Ender's Game: A Journey of Passion From Book to Big Screen

We have said over and over that Ender's Game is a project which was borne out of a love of Ender's story and yesterday Grantland's Matt Patches published a riveting piece on how very true that is. In his article, he follows the adaptations long journey to Hollywood, a journey he calls a "rare Hollywood miracle."

And he's right: Ender's Game has been considered a completely unfilmable film since the book's publication in 1985, even by Orson Scott Card himself. But that doesn't mean many studios and producers haven't tried: the article gives a detailed explanation of the various attempts to to get Ender on the big screen and it is an exhausting list. It's no wonder Card was frustrated!

Thankfully, long-time fans of the book like Lynn Hendee were determined:

"I've always thought it was going to take years to get this movie made because it's going to take the fans of the book who read it in their wonder years to grow old enough and be in positions of decision-making," said Lynn Hendee, a producer of Ender's Game who came onboard the project in the mid-'90s. Hendee was right.

And so was Gigi Pritzker!

To the rescue came Gigi Pritzker, founder of OddLot Entertainment and a die-hard fan of the novel. Like Hendee, Pritzker's gut told her Ender's Game was a perfect movie waiting to happen. [...]  Pritzker and OddLot set out to find a team that understood the treasured tome. The key was finding a writer-director who could build the movie from the ground up and carry it to the end, their very own Ender. Pritzker found him in Hood, a South African filmmaker who brought his memories of apartheid and life in the military to the project. After a turbulent experience on the ill-fated X-Men Origins: Wolverine, where multiple writers tinkered with the script on a daily basis in the middle of shooting, Hood craved the immersion required for Ender's Game. He had a vision: a script that would allow a preteen actor to engage with challenging, emotionally raw material. That was all Pritzker needed to hear.

Hendee then found writer-turned-producer Bob Orci, another long-term fan of the book, who played an important role in the adaptation process:

Orci became the movie's Card proxy — a devout fan without a preservationist instinct. When the team felt it couldn't make changes to aspects of the book, Orci would say, "Sure we can — I'm the guy who blew up Vulcan! I know what we can do and can't do."

The rest of the article details the early-stages of development -- where did the money come from? -- as well as casting and the production choices. It really is quite a read; afterward I had a whole new appreciation for the incredible film I saw Monday night in LA.

And soon you will all have seen it too as Ender's Game hits US theaters today. It is also Halloween, so I shall don my Dragon Army flight suit this evening and pass out candy to all the future Launchies. I could even throw in some Comic-Con army badges to mix things up - maybe even catch a midnight showing! I'm not sure many people could have imagined such a scenario a few years ago, but I am immensely grateful that there were some who did.

"You have to be insanely optimistic all the time when you're passionate about something," Hendee said of her lengthy journey through the darkest depths of Hollywood's creative development process. "You have to believe it's going to happen. The character's story of Ender's Game moved me so much. I believe that such a wonderful story about character … there had to be a way to get that onscreen."

And she was right: Ender's Game hits US theaters tonight!

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!

Producer Gigi Pritzker: "We felt a real responsibility to the material and to the fans."

Crain's Chicago Business published a great interview today with Gigi Pritzker, the Ender's Game producer who just recently returned from Europe after spending over a week promoting the film abroad.

She calls Ender's Game a story that has "held the test of time" and explains how the film adaptation is a very personal project for her and her nephew. Listen to her cute how-it-initially-came-about story below!



From the article:

"It's about stories. It's why I do theater, why I do film," she says. "With technology we can do all sorts of cool stuff. But unless you have a really good story being done by really great actors, people aren't that interested."

Ms. Pritzker says she and director Gavin Hood were "super-cognizant" that the huge fan base of "Ender's Game" would be scrutinizing the film's adaptation. "We felt a real responsibility to the material and to the fans."

But books are not movies. In the book, the pivotal zero-G battles take place in a room with no windows. "Had we made that into just a room, a box, we would have lost an enormous opportunity," she says.

20 days to go, Launchies. :)

Full Video from MCM London Comic-Con "Ender's Game" Event

In case you guys missed it, you can now check out Monday's entire Q&A session on YouTube!



Huge thanks to Matt for the heads up! :)

Video Coverage from Last Night's London Events

The Ender's Game promotion tour led stars Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Harrison Ford, and Sir Ben Kingsley, director Gavin Hood, and producers Bob Orci and Gigi Pritzker to London this Monday, where they spent the entire day doing several Q&A panels at various locations in the city, and presenting new film footage at a big fan event on Leicester Square that evening.

The first stop was at Westminster Academy school where the group talked to students as part of a educational charity called Film Club. The BBC has nice video coverage of this event which you can watch at the site.


We also have a bunch of video interviews with the stars, taken at the MCM London Comic Con event at the Odeon Theatre last night. Videos are courtesy of HeyUGuys, and if you want to watch more than the Hailee Steinfeld video posted below, head over to their site to get the full six interviews.



We don't have much footage of the actual fan event, but there are a few shaky videos of the panel on YouTube (watch here and here) and you get the idea of what was going on.

They also showed three movie clips with partly never seen before footage, one of them being an extended version of Ender's Army, which we have debuted last weekend.



The only snippet we can show you at this point of the remaining new footage is this picture of Launchie Ender, found on Twitter.

Meet Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfeld in London on Monday

Ender's Game stars Asa Butterfield and Hailee Stanfield will promote the film at the Apple Store (London, Regent Street) on Monday ahead of a big fan event that evening.

Also attending are director Gavin Hood and producers Bob Orci and Gigi Pritzker.

Where:
Apple Store, 235 Regent Street, London, UK

When:
Monday, October 7, 2013 at 5:30 pm

If you plan to join them as they discuss the Ender's Game film you have to register right now and reserve a seat at the Apple Store website. Obviously seating is limited and this event will be in high demand.

Free "Ender's Game" Panel in London With Cast/Crew Guests!

Heads up, UK Launchies! Bleeding Cool is reporting that a week from today on October 7th, there will be an Ender's Game panel between 6:30pm and 8:00pm with cast and crew members -- and it's absolutely free to attend!

From the site:

The panel will take place in the West End of London – in one of the bigger cinemas in Leicester Square would be my guess – and a number of stars will be in attendance.

According to the press release the following guests will be there:

Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Ben Kingsley, Gavin Hood, Bob Orci and Gigi Pritzker.

There will also be props from the film and "never before seen footage" shown.

Yikes!

To claim your ticket, keep an eye on the official website for London Comic-Con around 6 p.m. GMT tomorrow -- though Bleeding Cool suggests that you get there a bit early and hit refresh for a while; this is something that may "sell out" very quickly!

Good luck, Launchies.