In a conference call today with analysts, Lionsgate revealed that Ender’s Game will be getting an IMAX release next November. Opening three weeks before ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’, the highly anticipated sequel to ‘The Hunger Games’, Ender’s Game will be the first of two Lionsgate IMAX movies in one month.

Another interesting bit to come out of that call is the fact that Lionsgate execs referred to Ender’s Games as a “franchise”, which is an exciting prospect for fans hoping to see a sequel to the movie put into production.

“There’s a lot of books,” Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said. “We’re excited about the franchise.”

But he did temper expectations slightly, noting, “it’s a very different kind of franchise than ‘The Hunger Games.’”

There’s no arguing that fact, with the book sequel to Ender’s Game taking place thousands of years later. However, you never know with movies. They could just age Ender down (as opposed to up for Ender’s Game) greatly to keep actor Asa Butterfield on as Ender Wiggin for potential sequels. Let’s hope the movie is a success, thus ensuring us more movies in the Enderverse!

Source: Yahoo! Movies

August 10, 2012