Moises Arias, who plays Bonzo Madrid in Ender’s Game, talked with Backstage and revealed how he stayed in character all the time while doing Ender’s Game.
“I actually stayed in character the whole time I was on set. I heard the extras were scared of me. I wasn’t doing it on purpose, I was just trying to stay in the mindset. At the end they finally started talking to me and admitted to me that I had scared them.”
Fans of the book have noted the big height difference between Asa and Moises, asking why someone who is supposed to intimidate Ender is so much shorter. Moises addresses this as well.
“[W]ith ‘Ender’s Game,’ the character was described as dark-hair, light eyes, six foot tall, bigger than everyone. I’m 5’1”. I’m basically the opposite of that. But I guess it just depends on the vision of the director and how much heart you put into it.”
While I think a lot of us had assumed that his portrayal/audition had convinced director Gavin Hood about his Bonzo, it’s nice to hear it straight from him.
When Sir Ben Kingsley spoke recently to the Wall Street Journal’s Barbara Chai about his character the Mandarin in Iron Man 3, he also spoke briefly about his Ender’s Game role as Mazer Rackham and the facial tattoos, known in Maori tradition as “tā moko”.
He also mentions a bit of Mazer’s background story.
“I had the privilege of being advised and guided by a Maori who knows all about Ta Moko [Maori tattoo] and what each line and design means – its ancestry,” Kingsley said in an interview. “When it’s accurately and beautifully presented, it’s very empowering for the actor. To be able to put that on and allow it to tell its own story, and then you breathe life into it yourself.”
Kingsley said his key into Mazer was that the character loved his Maori father, a warrior whom he had lost in the Great Battle for the planet.
What do you guys think? Is it possible the pilot we’re seeing in the trailer isn’t Mazer, but Mazer’s father?
Asa Butterfield spoke with Hollywood.com recently and reiterated how tough his training was for Ender’s Game.
“It was painful,” he says. “There was all sorts of marching, running. ‘Left face, right face’ where you turn in different directions.” Butterfield admits that the rigorous boot camp helped him form a close bond with his fellow teenage costars — mostly because if they didn’t keep up with one another, they all suffered. “If one person in the group of about 100 extras, and 10 or so cast [members], made a mistake, everyone had to do 10 push-ups. And we’d be jogging and if one person fell behind, we’d have to do 10 push-ups. Then [the trainers would] extend it… because they’re a bit mean [laughs].”
I’d like to use that quote as another chance to say that this is why Ender isn’t 6 in the movie. You can’t really scoff at the ethics of the International Fleet’s practices and then demand that real little kids get put through this kind of an ordeal just for entertainment.
Anyone worried about Butterfield’s understanding of the complicated character Ender Wiggin may feel better about what he has to say about Ender’s moral complexity.
“One of the main ones Gavin and I talked about was leadership,” Butterfield says. “Ender’s way of leading and communicating with other people — not just children, but adults — is completely different. It’s one of the things that makes him shine in the school.” The actor sees Ender’s two older siblings, Peter and Valentine, as ends of a scale that the character drifts between over the course of the film. “One’s completely selfless and open, Peter is the epitome of the worst human being. Ender knows he doesn’t want to be Peter, but at times he can’t help having his dark side shine through.”
Asa also mentioned Ender’s dark side during the “Meet the Fleet” Google+ Hangout from earlier this week:
Don’t forget to join some of your Ender’s Game fansites as we do the Meet the Fleet Q&A with Ender’s Game director Gavin Hood, producer Roberto Orci, and star Asa Butterfield on the Ender’s Game YouTube channel:
In anticipation of the trailer’s global debut next week on May 7, Summit/Lionsgate has given EW.com the exclusive first look at Sir Ben Kingsley as Mazer Rackham.
As many book fans know, the character of Mazer is actually a book twist, but the film doesn’t seem to be going this route since Mazer is mentioned in the official synopsis.
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.
EW spoke to Ben Kingsley a bit about the role.
Director and co-writer Gavin Hood (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) was key, according to Kingsley, as was the make-up and costume team working with Kingsley to breathe life into the half-Maori war hero, who is an almost mythical presence in Orson Scott Card’s 1980s bestseller.
“In the script, which I think is beautifully written, what come across is the authority and mystery,” Kingsley said of Rackham, a man who saved earth once and may have to do it again. “There’s quite a lot said about him in the story before you see him — by the recruits and by his fellow officers — and that’s useful as far as preparations.”
Steve Weintraub of Collider got to talk to Sir Ben Kingsley about his role as the Mandarin in Iron Man 3 and his role as Mazer Rackham in Ender’s Game. And while it’s certainly not confirmation, it’s interesting that he refers to Ender’s Game as “a very exciting franchise“!
What do you think? Is he hinting about more Enderverse movies to come? Which direction do you want the storyline to go? Kelly and I talk about this on Episode 11 of EnderCast so be sure to give that a listen!
Here’s another interview Asa Butterfield did while in Vegas for CinemaCon done by PopSugarTV.
Asa mentioned again what an honor it was to be cast as Ender, mentioning the dedicated fanbase the story has built up over the years. “The story’s become such a cult almost, it’s got such a big following. It’s like a family and for me and the cast to become a part of that, it’s special.”
Since Asa’s last film before Ender’s Game was the CGI-heavy film Hugo, he was asked if that made it any easier doing a movie that involved so much green screen.
“Working against green screens, it’s still different than working against a live person. You just have to have a really strong imagination and Gavin and all the effects people showed us what you call “pre-vis”. So we had and idea of what it was going to look like so that let us play against where everything was in the space.”
The fans’ number one concern is of course how true to the book the movie will be and while we’re all anticipating a lot of changes in the film adaptation, Asa insists that the message will remain intact, “After watching the film you’ll still get the same message as you would from reading the book.”
So… in other words, I’ll be all teary eyed and have an aching heart at the end? 😉
Geek Legacy, who put out a request for questions for actor Brandon Soo Hoo back in February, got to interview him and recently published the transcript. The entire interview focused on his involvement with Ender’s Game and fans eager to hear any news about the film get to hear a few interesting tidbits.
A fan of the book for the last five years since an old friend lent him her copy, Soo Hoo says that one of favorite parts of the book include the mind game. He insisted that director Gavin Hood took a lot of care to keep accurate to the book, “Though, due to the PG-13 rating, some of the more graphic content was toned down.”
He also mentions Ender’s dreams during their rigorous schedule on Eros.
GL: What scene(s) from the movie are you most excited for us all to see? B: The dream sequence scenes and battle room scenes are both highly anticipated. Both are going to be filled with dazzling special effects, so I’m looking forward to see how those came out.
When asked what he’s looking forward to the most in the coming months, he admits that while he really wants to go to Comic Con, he’s really just excited to finally see the film.
As fellow book fans, I’m sure we can all relate to that!
To read the full interview, head over to Geek Legacy.
Actor Ben Kingsley is doing a lot of press for the release of Iron Man 3 and spoke briefly to the Coventry Telegraph about his role as Mazer Rackham. Possible spoilers here for those who haven’t read the book!
Ender’s Game is coming out later this year. How did that work out?
Lovely, but quite different from the challenge of the Mandarin. With Mandarin I was very rarely involved in green screen. In Gandhi we had none. We actually had 4,000 people on screen for the funeral.
In Ender’s Game we had a lot of green screen. The kids in the film were obviously challenged by being told ‘It is all going to be CGI-d later but you have to react’ . Gavin (Hood) looked after them so well and they did form a wonderful relationship with him. So that he would, where possible, talk them through what they were seeing while they were reacting to it.
He really knocked himself out pumping energy into those kids who couldn’t see anything. I think it is going to be a wonderful film.
Tell us about your role.
Mazar Rackham. He 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.
Asa Butterfield did several press interviews while at CinemaCon 2013 and the latest to come out is one from io9. They focused their talk mainly on the Battle Room, but also touched a bit upon Ender and Valentine. As an added bonus, Asa casually drops a mention about the mind game!
The cast was trained by an astronaut, who came to teach them about how one really moves in zero gravity.
“You have to move really slowly… fluidly and smoothly. When you’re in the harnesses to stop yourself from falling at the waist, which is where they’re connected, you have to be tensed up. So keeping actions smooth whilst having your whole body completely tensed is surprisingly difficult.”
Asa also talks about Ender’s age, which had previously been speculated to be anywhere from 10 to 15. In the interview he mentions that the cast had to be aged up to 13 to 14.
“You can’t find — at least as not that I’m aware — a six-year-old actor that can play that sort of a character, it’s complex and it’s physically demanding. That was the first issue, so they changed it from being six to 13 or 14.”
When asked what he thought was Ender’s hardest form of psychological torture, he mentioned Ender’s separation from Valentine.
“Probably one of the hardest scenes for Ender was leaving his sister, back on Earth. I think that’s one of the things that really damaged him. As you can see in the mind game, as well.”
I’ve read that there were lake scenes in the trailer, so that’s possibly the goodbye people mentioned rather than their initial goodbye. There’s a lot more to the interview, so be sure to check it out at io9.
In a recent interview with Asa Butterfield, IGN got the answer to a question that has been floating around for months: Will the movie combine the storylines of Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow?
No, there’s nothing from Ender’s Shadow. It’s all from Ender’s Game.
They also asked what he thought about Ender’s Game possibly becoming another Star Wars.
Well I hope so. I think it’s got a very good possibility to be. I think it’s unlike any other science fiction thing I’ve seen. It’s amazing. A lot of science fiction films today are just about sort of lasers and explosions, but the best are the ones that have a lot more about character and theme; and that’s one of the key parts of Ender’s Game – the story. There’s ideas behind it, about what makes human beings tick and that sort of thing.
It’s interesting that he talks about this because I was just having this conversation with my husband the other day. We had gone to see Oblivion and the week before that we were debating what makes good sci-fi and the hopes we had for the great lineup of sci-fi movies this year.
Oblivion, though gorgeous and grand, ultimately failed in the story. It tried very hard, but there were a lot of things about the plot that simply fell apart and the character of Jack Harper just wasn’t what it needed to be to really draw the audience in. That Asa understands this seems to be a great sign that they’ve taken steps to ensure this doesn’t happen with Ender’s Game.
Asa also showed a deep understanding for Ender’s character in relation to his siblings Peter and Valentine, “Ender’s character is very much based on his siblings, Peter and Valentine. Valentine is very kind and open, she’s like the nicest human being, whereas Peter is selfish, arrogant and horrible. Ender is stuck in the middle of them. So the story shows you that everyone has their darker and lighter side and that no matter how hard you try to be a good person you always have that dark place in you.”
Asa also confirms that the film is aiming for a PG-13 rating, something most of us assumed at this point, but it was good to hear it from Ender himself.
When asked to liken the visuals to another sci-fi film out there, Asa didn’t feel as though there was one.
I think the visuals of it are very, very original. Because the battle room is just a glass sphere, and because Battle School is in space, it allows you to see out. You can see stars, you can see Earth, you can see all of the colors from the sun and the sea and the green of the land. And it gives a very original and sort of beautiful look to the film that is unlike anything you’d see in a sci-fi film. And that’s contrasted by the metal and the orderedness of the station. So you have these two contrasting elements: the freedom of the battle room and the ordered look of the dorms and the corridors.
ClevverTV interviewed Hailee and Asa at CinemaCon and asked about Ender’s Game, working with Harrison Ford, and space camp training.
“I think the hardest part was getting up at 7 every morning,” laughed Asa. “But that was the first time the cast had met each other, pretty much, so it really broke the ice and we were best friends at the end of it.”
