Due to a last minute scheduling conflict, actor Brendan K Meyer, who had previously been cast as the schoolyard bully Stilson, announced via his Facebook page that he would be dropping out of the production for Ender’s Game.
A replacement for Meyer has not yet been announced.
Via Yahoo! Movies
Five time Academy Award winning film Hugo, starring Ender’s Game stars Asa Butterfield (Ender) and Ben Kingsley (Mazer Rackham) is out today on Blu-ray
If you haven’t had a chance to see Asa in anything yet, this would be a great movie to do it with since it’s his most recent work before Ender’s Game and is so highly acclaimed. The film also stars Chloe Moretz, Jude Law, and Sacha Baron Cohen.
Hugo is also available on Amazon Instant Video
About Hugo:
Set in 1930s Paris, an orphan who lives in the walls of a train station is wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.
Today Roberto Orci, one of the producers of 2013’s film adaptation of Ender’s Game tweeted that they officially began shooting the movie today. Cast members have been tweeting about being on set in New Orleans, Louisiana and bonding over the last week or more, presumably all on location to do pre-production work.
This probably explains why main star Asa Butterfield was not present at the Oscars to represent his film Hugo, which was nominated for 11 Academy Awards this year. Actress Viola Davis was present, but since she probably has a smaller role as a Battle School psychiatrist, she probably wasn’t needed on set the first day. Plus, you can’t exactly not show up when nominated for Best Actress!
With principal photography officially on the way, let’s hope we start seeing some behind the scenes photos soon!
Deadline has the exclusive news on additional casting for Ender’s Game, this time regarding Sergeant Dap and John and Theresa Wiggin (Ender’s parents).
For Sergeant Dap, the Battle School man who jokingly calls himself “Mom”, casting chose Nonso Anozie, who was most recently seen in the movie The Grey starring Liam Neeson. Anozie will be playing the character Xaro Xhoan Daxos in season 2 of HBO’s Game of Thrones, which premieres April 1.
John Wiggin will be played by Stevie Ray Dallimore (Joyful Noise) and Theresa Wiggin will be played by Andrea Powell.
Cast members are reportedly already on set in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Source: Deadline
Viola Davis, the actress who was recently nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance as Aibileen in The Help, has officially joined the cast of Ender’s Game. Davis has signed on to play a psychologist at the Battle School who monitors their mental health and designs the games that they play while attending the school.
Davis has had a successful career in both movies and television, having played a recurring character on the show Law & Order: SVU and she received a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the Academy Awards in 2008 for her role as Mrs. Miller in Doubt.
What do you guys think? Will she be a villain type doctor or will she be one of the few adults sympathetic to Ender’s predicament behind the scenes?
Source: CinemaBlend
According to a cast list on IMDB, 16 year old Brandon Soo Hoo will be taking on the role of Fly Molo, one of Ender’s toon leaders in Dragon Army.
IMDB can be edited by the general public with a paid membership, so casting on the site isn’t always reliable when it hasn’t been confirmed elsewhere, so this is still unconfirmed. In the books, Fly Molo was supposed to be of Filipino descent, so it’s possible that the casting information simply has him named as the wrong character and he’s to play Han Tzu (Hot Soup) instead, another toon leader.
A skilled martial artist of Chinese descent, Soo Hoo has done work on G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
What do you think? Has he been mislabeled as Fly Molo or have the writers merged Fly Molo and Han Tzu into one character?
Update: Brandon Soo Hoo will in fact be playing Fly Molo in Ender’s Game.
Source: IMDB
In this quick chat with Ender’s Game star Asa Butterfield, BBC America asked him to explain a bit about the movie’s premise and about working again with Sir Ben Kingsley, who will play war hero and mentor Mazer Rackham. “The script has been amazingly adapted to the book.” says Butterfield. “It’ll be amazing.”
When asked how he’s able to maintain a normal life while being a child actor, Butterfield said, “It’s difficult because I am doing something barely no one else my age does, but I do try to keep my acting life and my normal life separate, so whenever I’m at school I just do whatever a normal 14 year-old kid does, I play computer games, hang out with mates, read.”
Butterfield says he’d love to work with Tim Burton on a future project.
Ender’s Game begins filming in New Orleans next month. Production is currently casting extras for the Battle School.
Source: BBC America via Ender’s Ansible
Reports of last week’s open casting call in New Orleans for Ender’s Game sounded a little less crowded than you’d expect, which is probably why the producers are holding another open call today in Chalmette. The age range has been expanded to include young adults from ages 12-21.
While what I read about the open call was rather disappointing, I’m honestly not surprised.
Sure, I’d love to have my own kids be in a background role in a movie, but with 8 weeks of filming and the need for lots of background kids for the Battle School, I would flat out not allow it, even if I’m a huge fan of the book and want to see my kids in it.
It’s just too long to be out of school, which explains why they’re looking for homeschooled children and even that’s got to be hard to cast because how many budding child actors are homeschooled and living in NOLA?
The Battle School hosts a massive amount of child soldiers, but the producers could probably get away with re-using kids for the different armies by simply putting them in different uniforms. Still, this puts a strain on the kids.
Details for the casting call are below:
Date: Thursday, January 19
Time: 3:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Place: Chalmette Council Chambers
8201 West Judge Perez Drive
What to bring: A recent snapshot
Source: NOLA.com
In a press released issued today, Lionsgate announced their acquisition of Summit Entertainment, the studio currently holding the rights to the Ender’s Game movie, for the sum of $412.5 million.
Approved by the Lionsgate board earlier this week, the deal will keep the two studios operating as distinct brands, but it’s unclear at this point what will happen to Summit executives Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger. In a meeting with Summit employees this afternoon, they informed staff that they would continue to operate on a day-to-day basis on their current projects, so at this point, the merger does not seem to affect the production schedule of Ender’s Game.
With Summit closing out their mega Twilight franchise and Lionsgate about to unleash their potential smash hit The Hunger Games, the merging of the two studios seems to make a lot of sense, bringing together two small studios to create one powerhouse studio with a lot of potential to corner the young adult movie adaptation market.
It sounds like a great opportunity for Ender’s Game, whose “young adult” fanbase has since grown into middle adulthood since the book was first published, because the film can benefit from the combined knowledge and expertise on marketing a young adult film.
Source: Variety
Asa Butterfield, the 14 year-old who will be playing Ender Wiggin in the production for Ender’s Games set to start next month in New Orleans, attended the Critic’s Choice Movie Awards sporting hair newly dyed black.
Preparation for his role, perhaps?
Although the color of Ender’s hair is never specifically mentioned in the books, Butterfield normally walks around with a set of brown locks, so the change so soon before filming begins could be an indication that they’re going to have their film version of Ender with black hair.
Hair color aside, who knew a boy could look so thin in a suit?
Source: Glamour UK
With principal photography for Ender’s Game set to start in New Orleans in just over three weeks, we’ll be doing short profiles of all the young actors cast in the movie so far. Last week, we started off with Aramis Knight, who will be playing one of Ender’s toon leaders Bean.
This week, we’ll be taking a look at Jimmy “Jax” Pinchak, who landed the pivotal role of Ender’s sociopathic older brother Peter Wiggin. Pinchak will turn 16 during filming of Ender’s Game.
Pinchak began his career as a child actor when he was just six years old, first playing the character Jody Davis of the television series Family Affair.
Although the majority of his work has been in television, Pinchak has worked alongside some well known actors in movies such as Tom Hanks in The Polar Express
Pinchak has a deep voice, which will no doubt help a lot when he’s domineering over his two younger siblings. It’s still unclear how big of a role Peter Wiggin will be in the film, but since Peter plays such a significant role in the development of Ender’s character, he’s certainly got a lot to live up to.
Check out this clip of Pinchak from an opening sequence of NCIS:
A casting call has gone out for what are presumably background roles for the Battle School and launch scenes.
Children and teenagers between the ages of 10 and 17 are encouraged to head down to the casting call with a recent photo.
Homeschooled children are preferable due to filming taking place during school hours. Filming will take place in New Orleans.
Full details from the casting call are below. It’s really happening!!
Ender’s Game open casting call being held at the Hilton Garden Inn located in the Warehouse District of New Orleans on Saturday, January 14th from 11am to 3pm.
Alexis Allen, in association with Batherson Casting, are seeking bright and talented kids and teens ages 10-17 of varying ethnic background for the feature film production of Orson Scott Card’s “Ender’s Game”; based on one of the most famous science fiction novels of the last 40 years. We will be filming on location in New Orleans from February 2nd through the end of June 2012, providing those selected with up to 8 weeks of work.
To be considered, please come to the open call this weekend, located at the address below between 11am and 3pm.
Hilton Garden Inn
1001 South Peters St
New Orleans 70130Please also bring a recent 4×6 picture of yourself. Homeschooled students are especially encouraged, because of the work duration during school hours.
We are very excited to be filming here in New Orleans and know that the talented youth of this great city will make this production a shining success! Those who are selected will have the adventure of a lifetime and become part of science fiction cinema history!! We look forward to hearing from you and working together!
Source: On Location Vocations
While Ender’s Game features a wide cast of known child actors including Asa Butterfield (Ender), Abigail Breslin (Valentine), and Hailee Steinfeld (Petra), one of the most important of those characters is Bean, who will be played by 12 year-old Aramis Knight.
Knight first began acting when he was six years old, when he had a small part in the pilot episode of ABC’s alien drama series Invasion in 2005. Since then, he’s done a lot of acting in television, appearing in shows such as NCIS, Ghost Whisperer, Dexter, and even an episode of LOST as Sam, Sayid’s nephew. (video below)
Interestingly enough, Knight has already worked with mega star Harrison Ford, who is set to play Colonel Graff, the leader of the Battle School, in the movie Crossing Over
With such a lengthy resume behind him, he seems to be big enough to fill the shoes of little genius Bean. He’s described as being 4’10”, which doesn’t really lend much to the fact that he’s supposed to be extremely small (thus the name “Bean”), but a lot could be done to make him look smaller on screen. Does he look like the Bean you’ve imagined?
View his demo reel on IMDB or watch this video of him in LOST, season 6: