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.