Card “Confident” For “Ender”

Author Orson Scott Card says he’s confident about the big-screen adaptation of his influential novel Ender’s Game.

Responding to a post on GeekyTyrant, Card said that is confident the movie is in good hands and will translate well to the big-screen, saying “as long as the character of Ender himself, with his relationships with other kids, is in the movie, it will still be Ender’s Game to my own satisfaction and the satisfaction of the fans.”

Card said that there will have to certain trims made to the plot and several threads from the novel probably won’t make it into the film.

“The problem with the book, as a movie, is that all the important information about ender’s motives comes from internal monologue – his thoughts,” he writes.  ” Since voiceovers are loathsome, Ender’s actions would remain unexplained, and he would appear to be little more than a violent kid. Also, the book would make a movie that was at least four hours long.  Much has to be cut – including all of Peter’s and Valentine’s online exploits, the mind game, and much of the incidental material before Ender gets into Bonzo’s army.”

Card goes on to say that the lead roles will probably be cast by unknown child actors and that is probably for the best.

“Whoever plays Ender will almost certainly be an actor you haven’t seen before, and with any luck, a child who has not gone through the soul-numbing process of being cute on camera.  In other words, I hope it is a child who never had an agent, but who is very, very intelligent and therefore can take direction,” he says.