Ender's Game to become a screenplay...
 

...and it's gonna suck.

From Slashdot

nighthawk127127 writes "According to the Fresco Pictures website, David Benioff (writer of the screenplay for Troy) has been signed on by Warner Brothers to write the script for the movie adaptation of Ender's Game. Rumors of the Ender's Game movie have been circulating for a long time now, but this is the first time in a while we've gotten some definite information. The movie will be a combination of Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card." Well, gosh, with Troy under his belt, all my concerns about the movie sucking are straight out! *cough*

Card has been very selective about the movie deal, so he's either somewhat confident with this team, or he's finally given up hope.

I'm a bit skeptical that we'll see a film with quite the same level of darkness, though.

I too, fear the suckness.

Although, wow, if Ender's Game is finally maybe becoming sort of a movie, does that mean there's hope for Neuromancer and The Watchmen??

Probably not. I know a number of people who don't normally read science fiction who enjoyed Ender's Game. Not so much for Neuromancer.

Well, I was VERY disappointed in I, Robot. I'm not sure if Will Smith ruined it or it was the screenplay to begin with. I suspect a combination of both.

I saw a movie based on a book I liked sink due to a bad screenplay AND actors. Raise The Titanic. I believe that it was more a lack of budget and special effects teams at the time, but still. It coulda been much better. Now there's Sahara. A good book by an excellent author. The promos don't look promising either but I'll be there faithfully, hoping for a miracle. Report as I see the movie.

Brian

Most good books turn into really bad movies.

And then you have the whole "James Bond" genre, which are a series of movies that the further away from the original novels they moved, the less in common they had, until all that was left was the title.

Best book to movie adaptation for me was "Bringing Out the Dead" with "Full Metal Jacket" and "Fight Club" being very close second and somewhat further out third.

I agree. Dances with Wolves being the exception. That book sucked.

Wasn't the book written by the screenwriter, and therefore virtually identical to the screenplay?

Yeah. Thought so.

Could be worse. They could have gotten Berman and Bragga (of Star Trek infamy) to produce.

Let's not forget Voerhoven(sp) and Starship Troopers.

Wasn't the book written by the screenwriter, and therefore virtually identical to the screenplay?

Well, it's possible to be really good at writing dialogue and really sucky at scene descriptions... not that I ever read that particular book or saw the movie.

the movie had an ok story, but it was the scenery that really drew in the viewer. i don't see how Dances with Wolves could possibly be a good read. normally i believe the book is better than the movie, but i think that would be an exception.

Those are two stories I hope will never be made into movies, simply because I don't have that much faith in Hollywood.

Well, Card did write the first version of the script, so hopefully David Benioff will not stray too far from that. Also, Happy Monkey's right. Card has been looking to make Ender's Game into a movie for a long time, and the primary reason that it hasn't happened yet is his reluctance to give up control. Seeing as how Ender's Game is the book he is most identified with, Card does't want the movie to be screwed up any more than we do.

I can't imagine "Ender's Game" the movie being anything but total crap.

Think about it, the book is about a bunch of kids interacting. Ender is only 6 years old! In the book, you can get inside their heads and understand why they do what they do. In a movie, you really can't do that so well. What you will end up seeing on the screen is a bunch of kids acting like grown-ups, with grown up motives and drama, etc. You would need a very talented group of kids to pull off the acting for this movie. There aren't very many talented young actors out there. The casting people for Star Wars looked long and hard for the kid that ended up being Darth Vader in Episode I. I don't know about you, but I'm not happy with the kid they found. That's a sampling of the best talent out there at that age. Can you imagine a kid like that carrying a movie?


Think of other movies with all-child casts: "The Goonies" kids are around 12-16 in age.
Bugsy Malone. Scott Baio was 14.
"Lord of the Flies" The actors are 14-15 years old.
"Stand By Me" Wil Wheaton was only 13 when he filmed this, but the movie was narrated by an adult Richard Dryfuss.

These were all teenagers, and some of the movies were still crap. A 6 year old actor can not carry a movie. Even a 10 year old portraying a 6 year old can not carry a movie. You would need to completely destroy the story and have Ender be a teenager. That's the only way to make the movie not suck.

Card is bumping the ages up a few years for the purposes of the movie. That said, I sympathise with your view. I've basically made the decision in my mind that the Ender's Game movie will be a separate entity from the book. I won't allow my view of one to contaminate the other. It's not that different from the distinction I've made concerning the last three Shadow books. In my mind, they belong to a different universe than the original Ender series. My hope is for a good movie, not necessarily a good adaptation of Ender's Game.

oh. damn. 6. yeah.

Hollow-wood would make Baby Geniuses III: Babies in Space.

Puke and poop in zero-gee. Oh the hilarity.

Bugger? What's a bugger??

They'd do a gender makeover and have the Ender character played by Hilary Duff and the Boneso by Lindsey Lohan so they could make the battle school scenes into catfights.

Good god, did I just write that?? Please, somebody, take me out back and put me out of my misery.

I think your wife will take care of that for you.

Almost 15 years, and she hasn't gotten around to it yet. No doubt there are more important things on her agenda . . .

What is Ender's Game about? I heard Orson Scott Card on speak on an NC public radio show as he is from North Carolina, but I haven't read any of this books. Is Ender's Game the best one to start with?

Yes. Some would say it's the only one to read at all, but I enjoy most of them. Ender's Game is the best, though.

It's about a global Earth government at war with an alien civilization. Earth is doing badly, so they start a eugenics program to create genius kids to be military generals. The story follows one of those kids.

Yeah. Read Ender's Game, and even the rest of the books in that series and the Ender's Shadow series if you like. But stay away from Card's other work. It's not as good.

Actually, now that think about it some more, if you read "Ender's Game" and it's sequel "Speaker for the Dead" and nothing else, you will be left wanting more, which is a better position to be in than having read too much.

I dunno about that. Anna Paquin was (I think) 8 years old in The Piano, and she TOTALLY rocked in that movie. Youngest Oscar winner ever IIRC. I'll agree that she's rare, though. I'm just worried they'll get Haley Joel Osmont to do it, which would be a shame.

Ender's Game is Card's best-known work. It is a great book. I highly reccomend the entire Ender series. Card also has a number of stand alone books and short stories that are as good, if not better. He has a few of his short stories online here . Of his non-Ender books, I would reccomend The Worthing Saga, Pastwatch, and Wyrms most highly, though most of his books are worth reading.

All true. But Paquin was one actress in that film, and her part was a minor one. The three adults in The Piano had the major roles. They carried the movie. She was just the dash of spice to make the movie special.

wtf?

one word:

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW


Ender's Game is one of my favorite books like, ever...

This is going to suck major fuckin' ass.

i want the movie to be made, already. and i want it to be 5 hours long so that it doesnt suck. even if it has to be done by Pixar as a CG cartoon, i want it.

3 years and it's only still a glimmer? talk about resurrection.

I have a hard time picturing this not sucking, but it could be done. I'd shoot it to look like the 30's to create that atmosphere...

That could work.

I am pretty excited about this movie. It's one of my all-time favorite sci-fi books. Speaking of Orson Scott Card, I started reading his book "Empire" while on the plane from Vietnam to America. It's a post 9/11 story that happens in America. It starts with a huge hole being blown into the side of the White House that kills the President, Vice-President, Secretary of State, and the Joint Chiefs.

Oh how I've wished for someone to pull that trick off for the last 7 years.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

We'd like to hear more about your wishes. We'll be right over.

Come on over. It turns out it's not against the law to wish for that kind of stuff; only to plan it or do it.

We first started talking about this just about 8 years ago.

Meet Ender

is that Anderson cooper talking to him ???

Harrison Ford ?

PLEASEDONTSUCKPLEASEDONTSUCKPLEASEDONTSUCK

I have the book on my Nook, but have yet to read it. I wonder if I should or wait till after the movie.

That's a book I always kind of planned to read sometime and never got around too. Then just recently I read some stuff about te author and it totally put me off.

No no no no no. Read the book. Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead are both well worth reading. The remainder I found to be a bit weird.

The author is a massive asshole, but Ender's Game is excellent.

I'll second what the others have said, Dana: knowing what I do about Card now, I was stunned that none of his philosophies seeped into his books in even the slightest way. But they really didn't. Ender's Game is one of my favorite books of all time.

Yeah. Initially he just rubbed me the wrong way a bit, but now I can't stand the guy. Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead are great books though, and should be read before seeing the movie.

read my mind man.

What's a matta with Card?

could you sum up?

Not that long ago, he thought gays should be prosecuted and sent to prison for having consensual sex. Now he just works to ban gay marriage. His politics don't match mine, which is fine, but I think he takes it too far.

Wikipedia has a big section on his politics if you are curious. He's basically Rush Limbaugh.

Ah, thats a bummer. I hate it when people I admire for their talent are dicks.

Card in the news.

Maybe get Ender's Game from the library instead of buying it.

Special effects look good.

The lake scene with Valentine is completely different than I remember in the book. In the book, it's all lazy summer, soaking up the sun, and just relaxing in a North Carolina mountain lake. This lake looks like it's in the Yukon and it's icy cold like outer space. They are going for a different feel in the movie.

And this:
PLEASEDONTSUCKPLEASEDONTSUCKPLEASEDONTSUCK

Earth invaded? That's not how I remember it.

Funny how the adults are played by big names (Kingsley & Ford) when in the book they were unnamed, unseen "narrators".

The beginning of every chapter is a page or two long discussion between the adults. Graff and Anderson.

And Rackham is a character in the book.

Spex,

The earth invasion happened in the past from the books perspective. We barely fought them off, but expect their return. The hero of that conflict is enders mentor in the latter part of the book. Mazer Rackham or something. The point of battle school is to prepare officers for the coming war with the buggers.

Not getting my hopes up.

I do hope it doesnt suck Too bad

Imma hafta re-read it:smack::bonk: