Ho Launchies! Here are some photos from the Ender’s Game panel at Comic Con that took place on Thursday, July 18, 2013. By now you’ve probably all seen the panel in videos, but there are some great ones that I took from the second row. Enjoy!
All photos were taken by EnderWiggin.net. Please source when using.
Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfeld sat down with Moviefone (as did Harrison Ford) to chat a bit about what it was like to film Ender’s Game. They talk about funny moments, the professional atmosphere on set, and the pranks they all (including, it seems, the adults) played on each other while filming. And guess what: the Ender’s Game slang from the books made it into the movie!
My favorite part of the interview is Hailee’s recollection of a prank Gavin Hood played on her:
At the end of the film, one of the cast members, Moises Arias, who plays Bonzo Madrid, had to shave his hair for the ending scene. You know, it’s one of those things where you’re OK with it because you have to do it, but it’s also like, you know… it’s a big thing, right? So Moises handled it very well, but you could see he was a little, you know, taken aback by looking at himself in the mirror and this drastic change. And Asa and I walked on set and Gavin turns around and has a black eye. My heart dropped. I was like, “What just happened?” And he goes, “I told him. I told him that he could take it out on me because I made him shave his head. And I was literally, like, crying. I was like, “Moises would never do that. What’s happening?” And then they were like, “Just kidding! It’s makeup!”
Read the entire interview HERE!
Source: Moviefone
In a recent interview with Moviefone (Asa and Hailee did one, too), Harrison Ford talks about Colonel Graff, how he compares to other character’s he’s played over the years, and the Hollywood studio system. The interview is pretty standard fare, but Harrison Ford is HILARIOUS!
My favorite part has to be this:
I wanted to switch gears a bit …
[Smiles] I thought you might.[Laughs] It’s not exactly what you expect — at least I am hoping it’s not. It may start out like that but …
[Laughs] It won’t end up like that!OK, but give me a chance!
Take your best shot.Your earlier movies still make news today — “Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones,” etc. My question to you is…
[Harrison begins drumming on the coffee table in front of him][Laughs]… is there one movie of yours that you wish got more attention than those movies?
That I wish got more attention? No. Well, there were movies that I think were good movies that did not receive as much attention at the time. I don’t think I remember any… oh, the one that comes to mind is “Mosquito Coast,” which I think was a really good movie and perhaps didn’t receive as much attention as it might have.
Read the rest of the interview HERE!
Source: Moviefone
In this brief interview with Clevver TV, Hailee is talking about the training the young actors did prior to filming as well as the costumes and sets of Ender’s Game, while Asa comments on Ender being aged up and the scene he is most excited about fans seeing.
Also, check out Clevver TV’s Comic Con red carpet gallery featuring stars from Ender’s Game (and Divergent) HERE!
Source: Clevver TV
Watch the entire Ender’s Game press conference at San Diego Comic-Con – courtesy of Screen Slam, and in pretty good quality!
Source: Screen Slam’s Youtube Channel
Entertainment site The Verge just uploaded their coverage of Ender’s Game at San Diego Comic Con. They spoke briefly with Asa and Hailee outside the Ender’s Game Experience before they sat down with director Gavin Hood and producer Bob Orci to discuss the making of the movie. Watch them talk about getting involved in the project, financing the movie, their devotion to stay true to both the “cool stuff” and the “cerebral” side of the book, and why the teaser trailer is so heavy on CGI.
Source: The Verge’s Youtube Channel
More videos from Comic-Con are being uploaded every day on youtube and various entertainment sites. Among them are a bunch of flash interviews with Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfeld, which apparently were all held in the same room in the same time slot. Watch interviews by Hitflix and MoviesDotComOfficial HERE and HERE!
Personaly, I love this one with CraveOnline because it asks some nerdy questions about the coolest sets and moments during the filming of Ender’s Game and how hard it was not to geek out around SciFi movie icon Harrison Ford. Watch Asa and Hailee having loads of fun answering those questions below.
Source: Youtube
THE MOUSE WILL BE THERE!
Finally some information on whether or not and in what way the Mind Game will be featured in the Ender’s Game Movie. Good News: the mouse is most likely going to be there! In an interview with Cinemablend‘s Kelly West (the same interview she quoted from when writing about the question of violence in the movie; see our earlier post HERE), writer/director Gavin Hood said:
We did motion capture, put on suits, ran around the room. They filmed it in a virtual world. Once you’ve captured that motion you can film what you captured digitally and then we handed that off to an amazing animation company in Barcelona, who’ve done the most beautiful work. Obviously, we did a lot of drawings and how’s it going to be? And drawings of the mouse and all those things, but it is a shorter version than in the book, because the whole story of the book is compressed into about a one year period.
The rest of the interview evolves around the adaptation of the book, including questions about how much of the book’s violence will be shown in the film, how Ender’s narrative voice is translated into the medium of film, and what a possible sequel will depend on. Read the entire article HERE!
Source: Cinemablend
Photo Credit: Alex Washburn/Wired
Most of you have probably watched a number of Ender’s Game Experience Walkthroughs by now, and you’ve probably also checked out the Gettyimages/IMDB pics of Asa, Hailee, Gavin and Bob at the event. But in case you are interested in seeing it all in motion, have video of their “Walk Thru” courtesy of Screen Slam! Thanks to Fernanda for the tip!
Watch two more awesome walkthroughs HERE and HERE!
Source: Youtube
Finally a decently meaty interview with Harrison Ford about the Ender’s Game movie! Ford talks to Quint from Aint It Cool News about filming, Gavin Hood as a director, working with kids in general and Asa Butterfield in particular, and his acting choices (with only a little bit of Han Solo and Indiana Jones thrown in at the end). Some favorite parts are:
Harrison Ford: I’m also trying to provide the director with options in the cutting room. […] If a certain scene had to be left out for time purposes or something, he would have options, which would allow elements of character to be expressed in that scene.
Quint: [Asa Butterfield] came across as someone who wears his heart on his sleeve. He didn’t seem like he was putting up any barriers, if you know what I mean.
Harrison Ford: He’s there. That’s a wonderful thing to find when you’re acting with somebody… that they actually fucking show up.
Check out the entire interview HERE!
Source: Ain’t It Cool News
Back in December, Crystal posted an editorial about whether or not the upcoming Ender’s Game movie needed to go as far as the book in terms of violence. In Pondering the Fate of Stilson, she argued that having Ender kill Stilson before he even gets to Battle School may not only be not necessary and severely stretch credibility (look a the size difference between Caleb Thaggard and Asa Butterfield), it may also be harmful in that it may lead audiences to despise Ender or even encourage people to commit violence themselves.
Now, Ender’s Game director Gavin Hood has finally addressed the matter in an interview with Cinemablend’s Kelly West. Here is what he had to say:
I think that all those elements of bullying, which is a great theme in the world right now, and how kids deal with being bullied, which we know is so powerful in the book, thatʼs in the movie. But what I try to do as a filmmaker in terms of handling questions of violence, is I donʼt believe in showing violence for violenceʼs sake and repetitive violence. For me, what I have found is an act of violence can be so sudden, whatʼs more interesting is the aftermath. And so, our movie is not, I hope, in any way, really violent. I donʼt want it to be a violent film, but the effect of the moment of violence on the psyche of the protagonist and the people around him is profound as it is in the book. It has to be, and so those key scenes in the book –Bonzo in the shower– are absolutely in the movie, and they shock in their suddenness, but they are not in any way indulgent. Iʼm not interested in showing blood flying around the room or any of, none of that. Whatʼs more important is to see how these young character handle it and thatʼs why I think itʼs an important film. As a parent, I want my kids to go to a movie and not be spoken down to, deal with difficult themes, but be able to talk about it, not celebrate that, just talk about it.
Looks like Gavin Hood has put a lot of thought into the question of how much violence is really necessary in the movie to have the desired effect on the characters and the audience, and how much would really just be violence for violence’s sake. He seems to have a pretty decent grasp on where the thin line runs between dramaturgy and pornography. Sounds like we are going to be sufficiently shocked, without being traumatised by watching graphic displays of kids dying in puddles of their own blood. (my emphasis)
Source: Cinemablend
Last night, the Ender’s Game Exclusive Fan Experience opened, and a few people got to interview Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Gavin Hood and Bob Orci outside the Experience. Watch below what they had to say:
And just a couple of minutes ago, MoviesDotComOfficial released this brand new interview with Asa and Hailee!
Let us know what you think!
Source: Youtube (Beyond The Trailer, Perry Nemiroff, MoviesDotComOfficial)
Gettyimages has new photos of last night’s Ender’s Game Experience Press Preview! Apparently, the Thursday panelists (sans Abigail Breslin, who had to cancel) were in attendance and up to all kinds of mischief. Check out the following links for more pretty, interesting and hilarious photos of Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, director Gavin Hood, producer Bob Orci, and bits and pieces of the exhibition.
Gettyimages: 87 photos of the event, watermarked
IMDB: 15 medium sized photos without watermarks; the pics in this post are screenshots from the IMDB site
Many thanks to Michael Arvallius on Facebook for pointing out the pics on IMDB.
Sources: Gettyimages, IMDB