Hi folks,
looks like we are going to keep finding these little gems from Comic Con for a while. Here is an awesome interview Screen Rant did with Gavin Hood. He speaks about how he personally relates to the story of Ender, what Space Camp did for the kids and the filming process, how they deal with Ender realizing that “the enemy’s gate is down,” and Hood’s opinion on Orson Scott Card and his views on gay marriage.
Source: Screen Rant
Here’s our video interview with producer Bob Orci and Gavin Hood outside the Ender’s Game Experience.
Gavin did talk to us a lot more about Ender and Bonzo after we’d turned off the camera, so Liz will have to help provide us some of those bits with the notes she took afterwards.
To provide some context on why this is so short, we weren’t even aware we’d be able to do this, so we had nothing to ask. We stood at the very end of the press line and they seemed anxious to leave, with their press people saying we could only talk to Gavin. So when our time came we had really only came up with two things to ask them since we didn’t want to be rude. However, they seemed more than happy to talk to us further, so Liz and I would like to thank them for that.
In the future I’ll definitely make sure to have lots of things to ask at the ready for emergencies such as these. 😉
by Elizabeth Spencer
Ho, Launchies! Crystal and I have just returned home after an absolutely fantastic (if exhausting) five days at San Diego Comic-Con! We had a marvelous time exploring the sights and sounds of one of the coolest places around… We posed with Jedi, sat in the Iron Throne, explored a replica of Bag End made entirely of Legos, and one night were ushered into a bunker to stock up on supplies for the upcoming zombie apocalypse. Oh, wait. That was just me. Crystal spent her whole trip camped out for Hall H.
And oh yeah, we also did a bunch of stuff for “Ender’s Game.” It’s been a busy few days, so our apologies for the late reporting!
On Thursday, July 18, I had the privilege of sitting down to a roundtable discussion with “Ender’s Game” Writer/Director Gavin Hood, Producer Roberto Orci, Ender Wiggin-actor Asa Butterfield, and Petra Arkanian-actress Hailee Steinfeld. Also in attendance were Kelly and Aidan (from Ender News) and Cassandra (from Ender’s Ansible).
The four of us had an awesome opportunity to get right down to it and ask the questions that real fans want answered. So here I present to you our biggest takeaways:
1) The New Trailer! Yes, there’s a new trailer, and for those of us who didn’t get to see it during the Hall H panel, it will be released to the public with the premiere of “Elysium,” due to hit theaters on August 9th. There’s a chance that it may also hit the internet a few days prior, so we’ll keep our eyes peeled!
2) Sequels! Everyone’s being pretty tight-lipped about possible sequels right now, and for good reason. As Gavin reminds us, “There’s a large amount of money at stake and we would need the approval of the studio.” Gavin and Bob are all for it, but couldn’t speak to possible plots or timeframes. The fact that this first adaptation even made it off the ground was miracle enough. As Gavin said, “This property is something that people wanted to make for a long time and didn’t, couldn’t, wouldn’t, and so I think everybody is a little bit in shock that we actually made it.” So no news for now, but we’ll keep our ears to the ground.
3) Locke and Demosthenes – Gone for Good. Gavin spoke about cutting the Locke and Demosthenes sub-plot, a matter of contention among some fans: “The main decision that we made is that we would stick with Ender Wiggin, never do a scene without him. Any scene that happened without him, the only ones we chose to do were a couple of scenes with Graff and Anderson where they talk about him, so that the audience is truly on Ender’s journey in order to bond you visually and cinematically with this lead character and identify with him.”
This makes perfect sense for a two-hour movie, and while some fans may be upset that this story line doesn’t make it to the screen, we think it was the right move on the writer’s part. While Peter and Valentine are obviously central figures to the plot, it is because they form a foundation for Ender’s own journey, and their activities outside of Ender’s world don’t serve to advance the story that Gavin wants to tell. Now if we ever do get those sequels, they might have to fit in a bit of, “Meanwhile, back on Earth…”
4) On Violence: Gavin and Bob answered a few questions regarding the level of violence that they adapted from book to screen. Those who have read the book know that there are several severely violent actions that are vital to the development of Ender’s character and the progression of his journey.
To avoid spoilers, we won’t go into specific details here. But from what we heard, it sounds like the team found a good balance between showing the seriousness of the act without dragging it out for the sake of spectacle. As Gavin Hood explained: “We’re walking a very fine line in a PG-13 world…you can’t have an “R” movie where half the people who love the book can’t see the movie, and yet you also don’t want to soften it up… We never wanted to indulge the violence for the sake of violence. We wanted the violence to happen, for you to feel the shock of it in a real way, but more importantly for you to deal with the aftermath of the violence…”
The most important thing, he said, was to show what effect the violence had on the characters (specifically Ender) and how the impact of that violence carried across in their reactions. Gavin spoke several times throughout the interview about the abilities of all the actors to portray subtle, emotional, and nuanced performances, helping to convey the depth of what is largely an internal struggle that takes place in Ender’s own mind. We can’t wait to see how these scenes play out on film.
5) Why Not Reading The Book Might Be A Good Thing: For fans of any book-to-screen adaptation, it can be hard to imagine that someone would take on a movie role without having read the source material. We know that Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfeld both read the novel, but other actors (such as Harrison Ford and Viola Davis) did not. When asked about how this affected their understanding of the characters, Gavin stood firmly behind the script’s ability to provide all that was necessary for the actors to comprehend their roles and motivations.
In fact, he said, not reading the book can sometimes be a good thing: “Their feeling was that to engage in conversations about scenes that are not in the movie isn’t helpful. They need to know that what’s on that page in the script, which is going to be on screen, is going to have sufficient weight and substance and merit to give them fully-rounded characters in the movie […] There’s a lot of actors who don’t want to read books, some do – these guys (indicating Asa and Hailee) used the book as a form of research, and fantastically so. Other actors say, ‘Wait a minute – we’re not making the book. You’re asking me to play the role based on the script. This script better have enough substance and weight and nuance for me to feel that my character is going to be nuanced.’
And that was their approach, which I think is absolutely fine.”
6) Ender and Petra…In Love? Our group went ahead and asked the big question that’s had many fans worried over the last few weeks. Ever since photos were released showing Ender and Petra holding hands, as well as Petra grasping Ender’s arm, we have wondered about the possibility that they built a teen romance into the script. Say it isn’t so!
While the answers we received from Gavin, Bob, Asa, and Hailee all point to a platonic relationship, there’s still a little doubt in my mind about how much teen angst will actually show up on the screen. Asa told us that “I wouldn’t say it was anything at all like a love relationship, cause they’re both dependent on each other for support. They’re both in the same situation, they’re both not entirely accepted by the community they’re in.” Hailee also spoke about the similarities between Ender and Petra, and how there is a connection formed between them based on that outcast role and the need for acceptance.
“I think that it’s sort of expected in a way, and what’s great about the relationship between them is – not only did I not really see it as sort of a romance thing, but I don’t think the characters do either. I think they’re looking for a friend, and somebody to trust and feel comfortable with, and that doesn’t necessarily mean boyfriend/girlfriend or whatever.”
Gavin summed it up by assuring us that “there is genuine tenderness between these two characters at certain moments, and there are genuinely sweet moments – when she teaches him how to shoot, it’s both exciting and really tender, but it’s not, ‘let’s be cute.’ None of that, no.”
7) And “Ender’s Shadow?” Also Out. Gavin Hood confirmed that there will be none of “Ender’s Shadow” in this movie – Bean’s storyline will be restricted to what is present in “Ender’s Game” and nothing more. It was hard enough, Gavin said, trying to fit as much as they could of the original novel in to a two-hour movie, and they chose early on to stick to Ender’s story alone.
And that’s just about it, folks! A few more questions were tossed around about the score and Asa’s American accent (he practiced in the shower), and we learned that they are 90-95% done with the final cut of the movie.
All in all, I’d say it was a pretty successful day. A huge thanks to Gavin, Bob, Asa, and Hailee for making time to sit down with the four of us – every time I hear them talk, I am more and more confident that this adaptation is in the right hands, and will meet our expectations and then some!
Stay tuned for some additional post- Comic-Con write-ups, and feel free to ask any questions about our time in San Diego! More pics will also be coming soon!
Empire Magazine has released a new behind-the-scenes still from the filming of Ender’s Game. They already put it out in print in their August 2013 issue a couple of weeks ago, but this is the first time they officially used it online. In it, we see director Gavin Hood talk to Asa Butterfield and Suraj Partha about a scene that apparently happens in the battle school corridor and in which they are wearing pyjamas. Can anyone guess which scene this is? And what are those rainbow-colored rings?
Read Empire’s accompanying article about the Ender’s Game Comic Con panel HERE!
Source: Empire
Ho Launchies! Here are some photos from the Ender’s Game panel at Comic Con that took place on Thursday, July 18, 2013. By now you’ve probably all seen the panel in videos, but there are some great ones that I took from the second row. Enjoy!
All photos were taken by EnderWiggin.net. Please source when using.
Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfeld sat down with Moviefone (as did Harrison Ford) to chat a bit about what it was like to film Ender’s Game. They talk about funny moments, the professional atmosphere on set, and the pranks they all (including, it seems, the adults) played on each other while filming. And guess what: the Ender’s Game slang from the books made it into the movie!
My favorite part of the interview is Hailee’s recollection of a prank Gavin Hood played on her:
At the end of the film, one of the cast members, Moises Arias, who plays Bonzo Madrid, had to shave his hair for the ending scene. You know, it’s one of those things where you’re OK with it because you have to do it, but it’s also like, you know… it’s a big thing, right? So Moises handled it very well, but you could see he was a little, you know, taken aback by looking at himself in the mirror and this drastic change. And Asa and I walked on set and Gavin turns around and has a black eye. My heart dropped. I was like, “What just happened?” And he goes, “I told him. I told him that he could take it out on me because I made him shave his head. And I was literally, like, crying. I was like, “Moises would never do that. What’s happening?” And then they were like, “Just kidding! It’s makeup!”
Read the entire interview HERE!
Source: Moviefone
Watch the entire Ender’s Game press conference at San Diego Comic-Con – courtesy of Screen Slam, and in pretty good quality!
Source: Screen Slam’s Youtube Channel
Entertainment site The Verge just uploaded their coverage of Ender’s Game at San Diego Comic Con. They spoke briefly with Asa and Hailee outside the Ender’s Game Experience before they sat down with director Gavin Hood and producer Bob Orci to discuss the making of the movie. Watch them talk about getting involved in the project, financing the movie, their devotion to stay true to both the “cool stuff” and the “cerebral” side of the book, and why the teaser trailer is so heavy on CGI.
Source: The Verge’s Youtube Channel
THE MOUSE WILL BE THERE!
Finally some information on whether or not and in what way the Mind Game will be featured in the Ender’s Game Movie. Good News: the mouse is most likely going to be there! In an interview with Cinemablend‘s Kelly West (the same interview she quoted from when writing about the question of violence in the movie; see our earlier post HERE), writer/director Gavin Hood said:
We did motion capture, put on suits, ran around the room. They filmed it in a virtual world. Once you’ve captured that motion you can film what you captured digitally and then we handed that off to an amazing animation company in Barcelona, who’ve done the most beautiful work. Obviously, we did a lot of drawings and how’s it going to be? And drawings of the mouse and all those things, but it is a shorter version than in the book, because the whole story of the book is compressed into about a one year period.
The rest of the interview evolves around the adaptation of the book, including questions about how much of the book’s violence will be shown in the film, how Ender’s narrative voice is translated into the medium of film, and what a possible sequel will depend on. Read the entire article HERE!
Source: Cinemablend
Photo Credit: Alex Washburn/Wired
Most of you have probably watched a number of Ender’s Game Experience Walkthroughs by now, and you’ve probably also checked out the Gettyimages/IMDB pics of Asa, Hailee, Gavin and Bob at the event. But in case you are interested in seeing it all in motion, have video of their “Walk Thru” courtesy of Screen Slam! Thanks to Fernanda for the tip!
Watch two more awesome walkthroughs HERE and HERE!
Source: Youtube
Back in December, Crystal posted an editorial about whether or not the upcoming Ender’s Game movie needed to go as far as the book in terms of violence. In Pondering the Fate of Stilson, she argued that having Ender kill Stilson before he even gets to Battle School may not only be not necessary and severely stretch credibility (look a the size difference between Caleb Thaggard and Asa Butterfield), it may also be harmful in that it may lead audiences to despise Ender or even encourage people to commit violence themselves.
Now, Ender’s Game director Gavin Hood has finally addressed the matter in an interview with Cinemablend’s Kelly West. Here is what he had to say:
I think that all those elements of bullying, which is a great theme in the world right now, and how kids deal with being bullied, which we know is so powerful in the book, thatʼs in the movie. But what I try to do as a filmmaker in terms of handling questions of violence, is I donʼt believe in showing violence for violenceʼs sake and repetitive violence. For me, what I have found is an act of violence can be so sudden, whatʼs more interesting is the aftermath. And so, our movie is not, I hope, in any way, really violent. I donʼt want it to be a violent film, but the effect of the moment of violence on the psyche of the protagonist and the people around him is profound as it is in the book. It has to be, and so those key scenes in the book –Bonzo in the shower– are absolutely in the movie, and they shock in their suddenness, but they are not in any way indulgent. Iʼm not interested in showing blood flying around the room or any of, none of that. Whatʼs more important is to see how these young character handle it and thatʼs why I think itʼs an important film. As a parent, I want my kids to go to a movie and not be spoken down to, deal with difficult themes, but be able to talk about it, not celebrate that, just talk about it.
Looks like Gavin Hood has put a lot of thought into the question of how much violence is really necessary in the movie to have the desired effect on the characters and the audience, and how much would really just be violence for violence’s sake. He seems to have a pretty decent grasp on where the thin line runs between dramaturgy and pornography. Sounds like we are going to be sufficiently shocked, without being traumatised by watching graphic displays of kids dying in puddles of their own blood. (my emphasis)
Source: Cinemablend
Last night, the Ender’s Game Exclusive Fan Experience opened, and a few people got to interview Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Gavin Hood and Bob Orci outside the Experience. Watch below what they had to say:
And just a couple of minutes ago, MoviesDotComOfficial released this brand new interview with Asa and Hailee!
Let us know what you think!
Source: Youtube (Beyond The Trailer, Perry Nemiroff, MoviesDotComOfficial)
Gettyimages has new photos of last night’s Ender’s Game Experience Press Preview! Apparently, the Thursday panelists (sans Abigail Breslin, who had to cancel) were in attendance and up to all kinds of mischief. Check out the following links for more pretty, interesting and hilarious photos of Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, director Gavin Hood, producer Bob Orci, and bits and pieces of the exhibition.
Gettyimages: 87 photos of the event, watermarked
IMDB: 15 medium sized photos without watermarks; the pics in this post are screenshots from the IMDB site
Many thanks to Michael Arvallius on Facebook for pointing out the pics on IMDB.
Sources: Gettyimages, IMDB