The Internet Book Database of Fiction

Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game"

Ender's Game
Screenplay by Orson Scott Card
Based on the novel by Orson Scott Card
Produced by Chartoff Productions and Fresco Pictures
Feature film: Science fiction epic

This is the first I have heard of this.
I hope it is not destroyed the way "Starship Troopers" was.

You speak for me too, G.

Verhoeven RAPED Heinlein's Troopers story into the dirt ... I spent many weeks frothing at the mouth over that atrocity in various different discussion forums at the time.

Well, this has been in the making for 4 years that I know of. The screen play has been completed for over 5 years. Last I heard, he was looking at Haley Joel Osment to play Ender. Then he got too big in Sixth Sense. Then he was looking at Jake Lloyd and of course he became huge in Episode I. Another side note. He ALSO has a screen play for Ender's Shadow completed (about 2 years ago I believe). He wants to film Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow at the same time using the same actor's. I believe that was nixed, and he was asked to combine them into one movie. As it was Ender's Game was just over 3 hours, and Ender's Shadow was just under. So they then wanted 6 hours of film compressed into 2.5 hours (approx). At that he refused, and tried to find other funding so he could do the movies the way he wanted without having to comprimise. I would hate to see it done like Stephen King movies, or Michael Crichton did. There was too much cut from their movie/books and in some cases it really hurt the overall movie.
But then again, Michael Crichton's 13th Warrior did pretty well considering it was based off a short story, as well as Green Mile which was on 12 short stories I believe, and then there's Shawshank Redemption also based off a short story. But then again, basing on a book, and doing the book are two diff things.

what's osmont done lately? loyd? seems to me that they haven't done much worth seeing since their break-out movies. you/they might want to revisit those two as possibilities.

otoh, they may already be past their sell by date considering how young attendees of the battle school are supposed to be.

brad
perhaps you'd like to point me to a heinlein book that wasn't butchered by hollywood at least as badly as they mutilated dune?

i'm fairly certain that hollywood (the land of the casting couch) is far more offended by heinlein's politics than they are by his 40's era sexism.

perhaps you'd like to point me to a heinlein book that wasn't butchered by hollywood at least as badly as they mutilated dune?

Oooh, that's a toughie.

"Destination Moon" (1950), while suffering from horrible acting and uneven scriptwriting, was at least innovative in trying to accurately portray something approaching real physics & the dynamics of space.
"The Puppet Masters" (1994), while not exactly horrible, was at least marginally palatable. Star Trek:TOD did worse when they ripped it off for a 48 minute throw-away episode ("Operation: Annihilate !").

Can we call it a draw ?

Osment is past his prime for the movie. He is too big now, he's been in several other movies, Pay it Forward and AI. As for Lloyd. I think he could still do it. At the time, he was too big from Ep I, and he was asking way too much. Now that Ep 1 is long gone, and he hasn't done anything else except some game voice overs, he may be willing.
Card said in an interview regarding the movie that he believes the biggest problem is that the movie is based on kids. He thinks that finding so many highly talented young actors/actresses may be difficult. If you recall, the are all young and fit in the book, and there are several fights and things. Could get messy from a legal standpoint. I don't think we'll see all the recruits walking around naked. If I recall there was a part in the book that talked about Petra being nude in the barracks. I'm thinking that won't happen. But I think those are allowable cuts

for the uninitiated, an excellent dissection of just how bad the movie in particular and to a lesser heinlein detractors in general are.

brad
i admit that i was exaggerating for effect (puppetmasters isn't AS BAD as dune) but if i was to use a 4 star system all of those movies would go under 1 star.

BobMando (BTW - is B.M. an acceptable diminutive ? ... )

If you wanna talk dune adaptations, I'd have to say that the SciFi channel's version was significantly better than DeLaurentis's costume-driven, hack-written atrocity.

It *STILL* fell far short of the books .... but it was a welcome improvement.

p.s. Did anyone else besides me break out into uncontrollable hysterics at the irony of Susan Sarandon, the veritable first lady of the low-brow knee-jerk Hollywood Leftists, blathering about "crushing people under (her family's) jackbooted heels" ? My sides are still hurting over that one.

[bob witholds all doggie treats until brad stops trying to pun]
cuz, ya know, i wouldn't want ya to go into anaphylatic shock or anything.

no, B.M. is not acceptable, it's either 'bob' or 'BKM' (if you aren't going to abbreviate i like to honor my imaginary royal hawaiian heritage).

ummm, almost anything would have been an improvement on Lynch's abortion (bob fondly considers the possibility that Lynch's mother could have decided on a back alley abortion instead of inflicting him on the world)(bob also dons flame suit).

not that the sci-fi version is unwatchable but to me it doesn't exceed mere mediocrity. they do get major bonus points for trying to be as true to the books as possible.

i might have been amused by sarandon.......if i hadn't been so desensitized by decades of (personally observed) hollywood hypocrisy. it loses it's novelty value after a while, ya know?

I know this movie will never be made...

And if it was it would never live up to my expectations....

But oh how I hope I am wrong.


This movie needs 3 things.... Big budget, Good acting, and Card's hand in it all the way. But I doubt that this will happen.

"Robot Jox" anyone?

Unlike Trebor, I have faith that they may be able to make Ender's Game and make it well. No it will not have all the details, and every little portion that makes the book what it is, but how many movies do you know that have? You simply can't take a book as wonderful as Ender's Game and make it into a movie that embodies every perfect aspect of the book and actually make money off it. It'd take 9 and a half hours to watch. Who's going to watch 9 and a half hours other than me and thee? But look at the bright side. Card seems to still have a hand in it thus far, and think of the movie The Princess Bride. It's a wonderful book. But it's a spectacular movie. The movie does not have all the details that the book does. And there are some great parts that I wish now that I've read the book that the movie had included. But I know you can't argue that the Princess Bride still lived up to your expectations, and proabably surpassed tham.

I agree... The Princess Bride was a good book and a good movie. I just hope that Card is able to find a quality cast and crew... and is given the money needes to fulfill his vision.

it occurs to me that we're leaving some very basic yet important information out of many of these threads.

http://www.hatrack.com/
card's home page

warner brothers is developing, wolfgang petersen has signed up to direct, release date may be as late as '06. does this sound official enough for you?

there was also a little bit of an uproar a year or so ago (when i first heard about this project) that the studio intended to remove the international flavor from battle school and populate it primarily with white/european kids. i'm not getting anything on that from google so it must be a dead issue now.

I shudder to thing what the movie will become. What ever happens, I will be disappointed.

Yup, I can't possibly live up to the book. Don't kid yourselves.


I will live up to my expectations ... since I thought the book was just 'bleh.'

well, it's been in 'scripting' for two years now. should we just stick a fork in it?

http://www.frescopictures.com/movies/en ... pdate.html

Well... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0400403/ has it as coming out in 2008 and as being in "Pre-production." So I don't know- it may still come out.

I'd go see it since I liked the book, but I don't hold much hope for the movie being as good as the book.

I'd probably see the movie if it came out but I wasn't overly impressed with the book. Don't get me wrong, it is good and readable but I don't think it is the best Sci-Fi book I've ever read.

Maybe I came to it too late, it was recommended to me a few years ago by a co-worker. But I had already guessed the climax and that made it a bit underwhelming. Does that make me a "heretic" for not personally ranking it so high?

-Robert.

rjc2001 wrote:

Does that make me a "heretic" for not personally ranking it so high?

NO we allow differences of opinion here (as long as the poster is polite about it, as you were) and in fact we welcome them. Just because a given book is considered a classic in it's field does not mean that it should or would appeal to everyone. It's always nice to say WHY you dislike a book (as you did) but that isn't always possible. I don't like "Wuthering Heights" and I can't say why—it just bores me. I've mentioned this several times when likes and dislikes come up. As for "Ender's Game" it was selected for "One Read" by our library a few years ago. I tried again to read it but couldn't finish it this time either.

Sue

I haven't heard anything about this... that doesn't look good

They should cast that creepy kid from those AIG commercials that wake up his parents. He would be a perfect "Bean".

he's been in several other movies, Pay it Forward and AI. As for Lloyd. I think he could still do it. At the time, he was too big from Ep I, and he was asking way too much. Now that Ep 1 is long gone, and he hasn't done anything else except some game voice overs, he may be willing.