Nonso Anozie at London Comic Con: "I play Drill Sergeant Dap."

This past Sunday, lucky attendees of the London Film and Comic Con had a chance to meet Nonso Anozie, who was invited to talk about his recent work in Game of Thrones, Conan the Barbarian, and, of course, Ender's Game.

Red Carpet News TV had the opportunity to speak with Anozie at the event and he had quite a bit to say about the upcoming film. He explained the general premise, praised his fellow castmates, and gave us a bit more insight into his character, Sergeant Dap:

 "I'm charged with the job of training [Ender Wiggin]. I play Drill Sergeant Dap and he is like a real hard ass at first to Ender, a really bad guy. But then at the end you really start to see that there's a reason he's been so hard on him."  (Watch the Video)

A couple months ago we speculated that Sergeant Dap's character in the movie is going to be quite different than the Dap from the book, and it is looking more and more like that is the case; it seems unlikely that Drill Sergeant Dap is someone tucking the Launchies in at night, a man they would be affectionately referring to as "mom." 

It's interesting to consider what this will mean for the tone of the film. In the book, the adults function mostly as background noise for Ender. They manipulate and control him from behind the scenes and he has only a handful of face-to-face interactions with them. And really, until he meets Mazer, there is no adult in his life who personally challenges him. What will Ender's reaction be to someone who is in his face and hard on him from the very beginning?

It also seems that the movie will really be embracing the idea of the International Fleet and thus Battle School as military institutions. Here is the definition of "drill sergeant" taken from Wikipedia:

Drill Instructors are held responsible for the welfare, behavior, and military education of the recruits assigned to them on a 24-hour basis throughout the period of initial training, of which the most well known is Basic Training or boot camp. Their responsibilities include areas such as military discipline, physical fitness, and weapons training. 

What if the movie's version of Battle School is a little rougher, a little more demanding than the book?  Rigorous training schedules, barrack inspections, formations, strict military procedures -- is it possible that the laid-back, undisciplined style of Rose the Nose would never fly in Gavin Hood's interpretation of Battle School?

We'll have to wait until next November to find out.