In response to the flurry of controversy surrounding the Ender’s Game movie after a boycott gained national media attention, Lionsgate issued the following statement:
As proud longtime supporters of the LGBT community, champions of films ranging from Gods and Monsters to The Perks of Being a Wallflower and a company that is proud to have recognized same-sex unions and domestic partnerships within its employee benefits policies for many years, we obviously do not agree with the personal views of Orson Scott Card and those of the National Organization for Marriage. However, they are completely irrelevant to a discussion of Ender’s Game. The simple fact is that neither the underlying book nor the film itself reflect these views in any way, shape or form. On the contrary, the film not only transports viewers to an entertaining and action-filled world, but it does so with positive and inspiring characters who ultimately deliver an ennobling and life-affirming message. Lionsgate will continue its longstanding commitment to the LGBT community by exploring new ways we can support LGBT causes and, as part of this ongoing process, will host a benefit premiere for Ender’s Game.
Personally, I’m glad that the studio has come out in defense of the film and their hardworking cast and crew. Hopefully this will show people that the studio and its employees do not necessarily share the same beliefs as the author of the work they’ve adapted.
Are you an Ender’s Game fan that will be going to San Diego Comic Con 2013? Are you planning on going to the Ender’s Game Fan Experience, which will feature 8 elaborate sets from the movie?
What if I told you that you could go to an invite-only exclusive preview of the event on Wednesday night and avoid all the crowds when the experience opens to the public on Thursday night?
EnderWiggin.net has 25 admit-2 passes to this preview for July 17. This giveaway is open worldwide with one requirement: you must be able to be in San Diego, California on the night of Wednesday, July 17, 2013.
I know some of you will be tempted to enter even if you’re not going to Comic Con, but please be considerate of those able to attend and make use of these tickets.
To enter, simply comment here and tell us what set room you’re most hoping to see at the Ender’s Game Fan Experience. You MUST leave an email address that you check often or we will not have any means of contacting you, but please do NOT leave your address in the comment.
This giveaway will end on SATURDAY, JULY 14, 2013 at 12 AM Eastern Time. Winners will be drawn at random the next day. Winners will have SIX hours to claim their tickets before alternate winners are chosen as quick turnaround is required for this giveaway. After commenting, you can enter two additional times with Facebook or Twitter. All entries will need to be entered in the Rafflecopter widget below to be in the drawing pool.
Exclusive Fan Experience – Attendees will be able to visit an elaborate, specially constructed ENDER’S GAME exhibit outside of the Hilton Gaslamp, featuring 8 unique rooms representing the most iconic environments of Ender’s world, complete with original film props and set pieces used in the movie. Throughout the experience, attendees will be able to see exclusive film footage on LED screens, interact with new digital content, integrate photos of themselves into the highly anticipated Battle Room, and register to win a home make over.
Big thanks to Summit Entertainment for sponsoring this giveaway!
Check out this awesome cover of Entertainment Weekly featuring none other than Harrison Ford and Asa Butterfield in Ender’s Game!
We get a great look at Ender in his Dragon Army flash suit, carrying in his arm his Dragon Army helmet. It’s a “bonus” cover, so you may have to check around to find this one for yourself!
It’s less than 9 days to Comic Con and Kelly and I still found time to podcast! For last week’s episode (which came out late due to busy schedules) we went with the title Never Again, since it was Independence Day weekend here in the US.
Topics included:
Ender’s Game panel time has been announced and we’re ever so slightly put off that Ender’s Game has to share a short hour with Divergent
The Comic Con swag for Ender’s Game looks epic and we shamelessly gush about it all
Pretty much the entire cast is descending upon San Diego, some of them to do a signing
The internet is buzzing about Ender’s Game and it’s not in a good way. Skip Ender’s Game recently began a media push to encourage people to host events for their movement to negatively influence the box office success for the upcoming film adaptation. After the Huffington Post ran a story on their campaign, news outlets began to pick it up and the story spread like wildfire.
It’s not an issue that’s new to Ender’s Game fansite owners. I’ve been dreading days like today for years. The issue is one I think about constantly. Back in February I wrote an opinion piece about the controversy. Kelly and I dedicated an entire episode of EnderCast to discussing Card’s views on gay marriage and the effect it could have on the film and everyone involved.
What truly bothers me is that the cast and crew of the film are being forced to bear the burden of Card’s words and actions, which is definitely something that I hold against the author. The bulk of the cast is made up of child actors ranging in age from 12 to 19. They’re in essence being found guilty by association and suffering the consequences of a constant stream of negativity of what is no doubt the pride and joy of many of their careers.
Ender’s Game is set more than a century in the future and has nothing to do with political issues that did not exist when the book was written in 1984.
With the recent Supreme Court ruling, the gay marriage issue becomes moot. The Full Faith and Credit clause of the Constitution will, sooner or later, give legal force in every state to any marriage contract recognized by any other state.
Now it will be interesting to see whether the victorious proponents of gay marriage will show tolerance toward those who disagreed with them when the issue was still in dispute.
Orson Scott Card
To those curious, I personally am a supporter of gay marriage, which is probably why I think about this issue so much. I constantly feel torn in two different directions. And yes, I have read his anti-gay marriage and anti-government op-ed pieces. I’ve read the Salon.com article. I know he’s on the board of NOM.
I understand why Card is such an easy target. He’s painted a big fat bullseye on his forehead on more than one occasion. However, I don’t think that the right way to deal with his opinions and actions is with further hate. On the Entertainment Weekly article, someone casually commented that someone needs to assault Orson Scott Card, with a description I’m not even going to repeat here. Comments like that are disgusting, disheartening, and downright depressing and all people are doing with words such as those is sinking down to the very level they condemn.
Even though I don’t agree with it, I can respect what Skip Ender’s Game is doing, provided they go about it in a peaceful manner and allow the supporters of the movie the same respect to their own opinions. I don’t know what Geeks Out intends for people to do at their events, but there’s nothing I’d want to say against a peaceful boycott.
And yet, what exactly are people boycotting besides Orson Scott Card?
“He’s clean. Right to the heart, he’s good.”
They’re boycotting a young boy who is so good inside that he can find it in him to love anyone, even his mortal enemies. A boy who is astonishingly bright, a natural leader, and a savior of Earth who has everything dear to him taken away for the greater good of mankind. He is selfless. He is kind. He is a child.
If you haven’t read the book, have I piqued your interest? You don’t have to put money in Card’s pockets to read it. Visit a local library. Borrow it from a friend. You can even read the first five chapters of the book online for free.
My point is, the book is not the author, and you should find out for yourself who Ender Wiggin really is before you skip him because he’s one of the most compassionate and inherently good characters I’ve ever encountered in decades of reading books. Considering the world we live in, I ultimately think it’s more important for people to meet characters like Ender than it is to boycott the movie.
In short, in my humble opinion, the world we live in could certainly use more Enders.
Skyboat Media, the production company that has exclusively produced the unabridged audio versions of Orson Scott Card’s Enderverse novels and stories, has just announced that they will be producing ENDER’S GAME ALIVE, a full cast audioplay written by Orson Scott Card himself based on Ender’s Game, the novel that started it all. According to the producers,
Production begins mid-July here at Skyboat, and we will be updating [our] page with features from the production. The audioplay will be released in late October 2013, will have a cast of over 40 actors playing over 100 roles. The production will be originally scored with full sound effects. It will be directed by Gabrielle de Cuir and produced here at Skyboat by Stefan Rudnicki. All this brought to you by publisher Audible.com
Watch the author himself talk about this new project:
Check back here and watch the Skyboat site for updates!
Another week of me stalking the Ender’s Game cast on the nets has come to a close. Let’s see what the kids have been up to.
Asa Butterfield has been all kinds of busy. Let’s start with the picture that finally made him Instagram-famous (and I wonder why):
Looks like that was the last day in Greece, before he had to return to London for his Prom!
Also, in preparation of his appearance at the Ender’s Game panel on Thursday, July 18, Asa went shopping at Carnaby Street, London. Will he wow you all with his fashion sense?
Personally, I’m slightly flashed by the pattern mix. But I’m sure that’s just me.
Speaking of Comic Con, Aramis Knight has confirmed that he will be signing autographs! He even gave a tentative date! Watch out for him on Saturday at the Summit booth! After Jimmy Pinchak, Aramis is the second non-panelist announcing that he is going to SDCC, but Khylin Rhambo, Brandon Soo Hoo, Conor Carroll and Caleb Thaggard are rumored to be there as well. While the kids are getting excited for the big event, Harrison Ford seems to have the time and leisure for a trip to Peru.
Hailee Steinfeld has been caught up in other projects. Nevertheless she had the time to tweet about her new magazine cover as well as an interview she did about her upcoming film Romeo and Juliet. Watch it below!
Moises Arias has a new film … or rather, a video. He appears in his friend Willow Smith’s new music video “Summer Fling”.
Finally, Suraj Partha seems to have a little less time for fun stuff this summer, as he is studying for his SAT! I’m sure he will ace it, though, just like he just aced his AP EURO class (according to his facebook). He did, however, have the time to post a video of himself singing and playing the piano in Paris. So romantic!
L-R: Luke Thompson from Nerdist, Max Nicholson from IGN, Katie Hastey from HitFix, Cassandra Ortiz from Ender’s Ansible, Kelly Severs from Ender News, Katie Amey from J-14, Crystal Watanabe from EnderWiggin.net, and Erin Gross from Ender’s Game Fansite
It’s been so so long since I was on the set of Ender’s Game, walking through a fan’s fairyland. We’ve talked about it almost non-stop since we got back, itching to finally spill all the details about what we saw, heard, felt, and asked.
Now I’m happy to announce that the time has finally arrived! On Wednesday, July 10, the fansites will begin to roll out full set visit reports!
Check back on Wednesday for our first one, which will cover Production Art & Set Design. In the meantime, here’s the only known photographic evidence that I was ever there. So glad to be able to share it with all you Launchies!
Be sure to read my two preview pieces on the set visit here and here.
Comic Con International has released the schedule for Saturday, July 20. Summit mothership Lionsgate is dominating the day with its Hall H panel discussion on The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and I, Frankenstein. But for Ender’s Game fans, the go-to panel may be the one held at 4:30 pm in Room 24ABC, where the movie’s chief costume designer Christine Bieslin-Clark will answer questions about the costumes she designed for some of the latest blockbusters:
Poppin’ Some Tags
Celebrity costume designers from Costume Designers Guild IATSE Local 892 dish the dirt on designing and bringing to fruition the costumes for today’s hottest blockbusters. Featured panelists are Trish Summerville (Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Gary Jones (Oz, the Great and Powerful), Christine Bieslin-Clark (TRON, Watchmen, 300), Isis Mussenden (Wolverine, Chronicles of Narnia), and Mayes Rubeo (WWZ, Avatar). Moderated by actor Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Sons of Anarchy).
In addition, Aramis Knight (Bean) and Jimmy Jax Pinchak (Peter Wiggin) have confirmed via twitter/facebook that they will be signing autographs at Comic Con, with their appearance tentatively scheduled for Saturday. Khylin Rhambo (Dink Meeker), Brandon Soo Hoo (Fly Molo), Conor Carroll (Bernard) and Caleb Thaggard (Stilson) are also rumored to be there. We’ll let you know where and when you’ll be able to meet them as soon as we get an official confirmation.
Comic Con International has released the schedule for Friday, July 19. While the attention may be focused on the star-studded panel scheduled for Thursday, there are two Ender’s Game related panels scheduled for Friday.
A panel for various professionals in the art department for films will take place from 12:30 to 1:30 in Room 24ABC and includes Ender’s Game art director Clint Wallace.
How do as few as five – or as many as 50 – artists work together to create a coherent, believable world in which to stage the action of the modern motion picture? Members of the art department of Captain America: First Avenger discuss working on the film in Los Angeles while the film was shooting in London. Panelists include moderator and supervising art director John Dexter (also Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3), conceptual model maker Jeff Frost (Star Trek Into Darkness), lead vehicle designer Daniel Simon (Tron: Uprising), graphic designer Karen TenEyck (The Lone Ranger), and set designer and assistant art director Clint Wallace (Men in Black 3, Enders Game as art director).
Another panel in the same room will feature costume designers including Alan Villanueva from Ender’s Game.
Welcome to the New Age
Top costume illustrators from the Costume Designers Guild IATSE Local 892 talk about their latest projects and the changing world of illustration in the digital and 3D age, followed by a Q&A. Featured panelists are Keith Christensen (Man of Steel, Star Wars 7, Tomorrowland), Phillip Boutte Jr. (Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Man of Steel), Constantine Sekeris (Star Trek, G.I. Joe: Retaliation), Alan Villanueva (Oz, the Great & Powerful, Enders Game, Defiance), and Christian Cordella (Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier, Oblivion, 300: Rise of an Empire). Moderated by author Peter Clines (Ex-Heros, Ex-Patriots).
Check out this cool fan-made rock song written for Ender’s Game by Cancer Killing Gemini.
Lyrics:
Turn me into your best violence machine
Without concern for how it’s sure to damage me
Your eyes wide as the third child learns to balance love and fear
Learn to fly towards an endless tide wishing Valentine were here
I don’t know who I’m supposed to be
But I’m not allowed to fail
If our future relies on me
Then I’m not allowed to fail
I don’t know who I’m supposed to be
But I’m not allowed to fail
If our future relies on me
Then I can’t afford to fail
Get more from hatred then I do from empathy
No lasting friendship as you choose my enemies
You stand by all the killing while a lack of mercy earns the crown
Somehow I learn to love them while I put them in the ground
No one else can help me
I’ll learn to trust myself
You think you can crush me?
I’ll hold my ground
What will it take to break me?
I don’t even know myself
But I know the enemy’s gate is down
You can listen to more music by Cancer Killing Gemini here.
Thanks to @bostonbloghead for the tweet that made me find it!
Comic Con International has begun rolling out their schedule and today they released the schedule for Thursday. Ender’s Game is slotted for 3:50 PM in Hall H along with Summit’s YA title Divergent.
With the two films sharing a one hour slot, that doesn’t seem to leave a whole lot of time for Ender’s Game, a half an hour at most. Hopefully they pack in as much as they can!
Stars Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, and Abigail Breslin will be there along with producer Bob Orci and director Gavin Hood.
German movie distributor Constantin has launched its official Ender’s Game site. Apart from the trailer, the release date (October 24! YAY!), and a few interactive graphic elements, there isn’t much there yet, but we’re sure that more content will be added soon. In any case, it looks pretty spiffy. Check it out at www.enders-game-film.de/.
