Ender's Game is awesome. You should read it if you like things that are awesome...go ahead, I'll wait.
It was awesome, right? Anywho,
Ender's Game came out in 1985, and ever since then people have been talking about making it into a movie. The author tried his hand at a script. The guys running the
Game of Thrones show took a run at it. The problem is,
Ender is a tough nut to crack. It's almost exclusively about pre-teens, so it's kind of like the early
Potter books, but it's much more brutal than the first half of Rowling's stories. A decent chunk of the story occurs in zero gravity, so you've got to figure out a way to make that look cool. For whatever reason, thinks just never clicked between Ender and Hollywood, until now.
Summit Entertainment bought the rights. They hired Gavin Hood to direct off of a script he wrote. Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are going to produce, and we even have a release date - March 15, 2013. All of those things are nice, but they're not "real". Directors and writers and producers get attached to projects all the time, and then nothing happens. But now, now they're casting. And not just one big name star who will eventually move on to something else. Looks like
Ender is finally happening.
Asa Butterfield is Ender Wiggin
Asa was Bruno in
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Norman in
Nanny McPhee Returns. He's in the theater right now as the titular character in
Hugo. He'll turn 15 in April, so he's a little older than Ender is supposed to be, but he still looks like he could be younger. I couldn't be happier about this casting, and my only concern is that he can pull off an American accent. If you've read
Ender's Game, this photo shows you everything you need to see.
Hailee Steinfeld is Petra Arkanian
Hailee was Mattie in last year's
True Grit, and she was nominated for pretty much every acting award in existence. She just turned 15, so she's about six months older than Asa, which works for the characters. Hailee is a great actress, and I was really rooting for her to win an Oscar last year. She probably won't get nominated for her part in
Ender, but I think it will giver her a great opportunity to play another aspect of the tough, reliant young woman character she nailed in Mattie.
Ben Kingsley is Mazer Rackham
I don't want to get too much into who Mazer is to avoid spoilers, but needless to say he's a major character who ends up influencing Ender in the second half of the story. We all know Kingsley. He won an Oscar for
Gandhi, and great acclaim for
Sexy Beast and
House of Sand and Fog. Mazer is supposed to be half Maori, while Kingsley is of Indian and Russian descent, so it will be interesting to see what they do there, but you can't ever complain about having an Oscar winner in your beloved franchise.
Harrison Ford is Colonel Graff (????)
OK, so this one is still just rumor, but it's been said all over the internet that Ford is in negotiations to join the project. I'm a bit torn if this turns out to be true. On the one hand, it's Indiana Jones!!!! On the other, it's old Harrison Ford who hasn't seemed to give a flip since...
The Fugitive? Maybe
Air Force One? Ford is a huge name, and he would lend instant cred to the project if he is attached. He's a great actor, and I think he could have a ton of fun with the curmudgeonly old commander of Battle School. I just don't know if he wants to have fun anymore.
So what do you think? Are you happy with the three official casting announcements? Are you willing to roll the dice on Ford, or would you rather go with someone who will actually care about the movie? Who should play Ender's siblings, Peter and Valentine? What about the rest of his
jeesh, especially Alai and Bean? Let me know in the comments.
Action Comics #4 – Few comics have
encapsulated their own inherent flaws so completely as Action Comics
#4. With this issue, Grant Morrison's Superman story is joined by a
Sholly Fisch penned backup feature starring John Henry Irons, a.k.a.
Steel. Aside from an editorial note that served to draw attention to
an awkward storytelling choice that would have been glossed over
otherwise, the two scripts are adequate. Yet, the Steel story was
drawn by Brad Walker, whose sheer competence put Rags Morales to
shame. I realize that this is Rags' fourth issue in a row and Walker
has literally had months to prepare, but it exaggerated the lackluster art that Morrison's Action Comics has been saddled
with. On the writing side of things, the series has been solid but
not spectacular. As always, I have faith Morrison is taking this in a
particular direction that will pay off.
Animal Man #4 – Every month, it seems
that Animal Man and Swamp Thing leapfrog each other for the top spot
of the DCnU quality list. Really, their only competition is the
stellar Wonder Woman series and Batman and Batwoman vying for a
distant fourth. This month, it was Animal Man's turn to take the
number one position as Jeff Lemire continues to freak me the hell
out. I really hope that Travel Foreman is either mentally resilient
or has a good therapist because drawing the creepy stuff from
Lemire's head must be a frightening task. I said last month that I
thought Animal Man and Swamp Thing were headed for a crossover, and I
am even more certain of it now since Alec Holland is mentioned within
the pages of issue four.
Defenders #1 – It's difficult to not
compare Defenders with Justice League Dark thanks to a somewhat
similar team agenda. Thankfully, the rosters of the teams in
question are quite different. Different, also, it seems, are the
writers desired styles. Matt Fraction takes on a much more
traditional comic book narrative style than we have seen from
Milligan's JLD. Yet, there are still hints of Fraction's deeper
stylistic choices. In last week's podcast, I mentioned that there
are little notes written at the bottom of the issue's pages that were
almost more fun to search for than the issues actual plot. As usual,
the Dodson's art is nice and smooth, giving all of the characters a
particular charm.
StormWatch #4 – Before the Relaunch, I
was certain that StormWatch was going to be one of the best books of
the New 52. While it has improved monthly, it has never reached that
potential. With news that Paul Cornell will be replaced by Paul
Jenkins as scripter, I doubt I will continue to pick this series up.
For now, the story is fine but underwhelming, and the art is kind of
mushy. We finally get to see Midnighter and Apollo flex some
muscles, but few of the other characters really make an impact,
emotionally or otherwise. I used the term “mushy” to describe the
art, but it actually fits the entire book. The mass of uninteresting
and ill-defined characters and the meandering plot make for a
disappointing read.
Daredevil #6 – Yesterday, I spent a good bit of time lauding Mark Waid's run on Daredevil, so I will keep it brief here.
This IS one of the best superhero books of the year. The art
by Marcos Martin is gorgeous and the scripting by Waid is nearly
flawless. This issue brings us to the end of the book's first major
story arch. Daredevil protects a blind translator who heard too much
from five different super-terrorist groups. Along the way he comes
into possession of something that will surely be important down the
road. If I compared this book to the cream of the crop from DC's New
52, I would have to say it ranks with the upper echelon like Swamp
Thing, Wonder Woman and Animal Man. If you are not
buying this book, you are missing out.
Legion: Secret Origin #2 – There is a
growing trend in comic books to take an origin story and expand upon
it. Taken by itself, this is not an inherently good or bad thing.
In some cases it adds to an already sparse mythos. In others, it
confuses things. After two issues, I am tempted to say that Legion:
Secret Origin falls into the latter camp rather than the former. The
Legion with its multiple reboots, different re-tellings, and hundreds
of members could certainly use a retold origin story, but so far
Secret Origin has just served to muddy the water. However, with four
issues left, the mysteries that Paul Levitz is playing with might
actually pay off. I am however really enjoying Chris Batista's art.
Spaceman #2 – This book is tied with
Daredevil for my pick of the week. Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso
are crafting a scifi dystopia that becomes more interesting with each
page. The grime that covers each page is the kind that only the 100
Bullets duo could produce. Yet, for all of the sickness that the
pair foresees in the future, the main character, Orson the Spaceman,
is a completely sympathetic character. Genetically crafted in an
aborted attempt to carry the human race into deep space, he is left
on earth alone and mostly forgotten. In issue 2, it seems that Orson
is becoming the unlikely hero in the high profile kidnapping of a
reality TV child celebrity.
