One Reason (Of Many) Why We Support Gavin Hood

I know we said this topic was closed here at Ender News, but Ender's Game director Gavin Hood recently spoke with SFX magazine about the debate surrounding Orson Scott Card and the upcoming film. He addresses the inner conflict many of us most likely experienced when deciding to support this movie, and how he tackled that issue early in the production process:

"I'm frustrated and disappointed in the views that he's espousing, because I'm finding it very hard as a fan of the book," Hood says. "One of the key themes in the book is compassion, and kindness and understanding towards – for want of a better word – another species, and the notion that these great themes and ideas that are in the book are not playing out in his personal life is confusing and distressing to me. My feeling is that this is one of those very strange and unfortunate situations, much l like the music of Richard Wagner or Carl Orff, where it's often the case that art rises above the personal failings of its creators.

"I'm obviously disappointed and saddened. Ender's Game was written when he was younger, and I read what he's saying now and I read what he said then, and it feels like I'm looking at two different people, and that's confusing. But I faced this issue when I was in pre-production, and these views were coming out, and I remember coming home to my wife and saying 'Honey, I don't know what to do, part of me wants to just stop, I can't believe what's coming out of this author's mouth.' I love this book, but what is this? And then I thought this book is actaully [sic] completely at odds with what he's saying. I'm not going to be intimidated out of making a piece of work that I feel has strong themes and important themes and is beloved by many, just because its original creator is now espousing extremely extreme views, with which I don't agree.

"I said this is going to be a debate, and debate is good. The truth is that if we hadn't made the movie we wouldn't be having this discussion, and in some ways, in a twisted way I actually welcome the opportunity to express my views which appear to be the polar opposite to his. But the movie is not about the crazy things that Orson is saying. It's about the nature of man in terms of his capacity for violence and compassion, and questioning this merging of game and reality in drone warfare. All of those themes for me remain extremely powerful despite the views on gay marriage that Orson has, with which I strongly disagree."

I'm beginning to despise the word "controversy" but admire Gavin Hood more and more every day.