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Very Hot Topic (More than 25 Replies) Cast for Ender's Game (Read 12,605 times)
zhizhi
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Cast for Ender's Game
04. Mar 2005 at 00:06
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I aplogized if this topic has been posted before.

It has been two years since Wolfgang Petersen was anounced as the director. Though I agree that they probably need to cast new  and relatively unknown actors for this movie to work, it'd be fun to ponder which actor could be the ideal Ender, Bean and Peter.

Who do you think currently could play these three characters? Who would be your choices if you could cast anyone from any era?

Personally, I like Freddie Highmore as Bean especially during his Finding Neverland period. Cameron Bright could be Peter. Ender is the toughest. A couple years back I would say Rory Culkin but he's now too old.

For all time, I like Adam Hann-Byrd, Miko Hughes or HJO as Bean.  Max Pomeranc or Elijah Wood as Ender.  Gabriel Damon as Peter.
  
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Wildeboy
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Re: Cast for Ender's Game
Reply #1 - 04. Mar 2005 at 00:36
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Well, for Ender here are a couple of up and comers I like a lot:

Jordan Garrett:

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Hayden McFarland:

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« Last Edit: 04. Mar 2005 at 01:38 by josephk »  
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josephk
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Re: Cast for Ender's Game
Reply #2 - 04. Mar 2005 at 01:40
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Wildeboy: I resized the second pic in your post because it was huge and made the text in the thread spill off the screen.

If anyone wants to see or download the pic in its original size, it's available here: (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)
  
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bardok
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Re: Cast for Ender's Game
Reply #3 - 04. Mar 2005 at 04:36
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Thank you for this information which is new for me about the production of the film "ender's game".

I read with a great pleasure many years ago the book "ender's game" (by Orson Scott Card) which is at the origin of this film, its suite, and more recently "ender's shadow".

It will be mervelous if the film is as good as the books. I hope the scenario and the actors will be up to it.
  
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Keegan
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Re: Cast for Ender's Game
Reply #4 - 04. Mar 2005 at 04:49
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I could imagine rather well Devon Allan (from Undertow) in it:

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cal-Q-L8
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Re: Cast for Ender's Game
Reply #5 - 04. Mar 2005 at 07:47
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Ender will probably be a newcomer but if I were a casting agent I'd hope the following would want to try out:








  
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Keegan
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Re: Cast for Ender's Game
Reply #6 - 04. Mar 2005 at 10:47
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There really is a huge gap between this particular photograph of Cayden Boyd and his appearance in Mystic River. Hardly any similarity. Unfortunately he doe not seem to have gotten himself a lead yet.
  
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MarkL02
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Re: Cast for Ender's Game
Reply #7 - 06. Mar 2005 at 15:48
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I think David Dorfman would make a great Ender if they started filming it right away.  In the book, Ender grows up from age 6 to about 12, so the challenge is to find someone young enough to be believable as an 8 or 9 year old, but also talented enough to be the star of a major movie.  The character is a brilliant strategic thinker so it's a tough role for a very young actor.

Maybe Alexander Gould or Ethan Dampf have the talent to do it.  They are only 10 so there's still time to make the movie but they'll be 11 in May so they'd better get going on this project. 

I thought Hayden McFarland has a lot of talent when I saw him for the first time on TV last month.  But he is already 12 and his voice is pretty deep.  Although he looks like he might pass for a 9 year old, his voice makes him not too believable for that age.
  
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Jasen
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Re: Cast for Ender's Game
Reply #8 - 06. Mar 2005 at 23:37
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I never hear of this book bfore and wonder what story is about.  If it need boy 10 year old I hope it got some body who can do good in both age of 6 and 12.

If ok to use actor from england Liam Hess be good bcause he do good acting in film Edges of the Lord.
  
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Zabladowski
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Re: Cast for Ender's Game
Reply #9 - 06. Mar 2005 at 23:47
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I've never read the book before Jasen, but here is a description of the plot...

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.

Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.



I agree Liam Hess would've been a great choice a few years ago. Remember Edges of the Lord was filmed between May and July of 2000!  Shocked
After filming wrapped, Haley went to work almost immediately on A.I.
  
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Wildeboy
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Re: Cast for Ender's Game
Reply #10 - 07. Mar 2005 at 07:15
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When the movie is cast, I predict Ender will be older than he's depicted in the book, probably in the 12 to 13-year-old range.  This is because whoever gets the part will have to portray a rather complex character and carry the movie.  It would be difficult to find an an actor of eight, nine or even ten who can do that.  I know this will make many purists groan, but it will be a long way from the first time stories have been changed to meet the realities of film-making.  My guess is not only will the actors (Ender and the rest of the young warriors) be older but the time span will be compressed.  Further, I'll bet Orson Scott Card will be on board with the changes.
  
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josephk
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Re: Cast for Ender's Game
Reply #11 - 07. Mar 2005 at 10:26
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Wildeboy, OSC has stated several times that he doesn't want the movie to be made if Ender is played by a teenager. He says it is essential that Ender be a young boy, otherwise it ruins the entire point and meaning of the story. I believe that was one of the conditions in his contract when he sold the rights to Warner Bros.

But I think you are right that the character will be slightly older than in the books and that the timeline will be compressed. Personally, I have no problem with that. I think I would do the same thing if I  were the one directing the movie. As long as Ender remains a young boy and not a teenager, I don't really mind if he's a few years older.

Furthermore, the movie that is being made is not a straight adaptation of Ender's Game, but of the two novels Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow, combined. Those who haven't read Ender's Shadow should read that book too before seeing the movie, as it presents a very different perspective on the same events that happened in Ender's Game. (That story is told from the perspective of Bean, who turns out to be a lot more involved than you would think from Ender's Game.)

Combining the two novels is a strange idea, but OSC felt that it would make a better movie. Of course, it also means that a lot of the subplots and details will have to go. You can't possibly take everything that is in two very complex science-fiction novels and make it fit into a two-hour Hollywood film.

Ender's Game is one of my favourite books. I consider it one of the great works of contemporary American literature. (Science fiction can be great literature too, sometimes.) I very much doubt that the movie will be as good as the books, but I think if it is done right it can still be a good movie, so I do hope it gets made. To be perfectly honest, though, I'm starting to doubt that the project will ever get a greenlight. Director Wolfgang Petersen keeps committing himself to other, more lucrative projects (first Troy, now The Posseidon Adventure) and Ender's Game doesn't seem to be a priority for him at all. Same thing with the writers who worked on the screenplay. They turned in three separate drafts, none of which were satisfying to the producers, and now they have given up to work on Superman Returns and Logan's Run - two movies that are likely to be much more successful at the box office. There have been rumours and announcements about an Ender's Game movie for the last three or four years, if not more. But other than OSC himself, it just doesn't seem like anyone's heart is really in it to make it happen.
  
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Keegan
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Re: Cast for Ender's Game
Reply #12 - 07. Mar 2005 at 10:56
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Orson Scott card hasalready  been interviewed about the cast on numerous occasions and his choices are remarcably good. For instance:

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Henry Thomas, Haley Joel Osment or, maybe to a lesser degree, Elijah Wood, do stand out, don't you think?

But if they have to choose a 12 year old boy, my personal choice would definitely be one of the Sprouse twins or even both (to underline the similarity between Ender and Bean, who are spiritual brothers in a way). What I saw in "the heart is deceitful above all things" is exceptional enough to think that Dylan (or Cole) can do with a part whatever needs to be.
  
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Jasen
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Re: Cast for Ender's Game
Reply #13 - 07. Mar 2005 at 11:26
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Thank you Zabladowski for review of film.  I like to see it very much after it is made and when movie come on dvd.


I only think Liam Hess bcause he was only six or seven I think in Edges of the Lord and that was 4 or 5 year ago but mabey he is too old now if director do want a ten year old for role.

I wonder if mabey can find two actor brothers that look lots alike but are about 8 and 12 year old and can do film with both actors and they look much alike.
  
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Wildeboy
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Re: Cast for Ender's Game
Reply #14 - 07. Mar 2005 at 14:54
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Liam Hess will be 13 on March 28.  He was about nine when he did Edges of the Lord, although he did look a little bit younger.  The essential thing in casting is the boy's appearance, not his chronological age.  If there were a 14-year-old who looked 10, why not cast him?  Many child actors appear younger than their actual years.

The problem with the Ender character is while he's  a young boy physically, emotionally and intellectually he's much older.  I don't see an eight-year-old carrying that off.  Wasn't he supposed to be 11 when he had his great victory?  A youthful looking actor of 12 or 13 could work.  Does OSC want to stick strictly to his books above everything or does he want a good movie?
  
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