Set visit reports are pouring out today and Slashfilm’s piece had a particularly interesting tidbit of info that should relieve fans still worried about author Orson Scott Card’s comments last year about how one Battle Room scene was “one too many”.
There will be about five scenes in the Battle Room and it took about 4 weeks to shoot them all.
Whatever the cost, producers knew the zero gravity battle scenes had to be done right. Stunt coordinator Garrett Warren said he was never given any kind of restrictions in developing the zero gravity tech because everyone knew the movie hinged on it.
Hood and Warren looked at all kinds of different ways to capture the zero gravity including, but not limited to, actually filming in real zero gravity. They investigated more mundane solutions such as computer graphics and motion-capture, but eventually decided on elaborate practical effects.
They also reveal that they learned that each of the three stars built on set weighed a whopping 13,000 pounds!
To read their full list of 30 things they learned on set, click here.
You are reading Part 1 of a five-part Ender’s Game set report series scheduled for the next week.
As of today, it’s been 464 days since I was on the set of Ender’s Game in New Orleans, Louisiana, staring up at vast green screens and sets in what can only be described as complete and utter awe. Never in the week leading up to that day had I imagined the place I ended up in.
I live in Hawaii, so when my journey began, I was put on a 10 hour direct flight from Honolulu to New Orleans. Seven hours into the flight I was ready to jump out of the plane, but consoled myself with thoughts about what was to come. I met Erin Gross from Ender’s Game Fansite at the airport and we shared a cab to the hotel.
After checking into one of the most gorgeous hotels I’d ever been in, I looked out the window to check out my view, then relaxed until it was time for dinner with Erin. I’d already “known” her by name through our Hunger Games websites, but this was the first time we’d spent some serious time together. It was great to finally talk with someone doing the exact same things that I was doing and who also loved Ender’s Game.
We met up with Kelly from Ender News, who would later become my podcasting partner in crime, and Cassandra from Ender’s Ansible. After a bit of chit chat, we said good night. I tried to prep questions, tried not to get too excited about the next day, and tried the impossible task of falling asleep.
In the morning, we met in the lobby and found a group of other press that would be touring with us including journalists from HitFix, IGN, J-14, and Nerdist. We were given Ender’s Game set badges (which I still have!) and hopped into a van to be driven out to Big Easy Studios at the old NASA Michoud Facility.
Once we got on site, we were taken to the production offices and lead into a conference room wallpapered in concept art and notes. I saw refreshments to the side including my weakness, strawberries, but I was too excited and almost too nauseated to eat. Bob Orci, the producer, was in the room. I’d had no idea he’d be there and being a big fan of a lot of his work, I was more than a little starstruck. Then we sat down and he and fellow producers Lynn Hendee and Linda McDonough proceeded to spew out everything I could have ever wanted to know about the movie they were making.
Ender’s World
Although they hadn’t yet taken us on a tour of anything, the initial producer’s presentation was a gold mine of imagery. If you can recall how long we all have been analyzing and scrutinizing each of the stills and imagery that come out, imagine having 50 of those flash before your eyes in a matter of minutes. I had to force myself not to shriek, “STOP! Go back! I didn’t stare at that one long enough!” Still, Bob Orci continued to flick through them one after another.
An International Fleet school on Earth. Image courtesy of Summit Entertainment.
Even though I’m a longtime fan of Ender’s Game, I admit I never put too much thought into the world that the Wiggins lived in on Earth. Judging from the still above, which Summit provided to us for this report, Ender lives near some type of metropolis. But while in the book, the Wiggins live in the city, that won’t be the case with the film. The Wiggins in the film will live in a home closer to what you may have imagined Bean visits in Shadow of the Hegemon.
“We want[ed] what’s happening on Earth to contrast to the technology of space. So many sci-fi novels present a dystopian future, kind of an ugly place, we wanted to present Ender’s world as one worth saving, one that’s become utopian in many ways.” said Orci. He showed us a slide of a beautiful home with classic columns. “Just like the Vatican is alive and well the way it’s been existing for the last five hundred years here, […] why wouldn’t there be classic houses?”
The Wiggin home is utopian indeed. We were shown photos of Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff and Viola Davis as Major Anderson inside a very picturesque living room, presumably when they’ve come (together, I might add) to take Ender to Battle School. Last month, we actually got to stand in that very same living room at the Ender’s Game Experience at Comic Con.
While a lot of the stills they showed us have been erased from my memory by time, one that managed to stick with me is an overhead shot of Valentine looking up at something with a sad look on her face, presumably at that point Ender is already gone. I can’t remember if it was a mobile or something else, but it could possibly be the plane hanging from the ceiling of his bedroom.
The homes aren’t the only things carrying “classic” themes. At school on Earth, the classrooms are designed after typical science classrooms just like one that you might have learned in yourself. When it comes to Battle School, however, you can see the contrast Orci talks about when you compare the classroom you know with this image (below) of a classroom in Battle School. We also saw a still with Ender facing off against a rather intimidating Stilson.
Some of you may remember we all got to see a photo of Ender’s monitor last year and during the presentation they showed us a photo of Ender sitting on a medical examiner’s table, with some concept art of the utopian society shown on a window behind him.
In the trailer, there’s a shot of a rocket shooting into space and I’m assuming that this is Ender and Graff launching from Earth to go to Battle School. Orci mentioned that they’d started with concept art of a space shuttle taking off like an airplane, but they were promptly shot down by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who they’d been consulting with. “[Musk] said, “No, that would never happen. Since you’re trying to get up, just point the damn thing up.””
Here’s some seriously cool news for you Launchies! Publisher Insight Editions will be releasing a companion book for the Ender’s Game movie titled Ender’s Game: Inside the World of an Epic Adventure. Your fansites are here to unveil the cover for the new book, due out sometime before the movie’s release!
Read the official description for the book below:
Based on the best-selling novel, Ender’s Game tells the thrilling story of the fight to save the world from a devastating future. Now, in this official companion volume, the behind-the-scenes world of the film is brought into stunning focus.
Following an attack by an alien race known as the Formics—narrowly countered thanks only to the efforts of legendary war hero Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley)—Earth has been preparing itself for the next wave in the conflict. The fate of humanity lies in finding the next Mazer from a crop of the brightest young minds on the planet. Under the watchful eye of the International Fleet, the venerated Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) has been tasked with overseeing their training. Before long, a standout emerges among them: Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy but prodigiously talented misfit. His potential discovered, Ender is promoted to Command School, where he will soon find the war with the Formics to be more complex than he could have ever imagined.
Packed with in-depth interviews, removable posters and army badges, stunning concept art, unparalleled access to the visual effects archives at Digital Domain, and countless full-color images, this insightful insider’s view of the making of Ender’s Game will bring fans closer into the world of the movie, following cast and crew as it is brought to dazzling life.
Also featuring Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) as Petra Arkanian, Viola Davis (The Help) as Major Gwen Anderson, and Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) as Ender’s brilliant older sister, Valentine.
Jed Alger is the author of The Art and Making of ParaNorman. An advertising writer and creative director with more than twenty years of experience, he has worked on some of the biggest, most challenging brands in the world—Google, Twitter, IBM, Microsoft, Starbucks, Target, Electronic Arts, and Hewlett-Packard among them. Jed graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in philosophy and received his MFA in creative writing from Columbia University. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
Gavin Hood is a South African filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, and actor, best known for writing and directing the Academy Award–winning foreign language film Tsotsi. He is also the director of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, among several other films.
For those of you that don’t care about spoilers, this sounds like heavenly access to the making of the film. For those of you that are afraid of seeing too much, you may want to buy it and leave it unopened until you see the movie! I know that when the Hunger Games companion books came out people got upset with themselves for not being able to resist looking at all the imagery.
Gavin Hood appeared as a guest at Fan Expo Canada this past weekend and spoke to press about the upcoming Ender’s Game adaptation. In an interview with Metro News, he talks about the difficulties of adapting the book and his interest in the grey areas of the novel.
“Some films masquerade as dealing with moral complexity, but in fact, for me, cop out a little by never putting the protagonist in a truly morally complex situation,” Hood said in a recent interview at the pop culture fest known as Fan Expo Canada. “There are films we can think of where, yes, the protagonist kills people, but actually all the people they kill are bad or awful in some way, (without) that moment of really having to face up to the grey zone, that place where you ask, ‘Am I capable of doing something morally repugnant because I believe it’s for a greater good?’
He also talks a bit about how he sees reactions to his decision to cut Locke and Demosthenes and his wife’s advice on the matter!
“My wife actually says to me, ‘Gavin, you have to stop going on the Internet. It makes you crazy.’ There’s so much chatter,” says Hood. “I found it hard to cut. But it really means you need to make a 15-part miniseries, and I was given the opportunity to make a two-hour film, so my focus was, ‘What can I do in a film that the novel might not be able to do as well?’”
Ender’s Game is at Toronto’s Fan Expo Canada this week and eOneFilms (Canadian distributor) is doing the green screen photos for fans that visit their booth. (photo from msnataliedee) If you’re not sure what Fan Expo Canada is, I wasn’t either, but apparently it’s the Canada’s equivalent of Comic Con.
Director Gavin Hood is there and did a press junket for Ender’s Game, so hopefully we’ll see some interviews coming out for that soon. He’s currently doing an autograph signing at the eOneFilms booth. If anyone snaps a photo please send it in to us at valentine @ enderwiggin.net!
Constantin Film has released their second highlights video “Rules of the Game” from Gamescom. With Dee on vacation, we’ve got a partial translation, thanks to my friend Carla!
UPDATE: We now have a full translation from Dee!
Episode 2: Rules of the Game
What happened so far: 12 female commanders of the International Fleet are looking for the chosen fighter at Gamescom. In cooperation with KEF we have built a gigantic laser tag arena. Here we test the abilties of potential heroes to secure peace for the entire world. AFter you have registered yourself and your team for the laser tag game, you receive a fastlane pass, which will shorten the time you will have to wait in line enormously. One of our commanders will soon take care of you and will prepare you and your team for the Great Game. Each fighter receives an Ender’s Game uniform and a lasertag (gun). The goal is to mark the enemy team with as many laser tags as possible over the course of five minutes. As soon as you are ready for your great moment, the gates to the Ender’s Game laser tag arena will open. Ender’s Game. From October 24 in cinemas.
Earlier this week I posted images of the Ender’s Game Battle School cupcakes I made over the weekend and now I’ve got a video to give you guys a little “tour” of the cupcake wrappers, which really don’t show too well when you’re taking photos.
Happy Monday, Launchies! This past weekend I got motivated to do some Ender’s Game cupcakes. The army logos are great for doing fan artsy stuff and since I do a lot of these kinds of cupcake things for my other blog Fictional Food, it was really only a matter of time until I tried to tackle these.
And for those of you wondering where Leopard and Centipede is, just go look at those logos and tell me if you think it’s humanly possible to cut those things out of fondant. 😉
To make the logos, I rolled black fondant really thin and then let it dry for a bit to make it easier to cut. I’d printed out the logos on paper and cut them out first. For Phoenix and Griffin, I used a photo from the Ender’s Game Experience I found online, since my good photos of the logos got eaten on my corrupted SD card.
After that, I laid them over the frosting and started cutting with an X-Acto knife. Sadly, the paper got stuck to Phoenix and Salamander, which is why those don’t look too good.
Here are the logos all cut out and drying. The white stuff is powdered sugar to keep it from sticking to the bottom.
Since I only had Halloween cupcake cups, they would have looked kind of dopey from the sides, so I made cupcake wrappers. I first did these kinds of wrappers for my Effie Trinket cupcakes and they worked really well for these too!
If you want to try wrapping your own cupcakes, I have the wrappers in PDF form for you to download. They may need a little trimming and you’ll also need to leave a little tab on one end to glue/tape together.
Here’s the side of the Dragon cupcake. I put book and movie quotes on the opposite sides of each of them.
I don’t think Graff likes me insinuating he’s a “rat” by putting him on the Rat Army cupcake…
Here’s the Salamander cupcake. It’s still got little bits of sugar on it and his poor tail fell off. It was too hard to separate the belly sections, so I just cut into the frosting and it turned out fine. To make this color I used green fondant mixed with gobs of yellow and orange color gel.
Griffin Army cupcake! The ear was hard to cut, but I like how it came out overall. I should have made it bigger though. This was just straight green, nice and easy.
As I mentioned earlier, the Phoenix got a little dinged up. I didn’t pat enough sugar onto it and the paper got stuck to the frosting. The color was made by mixing blue and green fondant.
Rat Army cupcake. I thought the whiskers and toes would be impossible, but they weren’t too bad. I just used basic red fondant for this. If you’re wondering why I have so many colors, it’s from making cakes like this Mario one for my son and this Hello Kitty one for my daughter. I just have a fully stocked fondant pantry!
Here’s Asp, which was pretty hard to cut. This is one of my favorite logos. Totally reminds me of the auryn from Neverending Story.
And finally, here’s the Dragon. Still my favorite design! Tonight I’ll take some more photos and then let my kids fight over which cupcake they get. This morning my son was giving me a hard time because I always freak out with them touching my stuff before I get to do photos and video. He was barely touching one with his pinky and taunting me, saying, “Ooohh look Mommy, look look! I’m touching the cupcake, oh no!!!”
The kid needs some sitting on. This is on the agenda for tonight. I took video so you guys can see the wrappers better and will post that later this week.
Here’s one last photo with the poster:
I could go into a number of dorky lines for these.
“The enemy’s cake is down.”
“We need cakes like yours, Ender.”
“You will be the one to frost mankind.”
I’m sure Graff would have gotten appropriately fat if I’d been supplying these to him at Battle School.
As the days tick down to the release of Ender’s Game, we’ll start to see more merchandise being released. One thing we can look forward to are Pop! Vinyl figures from Funko for Ender and Petra.
Thanks to a tip from EnderWiggin.net reader Bruna, we found pre-order pages for the Ender and Petra figures on Entertainment Earth. If you’re not sure what they are by name, you might recognize them from the photo below.
No photos are yet available for the Ender’s Game figures, but we’ll keep an eye out for you Launchies! Funko sells their figures on Amazon, so they’ll probably eventually show up there.
Hopefully it’s not just Ender and Petra! A Bean figure would probably do well and surely they’ll do one for Graff/Harrison Ford, no?
Another wonderful interview with Ender’s Game director Gavin Hood! I have to say, the more of these I see, the more excited I get for this movie. Gavin talks to MoviesDotCom about making Ender’s Game a Young Adult movie (PG-13!) that doesn’t talk down to kids, how he tried to incorporate epic scifi elements as well as the intimate character story, why he cut Locke and Demosthenes, and his stance on possible sequels.
There are still Comic Con videos trickling in. This one was posted recently by Entertainment Weekly. Watch Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfeld talk about Petra being the only girl, Graff being the “overbearing tyrant” of Battle School and their favorite thing to shoot. Also, Asa Butterfield speculates on when the Ender’s Game movie is actually set.
I’m not sure I believe the 50 year time frame. Maybe he means that that is when the first invasion occurs?
