News

[locke]

OSC is working on a second draft of his new script for Radiant. It's a high priority project at Radiant and for WB, both want to see it made. It's unlikely to be seen as a summer tentpole film because book adaptations starring children and genre adaptations have done much better over the thanksgiving and christmas holidays than in the summer. Think Harry Potter, Narnia and Lord of the Rings.

If preproduction were to gear up from this script they wouldn't begin set construction until winter and shooting until late spring (to take advantage of the summer holiday) under the best of circumstances. Which means holiday 2008 would be the absolute earliest a film could come out, as of now. If script development takes another year or so that will necessarily also push back. Let me reinforce that there is absolutely NO date that is remotely realistic right now, 2008 is only pure speculation based on how long it takes to make a movie of this scale, that's simply the earliest it could possibly come out, don't put any faith by that number, it's extremely unlikely--preproduction would need to start within two weeks to hit that.

This is a ground up rewrite, so none of the other rewrites matter to this one. If Radiant and WB are unhappy with the script then they'll shop for new writers as they did before

To summarize prior scripts:

prior to these drafts, Scott has written a 96 draft, a 99 draft, & one or two drafts that were circulated before WB and Radiant took the project. he wrote one-two drafts for Radiant before they began looking for other writers. The 96 was the biggest diversion, with Graff's perspective telling the story. The 99 draft was written after a March 99 meeting with Jake Lloyd who convinced OSC that a child actor could be talented enough to pull off the role of Ender. The remaining drafts incorporated Ender's Shadow into the film, a book the other screenwriters all ignored.

Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris wrote three complete drafts for WB before being pulled to do Superman returns.

David Benioff and DB Weiss wrote a treatment and at least one finished script turned in during the production of Poseidon.

The Benioff draft was the last draft under the original option. The option was renewed, and OSC has a new crack at the screenplay.

a company (that will remain nameless) while working with OSC on the screenplay (during his contract period of exclusivity as screenwriter) contracted Nick Sagan to write a script. When OSC found out he broke relations over the breach of contract. Neither OSC nor anyone involved with the film will ever read that script, nor will they probably mention it.

Don't believe anything you read on AICN until I confirm it or shoot it down here. Trust hatrack and Taleswapper for reliable updates.

[Amka]

Wow. That is a lot of drafts.

That is a lot that Card has done too. Why have absolutely none of them worked?

On the one hand, Card is probably the only one that has a good grasp as to why none of them worked. (with the possible exception of you, locke) On the other hand, I can totally see him losing the love. And yet... I have a story for which I haven't lost the love. I could go over it and over it... Just ask Ollie.

[Craig]

That's a nice recap locke, it's nice to see that WB is still excited about making it... Hopefully they are equally as excited as us fans.

Salaam

[Jayelle]

The imdb link:

http://imdb.com/title/tt0400403/

[peterlocke123]

Thanks Jayelle! It's good to see they have it on there.

[Mich]

Oh, it's been on there for quite a while. Or do you mean the new projection date? Because I agree on that point.

And their forums are so not as cool as ours.

[peterlocke123]

Meant the projected date, and of course their forum is nowhere near as cool as ours.

[dmm01]

I'm just sad that the original date that I saw when I first read EG didn't come true because it was going to be the summer after I graduated high school. I was plannin on getting a bunch of people from my freshman English class (we had to read EG) together to go see it. Now it looks more like college graduation. Oh well, as long as the actually put the movie out.

-dmm01

[Craig]

I'm secretly hoping that production will be postponed until after I finish film school and make my first feature... I guess the secret is out now. Mr. Card give me the job already!!!

Salaam

[mr_thebrain]

now THAT would be kool.

you'd have to give me a role. i could gain weight and play graff.

[dmm01]

I think being Mr. Anderson and always being the one messing with the kid's heads would be more fun that Graff.

[Mich]

But Anderson does come across as a bit of a jerk, whereas Graff is the guy doing things because he has to/needs to.

Then again, Graff IS a bit of a jerk.

Then again, playing jerks is fun.

Anywho, good luck with that, Craig-ol-buddy-ol-pal.

[canvasch]

graff is more of a puppet master than a jerk.... but yeah... i doubt this movie is going to be out any time soon.... i'd rather it be made into a mini-series.

[dmm01]

Well, depending on the sucess of the movie, they could make it a tv show. The only problem with that is that they wouldn't stick just to the book, and it would just be based for the battle school years. And they couldn't do much with going on too far after the war cuz they'd need a new actor every couple episodes to show Bean's growth.

[Mich]

So, in other words, it would suck.

A lot.

Like a Harry Potter show would suck.

[dmm01]

Well, I think if they didn't try to make the tv show last longer than one, maybe two seasons, it could work. Harry Potter book go too much into detail about every year to make a tv show about it, but there is enough time durring the battle school years that isn't followed in detail that as long as they went on the basis of the book, it could work. The only thing is that Hollywood gets too greedy to where they would try to make it last too long and mess up the story.
-dmm01

[mr_thebrain]

ewwww tv show ender's game sounds like a bbbbbbbaaaaaaaadddddddd idea.

[eriador]

The problem is the EG, and all of the books have a definate, tight narrrative that can't be put into an open ended format for TV. A mini-series might work, but it would be hard to do justice to the books in that format. The best way to present EG would be through a feature length film.

[Bevis]

I like the mini-series idea myself. Especially since most of the talk says the movie will be a combonation of EG & ES. Six to eight hours could develop the characters to the scale OSC is known for, a 2 hour feature film will rely too heavily on the kids in space effects.

[dmm01]

Why don't we look at making it a multi-movie deal instead of a mini-series. I think they'd be able to work in a good 2 or three movie deal with the first one leading up to when Bean shows up, then the second one going back to Bean's beginings, then continueing on until Bean and the rest of the jeesh goes to Eros, and the third having the Ender's training, and the time on Eros. Having the movies stacked like that would allow them to continue on for the rest of the Shadow Series easily, and even onto the rest of the Ender Series if they wanted.

[eriador]

Personally, I prefer the multiple-movies idea over the idea of a mini series. However, the logistics would be harder. One movie is expensive, three, even more so. Getting funding would be the hardest part. Unless a studio was sure that it was going to be a hit, they wouldn't pour money into a three-film series where each of the films has to stand on the others. (Yes, they did that with LotR, but I don't expect a repeat).

I agree that character development would need a lot more than 2-3 hours.

In some ways this could be very much like the Lord of the Rings, but I don't think it will be as big (sorry guys, not gonna happen). Plus, it would take a whole lot longer if they do 3 mov

[Jayelle]

If we could limit the discussion in here to actual news, that would be great. There's a place to discuss speculation.

[mr_thebrain]

dang, woman. why you always gotta be the heavy?

[Bender22]

i hope they dont mess it up by taking scenes out or conversations if they do it it should be word for word scene by scene.

[Young Val]

1. i love the phrase "the heavy." i'd forgotten about it.

2. any word-for-word book to movie adaptation will most likely tank.

/asides and personal opinion.

[Mich]

And be bad.

Many would disagree with me, but I don't see the point in watching a movie that is exactly like the book. I can do that at any time... in my head.

Then again, I might just be feeling like that, right now, at this moment.

[neo-dragon]

You know, when WB renewed the option or whatever they did about a year ago I thought that it meant that some significant progress would be made in 2006. I was encouraged when I heard that Card was working diligently on the latest draft of the script, and was happy when he stated that he had finished it some months ago. I was also excited by the news that came during the summer, that Petersen might shift his attention to EG in the fall... But what became of any of it? Here we are, a year since the option was renewed and it doesn't actually feel like the film is any closer to being on the big screen. Is it normal for a movie to take this long to get off the ground? Are there lots of exciting developments going on which we're just not told about? Why do I feel like I'll be making this post again at the end of 2007?

[luminousnerd]

I sure hope that progress is made on this. I have attempted to adapt a book I wrote (much of it still in my head) into a movie. It is daunting and tedious, but I hope to God that Card can do it. I am desperate to see this done correctly! I guarantee I'll see the first showing. I will end up seeing it many times in the theaters (assuming it's not God-Awful, which it won't be, if it's written by Card). I will also (obviously) purchase the movie when it is released, and the soundtrack, and the iPod version And all the memorabilia and video games that result from it!!!

Okay, I've got to stop romanticizing. I'm starting to make a mess of myself with all this drool.

[Absterderup26]

My lack of a lovelife (aside from the plastic sort) leads me to spam other peoples' message boards.
regards, Absterderup26

[Major Anderson]

Is there any news on when the film may be cast?

And would it be an international or just an american-based cast?

[neo-dragon]

No, and we don't know.

[Jayelle]

Wait....wasn't that kid from Star Wars going to be Ender?

[Zede05]

Wait....wasn't that kid from Star Wars going to be Ender?

Luckily that's not possible anymore...

If it'd happened back when it was possible, I would've jumped out a (first floor) window.

[luminousnerd]

Luckily that's not possible anymore...

If it'd happened back when it was possible, I would've jumped out a (first floor) window.

Actually he's really freakin good I hear. But the scripts of the new movies they call Star Wars makes anyone into a bad actor.

[neo-dragon]

Jayelle was just trying to be funny, guys. She just needs to work on it a bit.