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.”
This week’s episode of EnderCast is our 10th episode, woo hoo!
We titled the episode this way after hearing reports that Graff says humanity is looking for A New Weapon to defeat the buggers. We talk about the trailer again, dissecting the things we heard coming out of CinemaCon where a theater full of lucky people got to see it early.
Topics discussed:
Happy Birthday Moises and Abigail
Harrison Ford on Jimmy Kimmel – video here
Lionsgate presentation, Harrison’s quote
Harrison Ford doing a Q&A – video here
Trailer shown at CinemaCon, reactions from the web
At CinemaCon to accept the award for Female Star of Tomorrow, actress Hailee Steinfeld did a short Q&A with press to talk about Ender’s Game and Romeo and Juliet.
Hailee was first asked whether she’s a fan of sci-fi and she was quick to credit Ender’s Game for introducing her to the genre. “Since then I’ve really been a huge fan and I really love the whole extended world behind it.”
Although she hadn’t read Ender’s Game before she signed on, she had heard of the book. “I wasn’t at all familiar with it. I’d heard of the book, I hadn’t read it, so after I signed up to do the project I had read the first book and I’m so interested in taking the time to read all the others. There’s quite a few and if I had the time I would definitely read them all. I’m a huge fan of the series.”
She credits the fan following as one of the reasons she decided to take the role of Petra Arkanian. “Something that I really loved about this walking into it was that it did have such a huge fanbase that you’re being accepted in and we get to share this film with so many fans and so many people that love the book and I think that they’ll be really proud of it. I had such an incredible experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat.”
I think the fans will love her as Petra and hopefully we do end up very proud of the film!
In Las Vegas last week to accept an award for Rising Star of Tomorrow at CinemaCon, Asa Butterfield did a brief Q&A with press and talked about what it was like to work with his fellow castmates and about his first time meeting Harrison Ford.
“When I first saw him I was like… “Oh my God! It’s Han Solo!” When a reporter advised him not to tell Harrison that, Asa assured him that he wouldn’t, then looked around jokingly with a look of worry on his face, “He’s not in here, is he?”, no doubt referring to Ford’s well-known tendency to bristle over mention of the Star Wars character.
Asa continued to praise him, “He’s an incredible actors but he’s also an amazing person. He’s really kind and really generous with his knowledge.”
When the topic turned to Gavin Hood, Asa had a lot of praise for him as well, mentioning again how well he knew the characters and what he wanted out of their performances. “Because he wrote the screenplay he really knew the characters back to front and he knew exactly what he wanted. And when he needed more oomph to the scene he was there to come on stage and he gave it all.”
Although he hadn’t heard of the book before the movie started casting, he read the novel right away and had several Skyping sessions about the character with Hood. “It really gave both of us an insight on how this was going to work. When I got the role I was over the moon.”
When asked what he thought fans would be most excited to see, Asa remained neutral on the topic, “The story stayed almost entirely truthful to the book. They had to age the characters up for obvious reasons but it all depends what they got out of the book. If they loved the Battle Room scenes then obviously that’s going to appeal to them but if they read the book for the morals behind it and the themes then that’s all still intact in the screenplay and I think it’s a really deep story.”
The franchise question, which is undoubtedly on the minds of many fans, came up as well. “I think it all depends on how well this does,” he said. He joked that unless the studio wanted to wait 15 or so years for him to reach Ender’s age in Ender’s Shadow, he wasn’t sure what would happen. (Be sure to read my editorial on my own thoughts on that)
Harrison Ford did a brief Q&A session with reporters at CinemaCon last week and talked a bit about Ender’s Game. See the video below.
Ford admitted he hadn’t read the book before he got the script, but it sounds as though he may have picked it up since wrapping the production.
Were you always a big fan of Ender’s Game?
No, I didn’t know the book before I read the script, so I really came to the project through the script.
Is it easier to approach a project through a book?
Sometimes it’s more difficult because books are books and movies are movies and they’re not always the same, the same craftsman is not always involved. I think it’s a very interesting book and the film, I think, is going to be great.
What was it about the script that you really liked? What about the Ender’s Game script stood out for you?
I just thought it was something we have not seen. I thought the story was prescient about some of the things we’re seeing in our lives right now and it was written 20 years ago, I guess. I thought it had a interesting moral question behind it, which is articulated in the film and I thought it would really be a good summer movie on top of that.
How was it working with such a young cast?
I’ve worked with young people before. I have had children of my own. I’m familiar with shorter people.
Reports have been circulating that the trailer could be online as early as next week, but I confirmed with Summit that this is not the case. Since that confirmation was met with a lot of “Nooooo!” remarks, I decided it would be a good time to finally give away some of those I. F. buttons I teased on Twitter last week. As of right now, the only confirmed news is that the trailer will debut in theaters on May 17 with Star Trek: Into Darkness.
Also, just to note, I’ll draw the winners for the Posterpalooza soon!
To enter to win an IF pin, simply follow the instructions above. Post the image above on some a public social media (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, G+, MySpace) and then come back here and log all your entries into the Rafflecopter widget below. You must log your posts/shares here or you will not be in the pool of entries to win.
Unfortunately if you have your privacy settings set so that non-friends can’t see, you’ll have to use another medium to enter. You can have one entry for each different social medium. For those of you that don’t use any of them, simply comment below and tell me why you want the pin.
I have 3 pins to give away for this one and will continue to give them away as we get closer to November, so this won’t be your only chance to get one! Open worldwide and closes in a week!
Please note that these buttons are homemade and not official Ender’s Game merchandise.
With Lionsgate closing out CinemaCon with their Product Presentation, all stars had left to do was head to the Awards Ceremony, where three of the Ender’s Game stars received awards for their work in film.
Harrison Ford received the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Asa Butterfield received the Rising Star of 2013 Award.
It’s clearly telling him something disturbing!
Here’s a full gallery of images from the con so far, will update with more as they come in.
Although the trailer that debuted today at CinemaCon during Lionsgate’s Product Presentation wasn’t the final trailer, fans are of course dying to hear every last detail. io9 gave an amazing shot by shot description of the whole thing including the following scenes:
Footage of the First Invasion
Ender in his Salamander Army suit
Action scenes in the Battle Room
Valentine and Ender saying goodbye
Major Anderson observing kids playing baseball
A view of Eros
Mazer Rackham with Maori tattoos on his face (based on tweets)
A peek at the final battle
That sounds like enough to explode my head, but io9 remained cautious in its praise.
All in all, it’s WAY too early to say much. But the action looks good, and Butterfield is a fantastic casting decision for Ender. There wasn’t enough Battle Room footage shown to decide if it looked authentic or not, but it did look cool. We remain cautiously optimistic.
Be sure to read the entire recap. That is, if you’re not afraid of spoilers!
I admit I’m shocked they chose to show so many things, especially from the finale, but I’m extremely excited about everything. What are your thoughts on their approach in this trailer?
Reports on Twitter are streaming in indicating that the trailer for Ender’s Game was shown at Lionsgate’s Product Presentation at CinemaCon, currently happening in Las Vegas, NV.
Lionsgate recently released a teaser trailer for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which was a pretty lengthy teaser at 2:26. It’s unclear at this time how long the teaser will be for Ender’s Game.
The response from Summit has been that this is not the final trailer and some temporary VFX was used, so it doesn’t sound like it’s ready yet for public viewing. As far as the trailer release goes, it still sounds like the only concrete information to go on is that the trailer release will be attached to Star Trek: Into Darkness next month.
Reactions:
Just screened the trailer. Loads of Battle Room footage and it's looking good! Full write-up later. #EndersGame
