Wolfgang Peterson to direct ENDER'S GAME film (1 Viewer)

[Jeffrey Forner]

From Orson Scott Card's Official Website:

Since Ain't It Cool News is carrying the story, we're certainly not going to deny it here. The director of Ender's Game is Wolfgang Petersen [link]. The studio that is developing it is Warner Brothers. OSC is really happy about both.
The upshot is that all are agreed on a fairly detailed outline of a film that combines Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow in a way that will combine the most important elements of both. Together, the stories make one terrific film.

Read the full article here.
I love this book and I am happy to see a worthy director attatched to it. Personally, I think it would have been more interesting to do Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow as two different movies and film them at the same time, but I suppose it will be interesting to see how these two stories affect each other when told at the same time.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Thanks for the news. One of my favorite books...casting is KEY!
Looking forward to watching it develop
Take care,
Chuck

 

[Dalton]

Agreed Chuck about Ender's Game, an excellent book. I really look forward to seeing it on the big screen.

 

[Kami]

AWESOME!!!!!!!!

 

[Jeff Kleist]

I've met OSC, and I'm so happy the movie is going forward. The script sample he posted a few years back was really promising. Glad he finally got the mad control he was after

 

[Patrick Sun]

Is Jake Lloyd too old for the role of Ender?

 

[Jeffrey Forner]

Patrick;

Forget Jake Llyod! Get Macaulay Culkin on the phone right now!

 

[Phil Florian]

But it is Wolfgang Peterson! Did anyone SEE Perfect Storm? I know, I know...he has some history, but I am worried he doesn't have the light touch needed to direct a cast of children. Will see what they choose to throw out too. Could be scary.

Phil

 

[Phil Florian]

No, get one of my favorite child actors...Matthew Broderick. He is such a funny young man.

Phil

 

[cafink]

Phil, don't forget that Petersen helmed the kid-friendly "The Neverending Story." I really like the book, and I have a lot of hope for this movie!

 

[Chris Harvey]

Excellent news! Petersen is a solid choice and if the script is good, this is shaping up to be a first-rate project.

 

[Richard WWW]

Ender's Game was great. I haven't read Ender's Shadow, though. Has any Orson Scott Card movie made it into celluloid before?

How about Haley Joel Osment as Ender? Jake Lloyd is a horrible child actor. Haley's getting a little old for Game, though.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Everyone bases Jake Lloyds acting on his delivery of badly written lines with virtually no direction at the age of 8

STOP DOING IT! The difference between an 8 and a 12yo is a LIFETIME!

I don't believe any OSC project has been filmed before

Read Ender's Shadow. It's BETTER than Ender's Game, and is Bean's story, told simultaneously with the events of "game"

 

[David Rogers]

Gonna wait and see if this was a good choice or not. "In the Line of Fire", "Outbreak" were both kinda flat and slow, not dynamic, didn't really develop characters that I attached to. "Air Force One" was flat and odd, and had some absolutely ridiculous elements in it (the aerial combat scenes looked like crap, the gun locker on the plane was stupid, etc...)
Also I don't think the film production will be done anytime in the next two years, and even if they started TODAY I don't think Haley Joel Osmet will be young enough for it in a year or two. Plus, as OSC points out in comments, they need something like half a dozen good/decent child actors for the major kid roles in the combined two stories. Two of those actors must be tremendous for it to work; Ender and Bean. Neither character is anything AT ALL like the typical child actor (all bubbly and full of smiles).
Gonna be tough. Hope it works well; it'd piss me off something fierce if they finally do a movie of Ender's Game and screw it up. :frowning:

 

[John Berggren]

I would love to see an Ender's Game film, but this is another one that's been going on for years. I hope they find a decent child actor. They wanted Haley Joel when he was in the Sixth Sense, but he's too old now.

These are excellent books for anyone who's interested in the films. Certainly a perfect substitute during the many-years wait still to go.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Is Jake Lloyd too old for the role of Ender?

You joke, but he was OSC's frontrunner for a while. Fortuneately, I saw a pic of his a month or so ago, and he's like 5' 3"-5' 6" now. Doesn't really match the description of smallish Ender.
I think HJO would have made a great Ender around the time of Sixth Sense. That said, he's really too old now. Perhaps he could play Peter?

 

[Patrick Sun]

Macualey's little brother, Kieran, who was in "You Can Count On Me" might be a decent candidate if he hasn't grown up too fast.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

This could be interesting - all depends on whomever they cast to play Ender of course.

Like Jeffrey I believe there each book deserves it's own movie. The combining of the 2 has me concerned.

 

[James Zubb]

This is going to live or die by the casting. It is going to be VERY hard to find enough good child actors for this. Ender is going to be especially difficult to play, I suspect that not many adult actors could pull it off. He commits genocide at age 11 (or so, can't remember exact age), how do you expect a child to play that?!

I think the best solution will be to advance the ages a few years to at least give them a decent pool of teen/young adult actors to work with.

 

[Dalton]

You would also need a good actor to play Peter Wiggin . He was a favorite character for me in the book. I really like Wolfgang Peterson directing, a good choice.