is one of those books that everybody tells you "Oh my gosh you have to read this!" And then you see the space ships on the cover and realize it was written in the 80s and you automatically think Flight of the Navigator and say "Uh, no thanks."And you should be ashamed of yourself.
At least, I am. I cannot believe I passed on this book for so long. It's good. Really good. And I'm not generally a space ship sci-fi girl. Except for Star Wars. Because, come on, it's freaking Star Wars.
Anyway, Ender's Game has been optioned for a movie, like, eleven times before. But it looks to be green-lighted (green-lit?) for 2013. I cannot begin to tell you how excited and apprehensive I am about this. Excited because it's an amazing story, and apprehensive because the characters are almost all kids. The main character starts at age six and grows to age eleven.
You read that right: six to eleven. And Orson Scott Card is adamant about sticking to the nature of the story and using children. Quick: think of an awesome six year old actor. Now think of ten of them. Yeaaaahhhhh.....
I, personally, think you can stick to the theme and overall feeling of the story by using slightly older children. I do mean slightly, I promise. The story takes big jumps. We could conceivably see the character from age six to eight, and then jump forward to age eleven. Using Hollywood standards, that means we see a ten or eleven year old actor at first and then jump forward to a sixteen year old. Still kids, still true to the story, but more manageable talent.
We start with Ender. He starts out six years old, and we stick with him until he's eleven. He does a lot of growing during that time, and not just physically. He's absolutely brilliant; he learns astro-physics the age of ten, understands psychological warfare to its fullest extent at age seven. Brilliant. He's also ruthless and determined and extraordinarily competitive. I think Preston Bailey could grow up to be Miles Heizer.
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| dreadcentral.com & poptower.com |
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| tvrage.com & justjared.com |
Zachary Gordon could grow up to be Cameron Bright.
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| poptower.com & ones2watch4.com |
Petra is a peer of Ender's at Battle School. She isn't a major character until he's been there for awhile, so I think we could see her as just a teen. Saoirse Ronan could pull this off; she looks intelligent and capable of being competitive at a boys' game.
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| shockya.com |
Bean is a kid that we only "see" when he's really little. When he's older, we only hear his voice, so "older Bean" could be anybody at this point. Another little brainiac, I like this kid: Bradley Steven Perry
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| poptower.com |
Alai is Ender's first friend. He's also illegally clinging to his heritage and religion. He's strong- both emotionally and physically, and turns out to be a really great kid. Another one that we really only "see" when he's little, and like somebody like Anthony Keyvan
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| zimbio.com |
Bonzo is one of Ender's early Battle School leaders. He's a bully, through and through, but with a stubborn, prideful streak that becomes his undoing. Everything that a bully should be, and a few years older than Ender, I see a kid like Mark Indelicato
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| justjared.com |
Graff is the Commander at Battle School, and thus is responsible for the education, training and care of these kids. He's cold on the outside, but cracks just enough for us to see that he deeply cares about what he's doing. He's pushing these kids to their absolute breaking points, but it breaks his heart to do so. This is going to require some serious, serious chops from a man who comes across as military, through and through. I absolutely, positively demand Keith David
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| aveleyman.com |
Anderson is another big-wig at Battle School, second in command to Graff. He's a little more disrespectful and doubtful of Graff's methods and potential for success. He comes across to me as that guy that you work with who will follow marching orders, but the minute things go wrong, he'll turncoat and throw you under the bus. I like Vincent Cassel for this one.
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| guardian.co.uk |
John Paul Wiggin is Ender's father. He comes across as indifferent to his children, particularly Ender. In this world, a "third" is the worst thing to be. Families are limited by international law to two children, and a "third" is unwanted and illegal. Unless you are Ender and were commissioned by the government. Then you're legal, but still unwanted. I don't know why, but I saw Holmes Osborne in this one. I know he's a little old for his oldest child being 10 years old, but in this futuristic, small-family world, I think people would put off child bearing for a long time. Right?
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| holmesosborne.net |
Mazer Rackham is the great commander of the Second Invasion. He's a little old now, and a little manic in his methods, but you can still see the touch of brilliance underneath it all. Again, I am making a demand, not a request: Christopher Walken
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| moviewatchlist.com |
Please post your ideas in the comments- whether you agree with me or not!
You can read my review of this book on GoodReads.com
