Don't Have Too High Expectations

[Ender Wiggin]

I was browsing the net out of boredom, and ran across this recent article that had quite a bit of quotes from Card himself about his experience with the film.  Just take a look at these quotes and you'll see what I mean (link to the full article at the end of the post.)

“The scene does not come from the book- very few of the scenes in this movie do- so it was amusing when others asked me how it felt to have my book brought to life. My book was already alive in the mind of every reader. This is writer-director Gavin Hood’s movie, so they were his words, and it was his scene.”

What I can gather from this quote is that the movie is going to be "inspired" or "based" on the book, rather than a carbon copy, or anything actually resembling the book.  It's still quite possible that much of what happened in the book will be intact, but then again the possibility remains that only the character's personalities and behaviors will remain along with the Bugger War background in place.  I'm willing to bet we will not see a movie in which Ender slowly gets older from the age of 6 and the movie end when he's 14 (since they already admitted the characters are going to be older.)  I am betting that Ender and his "Jeesh" are presented as being such prodigies that they storm through Battle School in just a year or two.

I know everyone who joined this site (and the many more who haven't and may happen across this post) want to like the movie.  So I will make a suggestion.  Drop the purist mindset, if you happen to have one, right now.  If Card knows what he was saying while he was making his comments, then he has blatantly stated that this is not the story we all read.  It has pieces, fragments of the story, but it is ultimately something new.  A different take on a similar story with the same characters and premise. 

The Article Link, Click!

[Valentine]

We actually asked about this at the set visit because that kind of comment can of course make a fan really worried. I can't say how they replied yet, but I definitely felt better after looking around. People will inevitably make a fuss over everything though. Once people start analyzing the cast list and realize that characters like Shen and Carn Carby aren't there, I'm sure there will be heaps of "I refuse to see this movie!" comments. They'll never satisfy everyone.

The way I try to look at it is that the movie is produced by Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman and I pretty much find anything they work on to be fun, entertaining, and just right in terms of drama, humor, and action.

[Ender Wiggin]

I'm expecting something vaguely similar to what Peter Jackson did with his Lord of the Rings trilogy.  It was mostly the same story, but a lot of it was changed too, and some fan favorites were dropped entirely (like Tom Bombadil.) 

[Valentine]

Don't get me started on Tom Bombadil. I'm one of the few people very thankful he didn't make the final cut. This of course usually gets me set on fire by "real" LOTR fans. lol

That brings us to an interesting topic though. We all know things will be cut out. What parts of EG do you see being cut and would you be okay with those cuts?

For example, I get the feeling they won't be cutting back to Earth for Locke and Demosthenes throughout the movie as it would break continuity and change the flavor and flow of the film.

[Alai]

I am pretty sure Locke and Demosthenes would be cut. I also can't for the life of me see them focusing too much on the bernard drama. Don't get me wrong, I love that part of the book, but it wasn't necessarily necessary to get the point across. Those scenes would make a movie idolizing Ender seem slightly off cue, becaues Alai inevitably was the one that bridged the gap, healing the rift in the launchies.

[Dink Meeker]

I could see them dropping one, if not both of the Ender's killings, and expect to see much less if any of the conversations between Graff and Anderson about Ender behind his back. I'd see them going a lot more straightforward with the story of Ender.

[Valentine]

I think they'll actually expand Anderson and Graff. I agree about the deaths though, I don't know if they'll keep Stilson's death. I don't know how they'll handle that really. Caleb is a big guy and Asa very slight. It's really different to have 5 year olds fighting, as I would think that it's much easier to kill a small child than a big teenager.

[Ender Wiggin]

I still think Bonzo might have the same fate as he did in the books though.  Their height differences can be solved with a little camera work and heights.  Though I don't mind either way.  If they don't film the fight they'll just have to build that side of Ender's character in a different way, unless they want to tone down his violent streak.  Which is perfectly feasible. 

[Alai]

remember even in the books, bonzo was much taller than ender. Ender had to jump to hit Bonzo in the chin with his head. the hardest part about filming that one, would be they were naked, but thats easy to brush over with towels or even shorts.

[Valentine]

Don't forget the steam!

[Ender]

Honestly, the book is so complex that you really can't make an accurate film of it, and EG is the least complex of the Quartet.  I'm fairly certain they'll keep the Bonzo fight in, and why would they cast Stilson if they weren't going to have a major conflict?  As to Graff and Anderson, they have two stars playing them, so Hood would be a little silly to have their roles cut down.  Honestly, they'll probably cut out portions of the Battleroom; it's less important to the story of Ender as, say, the fantasy game, or training with Mazer.  A montage scene of Ender winning battle after battle with Dragon would be sufficient, whereas the book goes into three battles in fairly heavy, though quite enjoyable, detail.

[Dink Meeker]

Well, the problem with height difference for the Bonzo fight is actually that Asa is much taller than Moises Arias. The fight would be entirely different. I don't think they can play out a physical superiority towards Bonzo unless they use CGI or something.

Here's what I mean(it's kind of funny, really): http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Asa+Butterfield/Hailee+Steinfeld/14th+Annual+Young+Hollywood+Awards+Presented/nK8KASvSJfv

[Alai]

Good point, that now makes me believe the shower scene will probably be skipped entirely, which doesnt make me too sad, I knew some stuff had to go, and they can make the point of that scene just as easy with a verbal confrontation, or showing results of what happened.

[Ender Wiggin]

Wow that guy is really short!  Interesting casting for Bonzo given the height difference.

[enderwiggin]

I think that there are more and more people who understand that movies are not direct retellings of novels. The Ender's Game movie will hopefully be the first of many Enderverse movies, so that (like with other novel-to-films like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter) it will begin to develop and play off of its own canon.