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Tag: Dink Meeker

Nerd Reactor Talks Dink Meeker with Khylin Rhambo

Nerd Reactor interviewed Khylin Rhambo (Dink Meeker) and talked Ender’s Game, his reaction to learning he’d be acting with Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley, and his work on First Family.

Nerd Reactor: You’re in a big budget science fiction action movie, Ender’s Game. What’s your excitement level right now?

Khylin Rhambo: I mean my excitement level is probably at 9 billion right now to be honest. I’ve been waiting two years, or about a year and change, basically I’ve been waiting for this whole thing to finally unfold. Soon I get to see the finished product, so that is almost so exciting that I don’t even feel anything; it’s like a surreal moment. That’s what I’m feeling right now.

Nerd Reactor: Can you tell us about your character?

I play this character whose name is Dink Meeker, and he’s like the junior of the Battle School. He’s been there for a while and he comes in contact with Ender. The rules are simple, nobody interacts with the new kids because they ‘are’ the new kids and nobody likes them. But Dink, I liked playing him because he was an honorable character to play and when I say that, I mean he was willing to talk to Ender because he knew that there was something special about him. He’s willing to take one for the team if it means that they win. He’s willing to team up with people that he might not necessarily like, he’s willing to respect his boss’ orders even though his boss may be unorthodox. There’s just so many things about him that I would like to incorporate into my own life, so being able to play a noble character like that was actually an experience that I’ll never forget.

Nerd Reactor: You get to act with some big talent including Ben Kingsley and Harrison Ford. So how was that?

Khylin Rhambo: Man, I’m not even going to lie to you. I was really scared. When I first found out who was going to be in the cast, I was like, “Are you serious? Did they make a mistake? Am I supposed to be in the movie?” It was amazing when I first saw them because these guys, I’ve seen so many of their movies and when I shook their hand I just couldn’t help but feel honored to be part of it. Every actor says that, you know, that it’s an honor to work with this person or it’s an honor to work with that person. But it truly, truly was an honor because these guys are elite. They’re at the top and you can’t help but learn from them. The energy on set, the way they carry themselves, it was great to see them like that, to be so professional and extremely talented. So you can’t help but be better when you’re surrounded by people like that.

Read the full interview at Nerd Reactor.

October 22, 2013
Khylin Rhambo as Dink Meeker

I’m sure I speak for most of you that when those leaked character posters came out, we all just kind of reacted like this:

Now we can react like that to this one of Khylin Rhambo as Dink Meeker, which is unofficial, but still amazing for the fun/cool factor.

Khylin posted this to his Instagram today with credit to Ricky Middlesworth. Looks so legit, though I wish some names were on it!

August 24, 2013
EnderCast Episode # 26 – Shoot Straight, Stay Calm
Totally forgot to post this guys, so this is for those of you who haven’t seen it on Facebook/Twitter/Youtube or/and who’d like to be reminded to listen to the funniest EnderCast episode yet: Episode 26, titled “Shoot Straight, Stay Calm” (uh, I love that line in the trailer).

Crystal and Kelly managed to convice Aramis Knight (Bean) and Khylin Rhambo (Dink) to come on the show to talk about the brand new trailer. Needless to say, hilarity ensues. The guys even agreed to battle it out during Pop Quiz: Fart Eater! I’m still laughing about that one.

Our hosts talk to the guys about
- what it was like to see the effects in the trailer for the first time,
- what scene brought tears to Aramis’ eyes,
- who is who in the Eros command center,
- the first look at Admiral Chamrajnagar (and how that is pronounced) and
- who the shield-and-shooter pair in the battle room scene actually are.
The Pop Quiz, Fart Eater showdown at the end is probably the best part of the episode. Don’t miss it!

Listen to the episode HERE!
August 9, 2013
Ender’s Game Cast Watch #3

I’m a bit late this week, but to be fair, there wasn’t that much to report about our young cast as far as social media announcements go – up until today, that is. Let’s have the good news first: Brandon Soo Hoo graduated High School. Congratulations, Brandon!

Also, Jimmy “Jax” Pinchak announced today via twitter that he will be joining castmates Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin and Harrison Ford at Comic Con.

Meanwhile, Abigail Breslin – again breaking the record for most tweets per day – has been alternating sleeping on the couch (due to a bugger infestation of her room, no less) and celebrating half-Christmas with glittery wintery images on Instagram, while Asa Butterfield has been relaxing with his family in beautiful, sunny Greece.

Aramis Knight, on the other hand, has made an effort to make the world a better place in this years annual “One Child At A Time Celebrity Basketball Game” on June 23. For him, and I’m sure for many of the spectators, it was a dream come true.

Finally, Khylin Rhambo has announced that he is changing his name. Personally, I welcome the change, as I’m never quite sure if I’m spelling “Rhambo” correctly.

– Anderson

July 2, 2013
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
Harrison Ford and Abigail Breslin Officially Join Cast of ‘Ender’s Game’

A slew of actors were reported to be officially joining the cast of Ender’s Game today, with Harrison Ford being cast as Colonel Hyram Graff and Abigail Breslin as Ender’s sister Valentine Wiggin.

Other casting announcements:

Aramis Knight has been cast as Bean, Ender’s smallest and most brilliant recruit in Dragon Army.

Moises Arias has been cast as Bonzo Madrid, the leader of Salamander and Ender’s first commander.

Jimmy “Jax” Pinchak has been cast as Peter Wiggin, Ender’s sociopath older brother.

Conor Carroll has been cast as Bernard, the first enemy that Ender makes on the shuttle launch to Battle School.

Khylin Rhambo has been cast as Dink Meeker, Ender’s friend and ally in the Battle School.

Suraj Parthasarathy has been cast as Alai, one of Ender’s toon leaders in Dragon Army.

Source: Variety

December 21, 2011
Casting Calls Go Out for Ender Wiggin and More

According to io9, casting calls have gone out for the film adaptation of Ender’s Game, which is a strong indication that things are finally moving for the movie going into production.

An obvious concern is finding quality actors at such a young age and while Ender is only 5 when he’s recruited, that’s obviously an incredibly difficult age to cast for such a crucial and “smart” role. The script indicates that Ender is 10 instead of 5. While this is a significant jump in age, it’s an understandable change.

Details on the characters they’re casting:

Ender Wiggin: He’s depicted as smart and sensitive, but also incredibly ruthless. There are a few scenes where he worries about being like his cut-throat brother Peter, and confides in his sister Valentine. Just like in the book, he dishes out a rough treatment to Bonzo Madrid, his former platoon leader, when Bonzo tries to bully him too much. And then he feels bad about it. The screenplay also includes some scenes where Ender has weird nightmares about the buggers — and he tries to understand where the buggers are coming from, and what their children are like. Ender is pissed at Graff because he keeps changing the rules in the war “exercises.”

The scene where Ender finds out that his final victory was not, in fact, a game is pretty intense, and features Ender and Graff both trying to talk at the same time. Ender is saying “They came to establish a colony, we chased them away… in fifty years they have never returned,” while Graff is saying, “It makes no difference now,” and then Ender is saying “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds,” at the same time as Graff is saying “What are you talking about?” Finally, Ender is saying “I will bear the shame of this xenocide forever,” at the same moment as Graff is saying, “You will be remembered as a hero.” It ends with Ender getting an injection, knocking him out.

Bean: We get to see Bean watching a heavily edited video of Mazer Rackham’s famous victory over the formics, in which Mazer fires his nuclear warhead into the formics’ exhaust system. And Bean is so thrilled he throws his hands in the air and shouts with joy — until Ender bursts his bubble, explaining that the video is edited so we don’t see Mazer die. (And later, Ender also hints that Mazer’s victory might have had a darker side, that’s also edited out.) In another scene, Graff shows Bean and Ender to the famous zero-gravity training room, where they float around with a bunch of other kids. Ender explains to Bean that there’s no “up or down” in zero-G, and then they discover their weapons actually freeze anyone they shoot at, by causing the spacesuits to swell up. They team up to go freeze some of the other kids.

Peter Wiggin: Ender’s brother is fully a psychopath in this version of the screenplay. He’s insanely jealous that Ender was chosen for the battle school, and completely enraged when it seems like Ender has washed out of the program. At one point, he locks their sister, Valentine, out of the room and forces Ender to put on a Formic mask so they can play Formics and Astronauts, which basically consists of Peter beating the crap out of Ender.

Valentine Wiggin: She’s the gentler, sweeter member of the Wiggin family, who’s always there for Ender — except for when the people in charge of the school won’t let Ender communicate with her. She tries to protect Ender from Peter, but mostly fails — and just like in the book, she convinces Ender to return to the school when he tries to drop out after he hurts Bonzo Madrid. She explains to Ender that what makes us human is our brains, and we didn’t evolve those brains so that we can lie around lakes — we evolved them for killing, or else we wouldn’t still be around. We’d have been killed by wild animals. She alone grasps that Ender has to understand his enemy to defeat them, and in understanding the enemy, he grows to love the enemy — right before he destroys it.

Bonzo Madrid: Just like in the book, he’s a swaggering idiot whose platoon has won most of its most recent battles, and he resents being saddled with a useless, untrained snot like Ender. He orders Ender to stay out of the way during battles, and not even use his weapon. Later, he takes a group of his homies to try and ambush Ender in the shower.

Rose the Nose: The commander of Rat Army, where Ender gets traded after he leaves Bonzo’s toon. Rose has a high opinion of his own leadership skills, even though he knows that his platoon leader, Dink, is “God.” Rose has a terrible fear of losing, but can’t face the fact that he’s winning thanks to Dink and Ender.

Dink Meeker: In the script pages we read, Dink is one of the characers who befriends Ender in the Rat Army, helping to protect him a bit and showing him how to go float in the zero-G chamber to relax.

Petra Arkanian: The only girl in Ender’s first toon, she also befriends Ender and tries to protect him — and when Bonzo decides to keep Ender out of combat, Petra offers to help him train in their spare time. Later, she and Dink are both in Ender’s Jeesh, and she’s a key part of the final assault on the bugger planet.

Alai: Just like in the book, he’s a gentle Muslim boy who moves Ender with his friendship and his professions of peace.

Mick: He’s a heavyset boy who just wants to make it through this school in one piece and get home — and he’s happy to help himself to other people’s desserts.

Source: io9

September 28, 2011