Ender's Game Red Carpet Interview: Aramis Knight & Khylin Rhambo

It's always a good time talking to Bean actor Aramis Knight and were pleased when we had a chance to speak with him this past Monday on the red carpet. We had scared him a bit with the threat of a live pop quiz after his hilarious appearance on EnderCast but we're not that mean.



Here is the ICEE reference for those who missed Asa's appearance on our podcast as well.

Khylin Rhambo (Dink Meeker) also stopped by for a quick chat and told us about his favorite scene -- which, if you watch all the videos, you'll find seems to be everyone's favorite scene.



You'll know it when you see it. ;)

EnderCast Ep. 34: Ender Wiggin, Ender Wiggin

Yesterday Crystal from EnderWiggin.net and I had the pleasure of chatting with Ender Wiggin himself Asa Butterfield as well as Ender's Game producers Bob Orci and Gigi Pritzker for an episode of EnderCast!

We didn't get to chat too long because they were all super busy at the press junket yesterday in LA, but we did get to chat with Asa about what it's like seeing his own face all over the place and the fact that he was at the movies with some "friends" of his Friday night and they didn't even get the guy an Ender's Game ICEE. ;)

Also joining us were producers Bob Orci and Gigi Pritzker and they had great things to say about their Ender's Game journey and left us with a message for fans as we countdown to the film's release.

In case you've missed some of our past episodes with Ender's Game cast and crew, you can catch up over the two weeks as we wait for NovEnder 1st!

Episode 32:  Brandon Soo Hoo (Fly Molo)
Episode 31: Stunt Coordinator Garrett Warren
Episode 30: Jimmy Jax Pinchak (Peter Wiggin)
Episode 28: Suraj Partha (Alai)
Episode 26: Aramis Knight (Bean) and Khylin Rhambo (Dink Meeker)
Episode 24: Aramis Knight (Bean), Jimmy Jax Pinchak (Peter Wiggin), Suraj Partha (Alai), Cameron Gaskins (Pol Slattery), Khylin Rhambo (Dink Meeker), Brandon Soo Hoo (Fly Molo), Conor Carroll (Bernard), Caleb Thaggard (Stilson)
Episode 23: Caleb Thaggard (Stilson) and Conor Carroll (Bernard)

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

Thanks for tuning in -- and a huge thanks to Asa Butterfield, Bob Orci, and Gigi Pritzker for coming on the show!

Dink and Bean Have Found "Ender's Game" ICEEs

"We don't even care if it tastes bad."
"Novender. On November 1st."

I'd send them a prize but, you know. Being in the movie is prize enough, gentlemen.

Source: Instagram

Set Visit #4: The Cast Talks Stunts, Buggers, and Pop Tarts

"We're open for questions. Are you game?"

We had been ushered by the producers into a trailer that had been set up in simple press conference style -- a bunch of folding chairs facing a long table where the talent would be sitting. Hailee Steinfeld and Asa Butterfield had entered the room after a few minutes of us chatting aimlessly and flipping through notes, both still in costume: dark turtlenecks, long pants, and the black tactical boots we've seen so often in the film's trailers. I felt terrible for them as May in New Orleans is scorching, but the room was cool and they seemed comfortable -- or, at the very least, resigned to the decidedly unglamorous life on a movie set.

Making use of the short time we knew we had with the pair before they would be called back to filming, the first question was launched and off we went.

Hailee couldn't quite remember how she initially became involved in the Ender's Game project. She had been in the middle of another film when she found out about the role and a few phone calls were made. While the then 15-year-old actress was too soft-spoken and sweet to admit that everyone was probably thrilled to hear that her Oscar-nominated self was interested in the project,  it's easy to imagine casting the character of Petra went very much like this:

"Hello, this is Hailee Steinfeld's rep…"
"Yes."

While no one can doubt his acting chops, London-born Asa Butterfield had a tougher time of it as he had to prove he could pick up a generic American accent.

© Summit Entertainment

"I sent off a lot of audition tapes. And the harder part of it was of course getting into the accent so I did a lot of dialect training. And once I sent off a few tapes, I ended up meeting Gavin in L.A. where I spoke to him and I performed in front of him. And I don't remember how long after that it was, it was during the press tour for Hugo, and my mom told me that I got the part."

And how did he react?

"Well actually, it was just before our flight out to New York to start everything and my mom came into my bedroom and... okay, this is pretty much word for word... she was like, 'Okay, take a deep breath.' And as soon as she said that, I knew what had happened. I literally screamed. Like, I was flipping out. It was amazing," Asa grinned.

While neither Hailee nor Asa had read the book before they'd began the audition process, they both picked it up quickly after booking their roles. We asked Hailee if she found the Petra of the film to be similar to the author's version of the girl with "more balls than anyone else" in Salamander Army and she immediately insisted that she was.

"It's very similar. I mean, the movie is as close to the book as a two-hour movie can get. But for my character I love, you know -- Petra, she's a very strong independent girl and I love that. [...] When I first read a character, if it's a strong female role then that's kind of a part for me."

"The book really helped with the background for Ender, the whole thing about his family and... so that was really helpful," Asa remarked. "And there is a lot, sort of, on Wikipedia about the past and all of the law to the Hegemon and the Strategos, so that was all really helpful."

The Hamster Wheel

When the topic of stunts came up, Asa and Hailee told us a bit more about something we'd been allowed to peek at during the production art tour: the hamster wheel. In the video we'd seen, the two of them were strapped face-to-face in a spinning device, flipping over and over at a speed that would have made the most seasoned stuntman nervous.

"It felt a lot faster than it looked," Asa insisted. "It might have been going really slow but we were travelling a hundred miles an hour."

"It's really funny," laughed Hailee, "Because I mean, working with the stunt coordinator, Garrett Warren, it's been... he's so passionate about what he does and it makes it that much more fun for us. You know, he has something new he's like, 'Hey guys, let's check this out, let's try this!' and if something doesn't work he's like 'Forget it, let's do something else' and he's, you know, always up for new things and new challenges but um... the hamster wheel is one that we did where, I mean, we couldn't even look at each other with a straight face 'cause our helmets were super tight and once we were upside down it like kind of…"

"Made us look… sort of hamsterish. Hence the name."

Since most of us were there representing one fan outlet or another, we asked Asa and Hailee if it was more difficult working on a movie that has such a huge fanbase -- does it put pressure on them in any way? Surprisingly, neither of them thought it did.

"I don't feel that, personally," Hailee explained, pausing a moment. "I think, speaking for myself and I think the others could agree, coming onto a project that does have such a huge fanbase that, you know, I found that I'm a fan of it in general... kind of coming on and being able to be a part of it is just kind of an honor rather than feeling the pressure of it."

Asa definitely agreed. "Yeah, I mean, totally. It's an amazing opportunity to be on this and it's been an amazing experience. But there is a massive fan base for this and, well, as soon as I got the part one of the things I told my mom was... one of the main scenes I want to do in this is still appeal to the massive cult that already follows Ender's Game and so... that was what I was thinking about when I was doing the role."

Before we had stopped in to chat with the cast, we were speaking to stunt director Garrett Warren -- in an interview you'll read tomorrow -- and he had gushed excitedly over the infamous shower scene. When asked, Asa admitted it's going to be pretty epic.

"It was intense. It's an amazing scene, from what I've seen of it at least. And yeah, it was one of the first scenes I had filmed with Moises and we were both really excited about it. Like at the hotel we both were like wondering, 'Am I going to do a back flip over you or something?' And of course it was more realistic than that but we had our fantasies about how epic it would be. And of course there's the part about … it was difficult to shoot because they could never show me naked, so they had to always shoot me from the waist up. But yeah, it was an amazing scene."

--

Gavin Hood's arrival signaled a change in conversation and a few minutes later, both Asa and Hailee were called back to set and a troop of boys wandered in: Suraj Partha, Conor Carroll, Khylin Rhambo, Aramis Knight -- with a guest appearance by Stilson actor Caleb Thaggard.

The first question for the group was well-suited to a bunch of teenage boys growing up in the 21st century: What piece of advanced technology used in Ender's futuristic world would they love to see available today?

"I think the little mouse for our computers that we saw today," Aramis pipped up. "They are incredible. It's cool how just a little device this big... they compacted the keyboard into it and the little scrolly thing and the joystick. It's so cool."

Khylin went for a more obvious choice: the flash gun.

"You'd need the flash SUIT with that, too."

"Ah yeah, that's true," Khylin winced.

Set Shenanigans

Throw together scores of teenagers, long days, and a dash of Gavin Hood and you are sure to occasionally run into mischief. And when we asked the boys if there had been any silly moments on set, they definitely did not disappoint.

© Ender News

"I know a really good one," grinned Conor. "This is a really long story but I'll try to keep it short. It was doing one scene where I think Ender enters the battle and Fly falls off and breaks his leg. And it was this one person who works on the movie's birthday and I don't know why but he dressed up like an enormous bunny. And so Gavin said, 'Okay, great, nice shot everyone. Let's do one more take.' So we were all like getting ready and the man in the bunny suit came in, 'All right everyone, time to go into space!' Everyone laughed so unbelievably hard."

"That was a good one," Aramis agreed. "I was like, 'Should I go with it?'"

"Donnie Darko. You guys can see him too, right?"

What about when they weren't filming or in between takes?

"I've been learning how to beat-box from Asa," grinned Suraj.

"And he's RIDICULOUS at it," Aramis assured us. "I've been teaching these guys a little bit about basketball. We've been doing that a little bit."

But not everything they did between takes was just for fun - they also admitted that they liked to spend time getting revved up and ready for Battle as a group and had come up with a way to really get blood flowing.

"Yeah, when we gotta get pumped, ready for battle, right before they say "action!" we start doing chants and we're like stomping. It's like a football team," Khylin nodded. "It's super cool though, it gets you in the moment."

Stunts

Once the boys were pumped and ready to go, the real work started. Who needs stunt doubles when you have a bunch of young, energetic teenagers to work with? It was really surprising to hear from the cast how many of the stunts they actually pulled off on their own - and of course they all had their favorites.

© Summit Entertainment

Khylin loved the first time they got to run and jump into the Battle Room. They put the boys on a zip line and told them to go for it. "Let go. Go as fast as you want, run, whatever you want to do and like if you want to flip or you just jump out…" It's easy to imagine the actors zipping down the huge hall at the old NASA facility, each trying to outdo the other and come up with the most outrageous null-gravity move.

"I know one scene that… Bean definitely knows this... and it's probably one of his and one of my favorite scenes, too," Conor leaned over to gesture at Aramis a few seats away. "We were on the zipline and he's laying face-down on one of the windows looking out and I grab his leg and he kicks me and I have to do a couple somersaults in space. It was one of the hardest scenes I had ever done cause like my gun kept dropping or I didn't spin enough times or I spun to the side."

"And I told him if I had any anger towards him, I was going to let it out in that scene. I really went for it. I kicked him, I kicked him. It felt really great," Aramis grinned.

But what about Stilson? Did Caleb Thaggard get to try out any of the wirework even though his character never quite makes it to Battle School?

"Well, with these guys telling me how much those things hurt, I really didn't…" he admitted as the room exploded in laughter. "'You wanna try??' 'No, no I'm fine, man. I'll be an Earth brat. I'm good. I'm chillin' on Earth.' But yeah, it was still really, really fun."

© Summit Entertainment

While Caleb wasn't required to strap himself into a harness and pretend to be weightless, he did have to go through a bit of the martial arts and military training. Why? As we saw last week in a newly released still, Ender's school on Earth is run by the International Fleet.

"I got to do some of that. I have a new respect for every single one of them. The stuff they had to do every day... cause, you know, at first I only had to do like marching and you know, if I messed up with that, all I had to do was push-ups. These dudes had to do push-ups, sit-ups, sparring. I was like, 'All right, yeah, you guys are beastly.'"

The Buggers

So, Battle School is breath-taking and the null-gravity stunt work should be incredible. But there's one question that's still on everyone's mind: What do the Formics look like? It appears the studio wants to leave this reveal for the big screen;  there hasn't been any sign of the aliens in the trailers and it's very unlikely they come out with a Bugger Drone #24 character poster before the film hits theaters in November.

They did, however, give us a peak at the Formic imagery last May and the Buggers were impressive -- and terrifying. But what did the boys think the first time they had a chance to check them out?

"The first time I think all of us saw them, it was just a picture, right? They just look like really giant ants." Aramis explained, using his hands to to give us a better visual. "Giant ants with claws and teeth and it shows like everything, like the science, crazy names on all of them, the anatomy, muscular system. It's crazy."

"I had two impressions when I first saw them. The first was, 'Oh my god, I can't believe they look like this!' I always thought they were like humanoid, almost. Like they'd walk on two legs. My second thought was, 'I don't wanna be one of them cause I'd have to be with other Formics all the time,' Conor admitted, to huge laughter and agreement from his castmates. "That's like another reason why I don't want to be like... a spider or something, being around spiders all the time."

Suraj, however, pointed out that the Formics weren't entirely frightening. "I think the artists have done a good job, though, of... I mean, there is sort of a beauty to them as well. You're supposed to be grossed out by them but they've done a good job with the color, really making them creatures that, once you get to know them, you would love them and you'd want to live in peace with them. It's really interesting."

"The Formics are supposed to be this intelligent adversary," Caleb agreed, "One of the things I think they did with the design was really... the facial structure itself kind of had expression and an intelligence to it. So you were like, 'Yeah, okay, I could see how this thing would kick our butts in a space battle.' They just looked advanced, look like a threat."

Flash Suits

When we asked the boys about their favorite costume, there was a bit of confusion on our side of the room. Several of the boys shuffled a bit in their seats and at least one of them winced.

© Ender News

"Favorite looking?" Suraj tentatively asked.

"Yeah, my favorite looking is the flash suits," Khylin said, to the agreement of his friends.

It was when we asked if the suits were comfortable that we found out why they acting strangely. No. No, they were not.

"I'm glad we said favorite looking," Aramis shot at Khylin, who grinned and replied, "My favorite one is the pajamas."

Suraj laughed. "Yeah, the flash suits were definitely... they looked really good on camera. And one of the funniest things is that in the dormitories we have all the flash suits and everything. We're supposed to get dressed really quickly and run over to the Battle Room. And I don't think that anyone is ever going to realize that to get these things on we had like 4 people on us tugging at the pants, trying to get the jacket over, and trying to zip this up so this is…"

"IT DOESN'T FIT, IT DOESN'T. NEW ZIPPER, NEW ZIPPER," Aramis reenacted. "I remember the first time and all of us tried it on at the same time and I remember all of us were like, 'Yeah! We can do this!'  Fifteen minutes later: 'I can't do this.' Because, it's not like it's really like... you can move, it just gets tough to breathe after a while because it's tight and so well-fitted. And it also gets hot cause there were at least nine layers, at least."

In our interview with costume designer Christine Bieselin Clark which we released Friday, she admitted that they had fashioned the flash suits with wiggle room so that the actors could grow and not necessarily need a new one. But with all the working-out they were doing, the form-fitted suits did occasionally get a bit snug.

"When we got our fitting, they measured us and everything and then it fit me perfectly. And then once we went to training doing like push-ups and sit-ups and stuff, I'd put it on, the same suit, and I almost fainted. It felt like I was getting hugged by Nonso!" Khylin laughed. "It was crazy tight, but it got so much better after they tailored it. And it wasn't as bad as we were making it sound. It's definitely going to look really good on camera."

Pop Tarts

The conversation had slowly begun to dwindle at this point. The boys praised Moises Arias's intense work-out ethic, Nonso laughingly explained why yelling at the kids was a fun sort of therapy for him, and Khylin gave us the low-down on his new show, The First Family. There was a long pause, and I jokingly, brought the conversation back around to something we had been talking about earlier with the producers.

"We're going to start talking about Pop Tarts again in a minute."

"You guys talked about Pop Tarts? Where was I?"

"What? I love Pop Tarts."

"The strawberry kind with like the frosting and the …"

"I have a whole life story on Pop Tarts. At home there are these Pop Tarts and they are blue and drizzled with purple and they're like Wild Berry. At home, they don't make them! They don't make them in LA."

Check out the Pop Tart audio below:



--

Coming tomorrow: Interview with stunt coordinator Garrett Warren, the set designers, and Sir Ben Kingsley!

Aramis Knight's Ultimate 'Shredding' Skateboarding Playlist

ET Online

Any skateboarding Launchies around here? Aramis Knight teamed up with ET Online to share a list of songs he loves to listen to while "cruising in [his] neighborhood or local skatepark."

Hint: there's a lot of Kanye West. Here's few of his favorites:

All of the Lights - Kanye West
m.A.A.d city - Kendrick Lamar
HAM - Jay Z and Kanye West
Tom Ford - Jay Z
Started from the Bottom - Drake

 You can check out the full list and his commentary at the source!

"Ender's Game" Cast at Teen Choice Awards 2013

Last night's Teen Choice Awards included some exciting appearances from a couple cast members of Ender's Game!

Starting off, Hailee Steinfeld and Abigail Breslin presented the award for Choice Movie Actor: Drama to Logan Lerman for his role in The Perks of Being a Wallflower. After the event, Abigail tweeted:

So fun presenting at the Teen Choice Awards tonight with my #EndersGame costar and friend @HaileeSteinfeld... #highheelprobz? (@yoabbaabba)

Sounds like there may have been a bit of difficulty with the heels, but they both did an excellent job. Here's a fun picture of them presenting!

Daily Mail

Following the awards show, the fun continued for Aramis Knight who attended the Staples For Students Teen Choice Awards after party. He posted the photo below on his Instagram with the caption, "Party time @dylansprayberry."

Instagram

Only 80 days until Ender’s Game hits U.S. theaters!

Aramis Knight: On-Set Lizard Catching With Harrison Ford

Paige Sullivan from Mingle Media TV's Red Carpet Report caught up with Aramis Knight at the Teen Choice Awards Red Carpet Event in L.A. yesterday and he had a lot to say about Ender's Game, Khylin Rhambo, and fun on-set shenanagins with Harrison Ford.

Check it out:



On the project and meeting Khylin Rhambo:

"I just finished filming a movie called Ender's Game -- it's with Asa Butterfield who played Hugo and Hailee Steinfeld, Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis... a lot of people are in it. It was really cool. It's probably my favorite film I've ever filmed cause it's the first film that there's actually been other kids on set. And actually my best friend, his name is Khylin, he's over there -- he plays Dink in the movie, I play Bean. We met there and we've been best friends ever since. I met a lot of great people from it."

Teen Choice Awards Red Carpet Event

And Aramis made more than one friend on set! He also describes some fun with Harrison Ford and a certain daring NOLA lizard:

"There was always this lizard that would hover around our classroom and it was like this big green lizard, like a cool guy. And we were trying to catch him, to keep him in our classroom 'cause we have the heat lamp and all that stuff. And we were trying to catch him! And Harrison walks by and he's like, 'Hey guys, let me help, I used to do this when I was a kid, and helped us catch the lizard. Yeah, so we caught a lizard with Harrison Ford. That's pretty cool."

83 days until Ender's Game hits U.S. theaters.

EnderCast Episode #26 - Shoot Straight, Stay Calm

Yesterday Aramis Knight (Bean) and Khylin Rhambo (Dink) dropped by our podcast for a bit of trailer talk and to participate in the most epic round of Pop Quiz Fart Eater ever -- check it out!

A few of our topics:

- What was it like for them to finally see all the effects put in?
- Find out what scene brought tears to Aramis’ eyes
- Listen to us butcher poor Admiral Chamrajnagar’s name
- They tell us who are the five seated with Ender on Eros
- Who IS the human shield in that brief Battle Room shot?


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

Thanks for tuning in -- and a big thanks to Aramis and Khylin for coming on the show!

EnderCast at Comic-Con 2013: Interviews With the Cast of "Ender's Game!"

Crystal from EnderWiggin.net and I took our podcast to Comic-Con this year and had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with the cast of Ender's Game - in two separate episodes!

Episode with the "bullies" of Ender's Game Conor Carroll (Bernard) and Caleb Thaggard (Stilson)! Topics covered:

- What did they think about the Ender’s Game Experience?
- Both guys give us the lowdown on their casting process and how it felt to be cast in the movie
- We find out who got them to read Ender’s Game
- We also discover how weird it is that two of the nicest kids we’ve met are cast as bullies and villains all the time!

Huge group episode with Aramis Knight (Bean), Jimmy Jax Pinchak (Peter), Suraj Partha (Alai), Khylin Rhambo (Dink Meeker), Cameron Gaskins (Pol Slattery), Conor Carroll (Bean), Caleb Thaggard (Stilson), and Brandon Soo Hoo (Fly Molo)!

- Their thoughts on the Ender’s Game Experience
- Brief overview of each of their characters
- On working with Gavin Hood and the type of director he is
- Violence in the film

Huge, huge thanks to the cast members, their families, and everyone who made it possible for this episode to happen!

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

Thanks for tuning in!

Cast Autograph Signing at Comic-Con: Here's the schedule!

As we've been reporting, loads of the Ender's Game cast members are scheduled to sign autographs next week at Comic-Con in San Diego. Now the schedule is up, plus we have a new face showing up: Cameron Gaskins (Pol Slattery)!

Comic-Con 2013

So, if you're interested in meeting these guys and having a poster or your copy of Ender's Game signed, make sure you head to the autograph area at 9 a.m. Saturday and try to grab a ticket!

Big thanks to Jen for the heads up!

More Comic-Con Guests: Khylin Rhambo and Aramis Knight!

So everyone who has been following these two on Twitter know they are nearly inseparable these days, so we're excited to announce that they will both be attending Comic-Con in San Diego this month!

Instagram

We're still a little iffy on exact details, but they are both tentatively scheduled to be around on Saturday, July 20th -- same as the other confirmed supporting cast members. Comic-Con is shaping up to be a real Ender's Game cast reunion.

See you guys in (less than) two weeks!

Catch Aramis Knight at the 3rd Annual OCAAT Celebrity Basketball Game

Aramis Knight tweeted yesterday to share that he will be participating in the 3rd Annual "One Child at a Time" celebrity basketball game held in Los Angeles later this month. The charity event is presented by the Department of Children and Family Services, with all proceeds going to a good cause!

"Proceeds [...] will help provide services for more than 36,000 foster children in the Department of Children and Family Services. More specifically, the money raised will be funneled to families who cannot afford unapproved medical and dental expenses, such as general anesthesiology, orthodontia treatment, summer camps and after school activities not funded by government sources." (All Events)

When: June 23, 2013 @ 5:30 p.m.
Where: the Staples Center in Los Angeles
How: Call 877- 447-7275 to purchase tickets

It looks like this is going to be a really fun evening, so if you're in the Los Angeles area, you should definitely check it out. General admission is only $10 and you can reserve a seat for $12+.

It's always great to see young people getting involved in their city and using their good fortune to help lift others up. And would would know the value of philanthropy better than Bean?

Have a blast, Aramis!

Countdown: 162 days! "Ender's Game" Movie Timeline Part 2

After it occurred to me last night that today is the 1 year anniversary of my visit to the Ender's Game set in New Orleans, I admittedly became a little bummed. Where in the world has the time gone?

(You can read both of my set visit reports here: Part 1, Part 2)

To celebrate the day, I thought we could go back and review what's happened in the past 6 months since I posted my first Ender's Game timeline. If you're just now catching up on movie happenings, make sure to read that one first!

Let's start where I left off last time, shall we?

November 12, 2012: Aramis Knight and Andrea Powell attended the premiere of Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 in Los Angeles. We were hoping they could meet up for a photo, but they couldn't find each other!

November 17, 2012: An edited version of the full synopsis of the Ender's Game film was released by Summit Entertainment:

In the near future, a hostile alien race (called the Formics) have attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet Commander, Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) and the International Military are training only the best young children to find the future Mazer. Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy, but strategically brilliant boy is pulled out of his school to join the elite.

Arriving at Battle School, Ender quickly and easily masters increasingly difficult war games, distinguishing himself and winning respect amongst his peers. Ender is soon ordained by Graff as the military’s next great hope, resulting in his promotion to Command School. Once there, he’s trained by Mazer Rackham, himself, to lead his fellow soldiers into an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and save the human race.

November 19, 2012: Ender News released the second part of our SDCC 2012 interview with Orson Scott Card where he speaks a lot about the upcoming film. Before you start reading, you might want to check out Part 1 in which he talks about his novel Earth Unaware!

November 23, 2012: Jimmy Jax Pinchak and Ender's Game stunt coordinator Garrett Warren faced off in their annual Thanksgiving football game. Guess who won. Thanks for the pics, guys. :)

November 30, 2012: We reported on a book signing and extensive Q&A session in which Orson Scott Card participated, where he gushed over the film's Battle Room scenes and clarified his semi-infamous "very few of the scenes in this movie [come from the book]" quote.

December 05, 2012: Entertainment Weekly unveiled the first official Ender's Game still which we later broke down for fans.

December 13, 2012: Crystal from EnderWiggin.net and I officially launched our Ender's Game podcast: EnderCast! 14 episodes in, we are still running strong.

December 15, 2012: The cast attended Hailee Steinfeld's 16th birthday party in LA.

January 17, 2013: EnderSpeaker discovered that Amazon.com is accepting pre-orders for an official Ender's Game 2014 calendar.

February 06, 2013: Brandon Soo Hoo sat down with teen entertainment magazine J-14 to speak about his role (Fly Molo) in Ender's Game and what it was like to work with some of his teenage co-stars.

"My character, Fly Molo, is a veteran soldier in Battle School. At first, he is introduced as Bonzo's lackey, but he eventually comes to recognize Ender as the superior commander. I can definitely relate to Fly's second-in-command role. A leader will always feel the majority of the pressure in a high-stakes situation, whereas the lieutenant is usually allowed to function below the radar. However, I'd say that unlike Fly, I would have a bit of trouble putting up with Bonzo. I have mild authority issues."

February 11, 2013: Suraj Partha covers Phillip Phillips' "Gone Gone Gone" and posted the video on his personal YouTube channel. A must watch! Since everyone is so musically talented, I'm still waiting around for an Ender's Game cast band to pop up.

February 12, 2013: We announced that Cryptozoic Entertainment had obtained the rights to produce not only an Ender's Game board game, but a trading card series as well!

February 19, 2013: Four of the Ender's Game army insignias were exclusively revealed by the fan sites who visited the set last year - including Ender News! Check out Salamander, Rat and Asp -- as well as Dragon Army to the left.

February 20, 2013: Just a day later, those same fan sites unveiled an exciting still of Ender and Petra in the Battle School mess hall. We also included a set visit preview -- with promises of much more to come! No worries: we haven't forgotten.

February 24, 2013: Aramis Knight and Khylin Rhambo smartened themselves up for a night on the town at Hollywood's Oscars after-party.

February 28, 2013: Hailee Steinfeld signed copies of Ender's Game while out in support of Our Military Kids in Phoenix, AZ.

March 01, 2013: Ender News turned 1! 

March 19, 2013: A sneak peak of the Ender's Game trailer was shown to lucky professionals at the GAMA Trade Show in Las Vegas - to raving reviews!

March 22, 2013: Rames from Ender News posted a great overview of what he believes when can expect regarding  Ender's Game movie marketing.

March 24, 2013: Director Gavin Hood posted a sneak peak of the teaser poster over on the official production blog.

"Without exception, every person who works on this wonderful film brings more than just skill to the table. They bring passion."

March 25, 2013: Yahoo! Movies unveiled the first official Ender's Game teaser poster alongside an exclusive phone interview with Gavin Hood.

March 25, 2013: Producer Bob Orci casually mentioned on twitter that the Ender's Game trailer would make its cinematic debut in May in front of Star Trek Into Darkness. Way to make it no big deal, right?

March 27, 2013: Harrison Ford spoke with Entertainment Tonight and admitted that he believes Ender's Game "could be great."

April 1, 2013: Many of Asa Butterfield's cast and crew members rose to the occasion and sent in photos wishing him a very happy birthday! Thanks again to everyone who participated!

April 18, 2013: Ender's Game cast members Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, and Harrison Ford hit CinemaCon, where they were honored with awards -- plus, the trailer was shown during Summit's 2-hour 2013 project presentation.

April 20, 2013: Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston spoke at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books where Card admitted that he believes Speaker for the Dead to be unfilmable:

"'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'."

April 27, 2013: 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:

Mazar Rackham [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.

May 01, 2013: Enterrtainment Weekly gave the world its first look at Sir Ben Kinglsey as Mazer Rackham - in full makeup! Check out those Maori tattoos.

May 02, 2013: Asa Butterfield and Harrison Ford previewed the first trailer for Ender's Game on YouTube with a 10-second teaser of entirely new footage. They also announced an exciting live Google Hangout with Bob Orci, Gavin Hood, and Asa Butterfield before the debut of the trailer.

May 03, 2013: Thanks to @BKilek, we gave you your first look at the Ender's Game movie tie-in book covers. You can pick one up at Barnes and Noble - Hardcover and Paperback!

May 06, 2013: Summit unveiled the official movie website, the IF Sentinel: a communication hub of the International Fleet with the fictional public of Ender's world.

May 07, 2013: The first Ender's Game trailer debuted on Google and YouTube. With over 4 million views already, it won't hurt to watch it again, right?



Asa Butterfield also spoke with Hollywood.com about Zero-G, Space Camp and what makes the character of Ender Wiggin so special.

May 08, 2013: Asa Butterfield participated in a Reddit AMA.

May 09, 2013: Summit confirmed that Steve Jablonsky (not James Horner) is to score Ender's Game.

May 13, 2013: Cryptozoic's Ender's Game trading cards are most likely to include cast/crew autograph cards. Can't wait to get my hands on these.

May 17, 2013: Producers Bob Orci and and Alex Kurtzman briefly addressed the sensitive issue of Orson Scott Card's controversial views on gay marriage and how these views may or may not affect the reception of the film:

"The book is beautiful. It’s about tolerance, it’s about responsibility, it’s about growing up. We just tend to judge a book on its own merits. Nothing that anyone could say is going to remove our original reaction of how we perceive this beautiful book. For us, it’s just about the book."

 May 21, 2013: Summit released a new promotional photo of Colonel Graff and Ender -- with a great look at Dragon Army's flash suit helmet.

And we're back to today. Only 162 days to go, Launchies. Did you know it was 364 days to go last time I posted a timeline? Look how far we've come!

How's everyone holding up?

Aramis Knight's "Welcome to the Family" Picked Up by NBC

Several weeks ago we reported that Bean actor Aramis Knight was set to star in an upcoming single-camera comedy series called Welcome to the Family, a show which "chronicles how cultures collide when a white family and a Latino family are bonded together by their children who fall in love followed quickly by an unplanned pregnancy." (Hollywood Reporter). Yesterday it was announced that the show, directed by Michael Engler, was picked up by NBC.

More from our previous post:

Mike O'Malley, best known for his role as Kurt's (Chris Colfer) father Burt Hummel on Fox's Glee, will play Dan Yoder, an orthodontist, loving husband to Katrina, and father to a teenage daughter, Molly. Katrina will be portrayed by Mary McCormack, star of USA Networks' In Plain Sight, and Ella Rae Peck, known from Gossip Girl as Lola, has been casted as Molly.

Joseph Haro, another Glee alumni (one of the Warblers), will play Molly's boyfriend Junior Hernandez, and Aramis Knight is set to portray his younger brother Demetrio. Their parents will be Ricardo Chavira, who starred as Carlos Solis in Desperate Housewives, and Justina Machado, who can be seen in the current season of Private Practice.

Congratulations, Aramis!

WATCH: 10 Second Preview of First "Ender's Game" Trailer - Is That Dragon Army?

Our first footage! Watch below to see Harrison Ford and Asa Butterfield give us a sneak peek of next Tuesday's Ender's Game teaser trailer:



I don't know about you guys, but I am freaking out. And I think we may have our first look at Dragon Army:



Seen here: Khylin Rhambo (Dink Meeker), Conor Carroll (Bernard), Aramis Knight (Bean), Suraj Partha (Alai), and Brandon Soo Hoo (Fly Molo).

Check out that Dragon Army logo in the back! And why else would a bunch of soldiers from various armies PLUS Launchies be gathered in one barracks? They definitely seem to be waiting for their commander to walk through the door. It looks like Bernard might be in Dragon Army -- what a journey for him!

Here's some info on the Hangout and trailer release, courtesy of Summit:

The world premiere of the first teaser trailer for ENDER'S GAME will debut during a Google+ Hangout on Tuesday, May 7 @ 1:00 PM PT / 4:00 PM ET. The event will also feature a live conversation with director Gavin Hood (X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE), producer Bob Orci (STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS) and star Asa Butterfield (HUGO).

Stars Harrison Ford and Asa Butterfield want to say hello and show you a sneak peek of the first footage ever released of the highly anticipated epic adventure: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OHtH_RWnZE

You can tune in to the live Google+ Hangout at YouTube.com/EndersGameMovie and Google.com/+EndersGame.  Fans are invited to submit their questions for a chance to have them answered in the Hangout. Join in the conversation online using #EndersGame.

Join the event here: https://plus.google.com/events/cuito512urg0a64r6bc2ocuakuc

For additional updates visit the following:

Google.com/+EndersGame

Facebook.com/EndersGame

Twitter.com/EndersGameMovie

IF-Sentinel.com

And it looks like the IF-Sentinel might arrive right on time for the trailer so keep your eyes peeled here for exciting updates in the coming days!

Keep your knees up.

Happy Birthday, Asa - From Your "Ender's Game" Family!

The clock just chimed midnight in England and Asa Butterfield is now officially 16 years old. Happy birthday!

To celebrate Asa's 16th, we asked a few of his Ender's Game friends to send in a birthday greeting and they rose to the occasion, more than happy to help celebrate the day of the guy we will all soon know as Ender Wiggin.

We'll let the pictures speak for themselves.


Stunt coordinator Garrett Warren and stunt fight choreographer JJ Perry

Brandon Soo Hoo (Fly Molo) -- Fun fact: Asa's nickname at Space Camp was Tea Bag. Brandon's was Soooshi.

Aramis Knight (Bean)

Cameron Gaskins (Pol Slattery)

Khylin Rhambo (Dink Meeker)

Suraj Partha (Alai)

Conor Carroll (Bernard)

Michael Provost (Asa's acting double)	Cassandra from Ender's Ansible

Crystal from EnderWiggin.net	Kelly from Ender News

"You don't have to command anybody," said Dink, "but you're always our commander."

 Happy birthday, Asa. We can't wait to find out what the rest of 2013 has in store for you.

"Ender's Game" on Beyond the Trailer

Ender's Game was featured today on the popular YouTube-based entertainment news show "Beyond the Trailer." The host, Grace Randolph, gives a super quick and spoiler-y rundown of Orson Scott Card's story and what we know about the Ender's Game movie so far.

It's a pretty good watch, and she brings up some fun points. It's interesting that she describes Bean as "Ender's biggest competition at the school" since in the novel they never really competed in anything. However, it's rather possible that the character shows up very early in the film's storyline and thus exists initially more as Ender's competitor than his protégé.

What do you guys think -- has Bean's storyline been altered due to time constraints so that he's acquainted with Ender well before Dragon Army? If so, do you think it's friendly competition or a real Battle School rivalry?

It's super exciting that entertainment bloggers are starting to cover the movie -- and we'll only be seeing more of this sort of thing as promotion for the movie picks up!

Aramis Knight Joins "Welcome To The Family"

Bean actor Aramis Knight has signed up to co-star in Welcome To The Family, a single-camera comedy pilot for NBC.

The pilot is written by Mike Sikowitz (Rules of Engagement) for Sony Pictures Television and "chronicles how cultures collide when a white family and a Latino family are bonded together by their children who fall in love followed quickly by an unplanned pregnancy." (Hollywood Reporter)

Mike O'Malley, best known for his role as Kurt's (Chris Colfer) father Burt Hummel on Fox's Glee, will play Dan Yoder, an orthodontist, loving husband to Katrina, and father to a teenage daughter, Molly. Katrina will be portrayed by Mary McCormack, star of USA Networks' In Plain Sight, and Ella Rae Peck, known from Gossip Girl as Lola, has been casted as Molly.

Joseph Haro, another Glee alumni (one of the Warblers), will play Molly's boyfriend Junior Hernandez, and Aramis Knight is set to portray his younger brother Demetrio. Their parents will be Ricardo Chavira, who starred as Carlos Solis in Desperate Housewives, and Justina Machado, who can be seen in the current season of Private Practice.

With Sinkowitz as an experienced showrunner and a fabulous, experienced cast, this project could really take off.

Congratulations, Aramis!