Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Harrison Ford and Abigail Breslin have signed on to play roles in Ender’s Game, a 2013 film adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s sci-fi classic about a boy genius conscripted into a war against alien invaders. Asa Butterfield, currently starring in Hugo, will play the title role, Andrew “Ender” Wiggins; Breslin will play his older sister Valentine. Ford is Col. Hyram Graff, the head of the military academy.
I’m sure there’s a lot of rejoicing among science fiction fans, both at the news of a movie, and at the news of the casting of these roles. Me, I’m optimistic about the first film, but it’s tempered by a couple things. First, Ford’s role isn’t going to be a large one if it’s true to the book, so this is more like hiring a big-name actor for a cameo than casting a star in the lead. Second… the movie is either going to be done well, or it’s going to be done poorly. So far that’s tautological and no different from anything else. But if it’s done well, it’ll probably be a success — which means they’ll feel compelled to film the sequels as well. And the first sequel was both mediocre and far and away the best of the bunch. So either way, this is going to amount to some bad sci-fi films in the mid 2010s.
Morgan on Media 
“And the first sequel was both mediocre and far and away the best of the bunch.”
Perhaps the most confusing sentance you’ve ever authored, my friend.
That aside, dont put it past them to beef up Ford’s role because they have Ford. But it would also be awesome to see him have a supporting role. That would be pretty cool. I wonder if he could bring the star power to it.
The main challenge this movie faces – and I THINK it was you I’ve discussed this with – is that the greatness of the book is its a book about kids, and probably aimed at a teen audience, but damn is it cold blooded. That’s where it’s coolness derives from. But I dont trust Hollywood to adequately get that across.
Heh. Sorry about that sentence… hazard of writing on little sleep, you know? What I mean to say is that the first sequel, Speaker for the Dead is a mediocre book — and all the other sequels are considerably worse.
Wouldn’t surprise me if they do beef up Ford’s role some, but I think the story only really works with the adults largely out of the picture. A lot of that cold-bloodedness comes about because these are kids that are largely unsupervised. And no, I don’t entirely trust Hollywood to convey this… it’s rare enough that they portray a dark story with non-dark characters (which I think Ender’s Game and its title character qualify as) without throwing the “don’t do terrible things to kids” factor into the mix.
Sorry about that sentence… hazard of writing on little sleep, you know?
Nope. I’ve never written a post, bleary eyed and tired, at like 1:30 am just so I can have it ready in order to get a full day of page views out of it. No idea what you mean. 😉
Yes. The sequels stank. I’ll be happy to get one good flick out of it though, because the book did rule. I think you and I are locked in to this puppy now. Let’s keep a close eye on it.
Yeah, I’ll be keeping an eye on its progress. Hopefully they don’t fumble the ball.
Personally, I’m just happy that we’re finally at a point where Hollywood is actively seeking out sci-fi and fantasy novels to turn into films, when both genres were considered bad bets for so long.