Ender's Game Trailer Will Be Online on May 7th

Good news, and finally definitely confirmed:

The Ender's Game Trailer will be available online via Google and YouTube next Tuesday, May 7th!

We just wanted to let you know as quickly as possible!

The next month should get very exciting as it looks like Summit is taking the promotional push for the movie to the next stage. The first thing happening will be an exclusive first look at Sir Ben Kingsley as Mazer Rackham tomorrow morning over at Entertainment Weekly's website EW.com. Check it out tomorrow!

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Brandon Soo Hoo: Fly Molo is "Intelligent. Sassy. Filipino."

Geek Legacy recently had the pleasure of catching up with Brandon Soo Hoo in a phone interview -- he's a busy guy these days -- and, luckily for us, they spoke exclusively about Ender's Game and Brandon's role as Fly Molo.

Brandon, who read the book back in 2008 after it was recommended by one of his friends, explains that Ender's Game as the "most intense novel [he'd] read up until then." Describing himself as a lifetime fan of the book, he was thrilled to find out he'd been cast as a member of Ender's jeesh - and he felt it was crucial that he didn't mess it up.

Like the rest of the cast, Brandon too is quick to assure fans that director Gavin Hood stayed as close to the book as possible:

GL: How close is the film to the actual story in the book? I understand that some things have to be left out to fit it into a movie, but how much did things actually change from the book to the movie?
B: While adapting the book to a script, our director Gavin [Hood] took much care to keep most things accurate to the book. Though, due to the PG-13 rating, some of the more graphic content was toned down.

GL: Was it difficult to pick up the sci-fi jargon from the book?
B: Picking it up wasn’t difficult. After a few chapters of reading, all of the fictional words started to sound like plain English.

And it sounds like Brandon would be just as upset as the rest of the fans if the Giant's Drink and that happy little bat didn't make it into the film: just like producer Bob Orci, the Mind Game is his favorite part of the book. They surely can't cut it now, right?

But that's not all we have in common:

GL: In the coming months until the movie’s release, what are you looking forward to the most?
B: I am looking forward to any promotional events coming up, and I really hope we get to visit Comicon [sic] this year. Over anything though, I am just excited to see the film itself.

As Crystal from EnderWiggin.net pointed out, we are all right there with him -- and hope he'll be at Comic-Con as well!

Read the full interview with Brandon over at GeekLegacy.com.

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EnderCast Episode #11: The Giant's Drink

 

Ho, Launchies -- another episode of EnderCast has popped online. This week we talk about

- The secret io9 video. Seriously, okay?
- Will the Mind Game be included in the movie?
- Asa Butterfield says no Ender's Shadow in the movie
- IGN - Ender's Game the "next Star Wars?"
- 3 weeks away from Star Trek!!
- Festival of Books – Orson Scott Card declares Speaker for the Dead unfilmable

Today's episode was actually really fun to film; I think Crystal and I were both in silly moods. Oh, and we also had another guest on Pop Quiz, Fart Eater. Did she prevail? You'll have to listen to find out!

Don't forget: you can listen to EnderCast whenever you like by subscribing to us on iTunes!

Thanks again for tuning in!

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Sir Ben Kingsley: "I think it is going to be a wonderful film."

While making promotional rounds for Iron Man 3, Sir Ben Kingsley (Mazer Rackham) spoke to Coventry Telegraph about his other upcoming projects, Ender's Game included:

Ender's Game is coming out later this year. How did that work out?

Lovely, but quite different from the challenge of the Mandarin. With Mandarin I was very rarely involved in green screen. In Gandhi we had none. We actually had 4,000 people on screen for the funeral.

In Ender's Game we had a lot of green screen. The kids in the film were obviously challenged by being told 'It is all going to be CGI-d later but you have to react' . Gavin (Hood) looked after them so well and they did form a wonderful relationship with him. So that he would, where possible, talk them through what they were seeing while they were reacting to it.

He really knocked himself out pumping energy into those kids who couldn't see anything. I think it is going to be a wonderful film.

Tell us about your role.

Mazar Rackham. He is a combination of historically ancient warrior in that he is descended from Maori and has Maori tattooed on his face. And at the same time he is teaching children how to operate drones. So he is very advanced and also rooted in an ancient warrior tradition.

We can't wait for the trailer to hit theaters with Star Trek Into Darkness so you can all see how cool Mazer Rackham's facial tattoos actually are! Not too long to wait now...

What will all you Launchies be doing to pass the time these next couple of weeks?

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Asa Butterfield via io9: Welcome to Fairyland

Last week, io9 had the opportunity to sit down with Ender Wiggin actor Asa Butterfield at CinemaCon where he had a lot to say about filming the Zero G Battle Room, the flash guns, and -- we hoped it was coming -- the Mind Game!

As excited as the young actors probably were at Space Camp, they unfortunately didn't get to start working on the exciting Battle Room scenes straight away -- they had to film a lot of the boring scenes using gravity first. But once they were up in the air, it's easy to bet gravity could sometimes look pretty appealing:

"Harnesses aren't the most comfortable things you can wear, and neither are the flash suits. They look incredible, when you're wearing them. [But] you're very hot, to say the least. It was hard work, we had a lot of physical training. And we spent a lot of time practicing getting the movements and pretending to be in zero gravity.

[...] When you're in the harnesses to stop yourself from falling at the waist, which is where they're connected, you have to be tensed up. So keeping actions smooth whilst having your whole body completely tensed is surprisingly difficult. Meanwhile you're saying your lines. They were fun, they were amazing fun to shoot, especially the sort action moments when you're flying across shooting your gun. Those are awesome."

As uncomfortable as it all sounds, the entire cast has assured us over and over how much fun the Battle Room scenes were to shoot. Who wouldn't want to be suspended in midair and flown across a cavernous set, even if it is hard work?

And while the actors were sometimes zooming around in Null G, they also had scenes where they were required to remain perfectly still -- while suspended in the air. In the Ender's Game novel, the soldier's flash suits freeze completely when shot by an enemy's laser gun. To recreate this in the film, Asa explains how it worked: "For the long shots you just had to freeze. You're just frozen. For the close ups occasionally they had these contraptions that just locked your arm in place. And they did use CG to make sure there weren't any tiny wobbles."

The last question might be the most interesting for fans of the book who has been following the movie since it began filming last February:

What was the hardest form of psychological torture for Ender?

Obviously there's the ending, which I'm not going to say. But that's definitely the biggest. But [out] of [the] things I can talk about, probably one of the hardest scenes for Ender was leaving his sister, back on Earth. I think that's one of the things that really damaged him. As you can see in the mind game, as well. Which is a really interesting aspect of the film and the story as a whole.

So now we know: they have at least filmed portions of the Mind Game.  Since it doesn't seem like Asa has seen the final product, we can't be 100% sure what will be left on the editing room floor. But now that we know the psychological test was included in director Gavin Hood's screen play (and that it's Bob Orci's favorite scene from the book), it looks like our chances of seeing The Giant's Drink on screen just increased tremendously!

Here's hoping they included that little bat.

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Video: Asa Butterfield Talks "Ender's Game" at CinemaCon 2013

Showbiz Junkies has come through for us once again as we now have a full video of Asa Butterfield's CinemaCon Q&A session which took place this past Thursday at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Confident and well-prepared, Asa spoke quite thoroughly on his experience filming Ender's Game as well as the Academy Award winning Hugo and what it was like working with big name actors and directors such as Harrison Ford, Gavin Hood, and Martin Scorsese -- who he affectionately calls "Marty," much to the crowds amusement.

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Last year, Asa Butterfield moved to New Orleans with his mother and sister for 5 months to film Ender's Game, a decision that he refers to as "a big step in his career." And while Asa himself hadn't read the book until he found out they were casting for the movie, he is fully aware of the story's fan base and huge cult following: "It really meant a lot to me to be able to play that character who so many people love." And the role had other perks as well:

"I think I can speak for the large majority of teenage boys that the character of Ender is just a dream. I mean leading the human race and fighting in zero gravity with laser guns - what more could you want? I mean, that was the main sort of draw for me to want to play this role and then when I heard who else they were thinking of casting it was just like... it blew my mind, really. And I spoke with Gavin a lot of times on Skype about the character and we shared out thoughts. It really gave both of us I think an insight into how this was going to work. When I got the role I was over the moon."

One reporter mentioned that Asa was not following the path of the typical child star and asked to what he attributes his success so far. The teenager assured the audience that a lot of it was just luck and that he's a perfectly normal 16-year-old boy who attends school when he's not filming. "This is like my other life," he laughed.

Like Batman, his super hero of choice. Because, unlike other super heroes, Batman is possible.

And it's clear Asa considers Ender's Game director Gavin Hood a bit of a super hero, as he spoke very animatedly about Hood's amazing work on the film and the hands-on techniques he used to inspire the young actors on set:

"Gavin is so enthusiastic and gives so much motivation to the actors. There are loads of kids on the set - extras and cast - and Gavin, partially because he wrote the screenplay, he knew the characters back to front. He knew exactly what he wanted, and when they needed some more 'oomph' to the scene, he was there to come on stage. And he gave it all, he gave more than the actors, he was sweating, he was there. It's inspirational, it really is, not just to me but to the other actors on set as well."

Hopefully Asa will have the opportunity to work with Gavin again on future Ender projects. When asked about sequels, the young actor admitted that it probably depends on how well this film does in theaters. Which book they'll film, he isn't sure, as the linear sequel presents us with an Ender in his 30s: "Unless they want to wait 15 odd years, I dunno."

And what part of Ender's Game will we -- fans of the book -- be most excited about come November?

"Fans of the book? I think, I mean the story has stayed almost entirely true to the book apart from obviously they had to age the characters up for obvious reasons. I think it all depends on what they got out of the book. If they loved the Battle Room scenes then obviously that's going to appeal to them. But if they read the book for the stories and the... not the stories, the morals behind it and the themes, then... that's all still intact in the screenplay I think. It's a really deep story."

 Ender's Game is set to his US theaters November 1, 2013.

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Orson Scott Card: "Speaker for the Dead" is Unfilmable.

Aaron Johnston and Orson Scott Card - Image © LA Times

Orson Scott Card appeared today alongside Earth Unaware co-author Aaron Johnston at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, an annual event held this year at the University of Southern California. According to the Los AngelesTimes, when asked about potential sequels to the Ender's Game film, there is one film in particular Card hopes never hits the big screen:

"'Speaker for the Dead' is unfilmable," Card said in response to a question from the audience. "It consists of talking heads, interrupted by moments of excruciating and unwatchable violence. Now, I admit, there's plenty of unwatchable violence in film, but never attached to my name.

"'Speaker for the Dead, I don't want it to be filmed. I can't imagine it being filmed'."

He also warned audiences to keep in mind that they will be disappointed if they head into the film expecting "the same experience as reading the book."

Admission to the book festival is free and will be taking place at USC through tomorrow.

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Interview: Harrison Ford at CinemaCon 2013

Thanks to Showbiz Junkies, we now have a clip of one of the Q&A sessions Harrison Ford participated in while at CinemaCon this past week. He speaks about his most recent film 42, dodges quite a few Star Wars questions and, luckily for us, talks a bit about Ender's Game:



When asked if he was always a big fan of Ender's Game, Ford admitted that he hadn't been familiar with the book before he was signed on to play Colonel Graff. "I really came to the project through the script," he said, which he sometimes finds easier. "Books are books and movies are movies. They're not always... the same craftsman is not always involved. I think it's a very interesting book and the film, I think, is going to be great."

One journalist asked what was it about the script he particularly liked:

"I just thought it was something we have not seen. I thought the story was prescient about some of the things we're seeing in our lives right now and it was written 20 years ago, I guess. I thought it had an interesting moral question behind it, which is articulated in the film and I thought it would really be a good summer movie on top of that.

And on filming with such a young cast?

"I've worked with young people before. I have had children of my own; I'm familiar with shorter people."

Hear that, Bean?

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Ender's Game Trailer Debuted at CinemaCon Today

Hooray! As I have speculated here four weeks ago, Lionsgate has debuted the trailer for Ender's Game today at their 2-hour presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas! And while I haven't actually seen it yet - it hasn't been released online and officially debuts for the public with Star Trek 2 in about three weeks - it seems to be much more than a simple teaser trailer! That is something to really look forward to now, and judging by the initial reaction from people who have attended today's event, fans will certainly not be disappointed.

Lionsgate presented a star-filled panel at CinemaCon to present their entire schedule for 2013, including "The Escape Plan", "Red 2", and "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire". Attending were Liam Hemswoth, Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman, Isla Fisher, Joss Whedon, and Ender's Game stars Harrison Ford, Sir Ben Kingsley, Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfeld. The lucky audience got to see new footage for many of the studio's 2013 films, several trailers and... the first ever real footage for Ender's Game!

I know you are all dying to actually see the trailer, and we will alert you the moment we learn about its online release, but the good news is that it created quite a buzz on twitter and the initial reaction from those who've seen the trailer was entirely positive. At least I haven't seen a single negative piece of commentary. Here is a summary of first impressions for you:

If you succeed, you will be remembered as a hero.

Peter Sciretta from Slashfilm described the trailer as "pretty epic. Starts with an alien battle against jet fighters, Star Wars-esque. Shows more than I expected it would. Ender's Game looks very Star Wars-esque, in an epic way. Yes, yes, YES!" Firstshowing.net Executive Editor Alex Billington was really enthusiastic: "'If you succeed, you will be remembered as a hero.' Holy SHIT. Ender's Game trailer will blow you away. Better than Elysium. No bullshit. Looks EPIC, huge. Maybe even bigger than the book. Characters and story at the forefront but hints of MASSIVE battles and stunning VFX. WOW. What did I say? New era of sci-fi is here."

More of the same from Firstshowing's Ethan Anderton: "I was like, wow, how great that the Hugo kid is in Ender's Game," from Steven Weintraub, Editor in Chief of movie website Collider: "Highlight of the Lionsgate panel was the premiere of the ENDER'S GAME trailer. Looks really good." And The Baltimore Sun's Denisa Protani concludes: "Harrison Ford & the cast of ENDER'S GAME plus the cast of CATCHING FIRE showed us that LIONSGATE will have another winning year."

After the trailer was shown, Harrison Ford took the stage at Caesars Palace and gave us another confirmation that the film, despite all its sci-fi-epicness, will likely stay pretty true to the tone of the book: "I was attracted to it not just for the scale of it and the power of it visually, but there’s a great human story here."

If you want to read a very detailed desciption of the entire trailer, head over to io9.com. We don't want to spoil everything for you by repeating every single take here as it is much more exciting to be positively surprised. Just this much: what you get to see (hopefully) soon is not a teaser trailer which is the common format of a first footage trailer for a new release; the trailer is regular length of about 2:30 minutes.

Update: Collider reported that the Ender's Game trailer "should appear online as early as next week." HOORAY!

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LIVE: "Ender's Game" Hits CinemaCon

CinemaCon 2013 is taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada this week and Lionsgate, the parent of Ender's Game production company Summit Entertainment, is currently holding a presentation on their 2013 projects.

Cast members Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfeld are in attendance and met up to send a couple snapshots our way:

And Slash Film just announced that the trailer for Ender's Game will be debuted TODAY at CinemaCon! Keep checking back here and we will update this post as news roles in!

Exciting!

Here are some trailer reactions:

@firstshowing: 3 mins "If you succeed, you will be remembered as a hero." Holy SHIT. Ender's Game trailer will blow you away. Better than Elysium. No bullshit.

@AmyKinLA: The tattoo on Ben Kingsley's face in "Ender's Game" is gnarly. #CinemaCon

@PNemioff Jrust screened the trailer. Loads of Battle Room footage and it's looking good! Full write-up later. #EndersGame

@slashfilm: Enders Game trailer was pretty epic. Starts with an alien battle against jet fighters, Star Wars-esque. Shows more than I expected it would.

@firstshowing: What did I say? New era of sci-fi is here.

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WonderCon Poster Giveaway: The Winners!

Hey guys! Using a random number generator, I just drew the winners of the two Ender's Game teaser posters which were available this month at WonderCon. Here are today's two lucky Launchies:

Meownita Ortega
Olivera Jones

Congratulations, guys! Please send your mailing address to endernews@gmail.com and I will get your posters in the mail ASAP.

To everyone else: don't despair. With promotion of the movie picking up, there will be loads more giveaways both here on Ender News and the other Ender's Game fansites -- and soon! So hang in there.

And as Gavin Hood suggested: keep your knees up!

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"Ender's Game" Teaser Poster at CinemaCon

Look familiar? CinemaCon is currently underway in Las Vegas, Nevada and Collider has put together a series of images of the variety of movie posters on display -- including one of the Ender's Game teaser we've all been ogling for the past few weeks!

And don't forget, guys: not only is Lionsgate scheduled to present many of their big name projects coming out this year at the convention, but several of the Ender's Game actors are set to receive awards! From our previous post:

Both Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfeld [as well as Harrison Ford] will be honored in a big awards ceremony at this year's CinemaCon convention which will be held from April 15-18 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Just a couple of hours before this ceremony, on April 18 at 2:30 PM, an exclusive product presentation from Lionsgate is scheduled at this location, and as it focuses on the studio's "2013 release schedule featuring several special guests," you can bet your house on the fact that Ender's Game will be prominently featured.

Make sure to keep checking back throughout the week as we will be doing our very best to keep you informed on all the exciting Ender happenings at CinemaCon this year!

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EnderCast Episode #09: Ender's World

Hey, everyone! This week's episode of EnderCast was rather special as Crystal and I had the privilege of talking to two great contributors to Ender's World:  David Lubar and his daughter Alison Myers, authors of the essay Parallax Regained. Here are some of the topics we covered with them:

- Alison mentions in gender in Parallax Regained and how Scott has two well-crafted and dynamic female characters. As a female reader, it was a little disappointing that he had Petra fail on Eros. Why do you think he chose Petra for this incident?
- How can Peter/Valentine/Ender’s motivations be shown on screen, especially when we never get to see from Peter’s perspective?
- Thoughts on Anderson being changed to a woman and the effect of Asa being older on the transition of the story from book to film.
- Considering how the landscape of gaming has changed so much in the last 10 years, in a hypothetical situation that the IF needed to recruit for Battle School, could they do so in the pool of gamers out there today?

Also, a bit of a news round-up:

- Contests on EnderWiggin.net and Ender News for you to win Ender's Game mini posters
- Butterfield family's game Racing Blind is now available for the iPad
- Romeo and Juliet trailer with Hailee Steinfeld
- CinemaCon is coming up next week and Asa, Hailee, and Harrison will be receiving awards

Don't forget: you can listen to EnderCast whenever you like by subscribing to us on iTunes!

Thanks again for tuning in!

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Hailee Steinfeld in the First Official "Romeo and Juliet" Trailer!

Petra actress Hailee Steinfeld will be starring in Carlo Carlei's Romeo and Juliet which is set to hit theaters later this year. Today, we get our first look at Hailee as Juliet Capulet. Check out the official trailer below:



As Crystal pointed out over at EnderWiggin.net, it's completely unbelievable that this is the first thing we've seen Hailee in since her debut in True Grit back in 2010. We can't wait to see her take on Petra Arkanian in November!

Will anyone else be seeing this as soon as it comes out?

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"Ender's Game" WonderCon Poster Giveaway

Ho, Launchies! I have two of the official Ender's Game teaser posters that were handed out at WonderCon to give away to some lucky fans.

Let's keep it simple: To enter, simply comment once on the giveaway image I've posted on the Ender News Facebook page before midnight EST on April 16th. On the 17th, I'll use a random number generator to pick 2 winners.

Easy peasy, right? Typical rules:

- Everyone can enter only once. Duplicate entries will be deleted.
- You can comment saying whatever you like, but since I have to go through and moderate them all, it's more fun for me if you're amusing!
- Replies to other people's comments do not count.
- Only comments on the Facebook image will count as entries to the giveaway. Comments on this post are welcome, yet superfluous.

I'll post the winner's names here on the 17th and contact them via Facebook. If any winner doesn't get back to me within 72 hours, they forfeit their super cool prize and another will be chosen.

Good luck, guys!

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EnderCast Episode #08: All My Love, Turkeylips

Hey, guys! Crystal and I recorded another episode of EnderCast this week entitled "All My Love, Turkeylips." Some of the topics covered include:

-- Asa Butterfield's birthday... and Crystal's, too! Check out our happy birthday messages to Asa, as well as the super cool Dragon Army cake Crystal made over on EnderWiggin.net!
-- Upcoming Ender's World reviews, as well as talk of a couple of the authors we will have on the show this Saturday
-- IF-Sentinel.com launching its splash page and the official movie Twitter account @EndersGameMovie
-- WonderCon mini-posters

Don't forget to subscribe to us on iTunes so you can listen to EnderCast whenever and wherever you like.

Thanks again for tuning in!

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