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Movie Update - March 22, 2006
Warner Brothers and Orson Scott Card extended option on Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow

In an exciting new development, Warner Brothers and Orson Scott Card have extended their option on the film version of Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow, with Card himself writing a new draft of the screenplay.

Work on the script is progressing well. Card continues to work with his partners in Taleswapper and Chartoff Productions, where Lynn Hendee continues to be the lead producer on the project. At Warner Brothers, Lynn Harris is the executive in charge of the Ender movie.

"Lynn Harris is the reason this project is going forward," says Card. "She understands the story and has already made strong contributions to the shape of the new draft. I believe we'll end up with a script that can be made into a great movie, commercially and artistically."

Don't ask about dates or casting, though. Card says, "There can't be a schedule of any kind until there's a script. And we can't cast the kids till we have a schedule, since they have a way of growing older as the months and years go by. If and when we settle on a viable script and get a working schedule, THEN you'll see announcements about timing and casting."

David Benioff, the writer of the screenplay for Wolfgang Petersen's 2004 epic Troy, has been signed by Warner Bros. to pen the script for the movie Ender's Game.

Benioff will work with his writing partner, DB Weiss, in close cooperation with Petersen, who is developing Ender's Game with the intent of directing it himself.

The screenplay will be based on Orson Scott Card's novels Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow.

Says Card, "Mr. Benioff proved with Troy that he could adapt a long work to fit the brevity of film, while preserving what is most powerful and effective in the original."

Any film of Ender's Game will be heavily dependent on special effects, says Card, "but it's the characters that the audience must care about for the film to succeed."

"I have every expectation that he and Mr. Weiss will be able to create a screenplay that will distill the strong characters and moral dilemmas of the novel into an exciting film that will justify the huge expense involved in filming it," said Card.

Benioff also adapted his own novel, 25^th Hour, into a screenplay for the Spike Lee-directed 2002 film that starred Edward Norton.

Variety Magazine announced on 10 February that Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty, the writing team that created the X-Men 2 screenplay, have been hired by Warner Brothers to write the second draft of the Ender's Game screenplay.

Harris and Dougherty have already been in contact with Orson Scott Card, the author of both Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow, both of which have been optioned by Warner Brothers as the basis for the Ender's Game movie. Card wrote the first draft of the screenplay based on both books.

"Dan and Mike know how to create a terrific action film that entertains the audience every moment," said Card. "And best of all, their scripts get made, and made well. The chance of an excellent version of Ender's Game actually getting on the screen just increased dramatically because they signed on."

Harris already knew Ender's Game well; Dougherty only read it in preparation for this assignment. "That's an ideal combination," said Card. "One of the team is absolutely familiar with the elements of the story that the most committed fans will expect to see, while the other will be able to make sure it isn't just a movie for people who already love the book."

Still, Card warns, "No matter who writes the script, there are only a hundred and twenty pages available to tell a story that took more than five times that many to tell in novel form. Trying to include everything would make a lousy movie. Something is going to get left out."

"My own draft of the screenplay gives a pretty good idea of which elements of the books I thought were vital to the telling of the story," says Card. "I can't wait to see what they do."

"And of course I'll be available to them to help them in any way I can," Card promises. "We all have the same goal: To get a great movie into the theaters. With Wolfgang Petersen slated to direct and Warner Brothers executives committed to backing this project to the hilt, I believe that we couldn't have a better team."

Though the Variety article doesn't mention her, Robert Chartoff's partner Lynn Hendee, of Chartoff Productions, is still aboard as a producer of Ender's Game. She has been working closely with Card since 1996, and has been an integral part of every version of the script and every attempt to put together the film package.

"It's ironic," says Card, "that the producer who has worked the hardest to realize this film as I want it is the one whose name isn't mentioned in the story. But that's Hollywood. It makes me wonder how many other films owe this much to people whose names somehow don't make it into the official story."

In March, Card will be meeting with Warner Brothers Consumer Products division to discuss development of the electronic games that will tie in with the movie.

As to when the movie will come out, Card says, "It's way too early even to guess about that. The second draft isn't even written yet. And even when we get a script that everyone thinks is perfect, there's still the problem of casting and, of course, making everything fit with everyone's schedule."

Card promises that "as soon as we know anything real," it will be announced here and elsewhere.

More Info.

Warner Brothers optioned both Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow in order to create a single feature film entitled "Ender's Game." Wolfgang Petersen is attached as director, and Robert Chartoff and Lynn Hendee remain as producers.

Card turned in the author-written script in May 2003. Warner Brothers and the various producers and the director are interviewing established screenwriters for the second draft.

No schedule or casting will be possible until a final script has been written and agreed upon by all parties. Then the director's schedule will be used as the basis for determining the start of shooting. Once the schedule is set, casting will begin. Remember that this film requires many good child actors, and the two most important child roles, Ender and Bean, are also the youngest and smallest. So chances are that the children who end up in these roles will be actors you have not seen in major roles.

Meanwhile, Card and his partners continue to develop other properties for production, including Homebody, The Lost Prince, Dogwalker, Malpractice, Pastwatch, Feed the Baby of Love, Unaccompanied Sonata, and Treason.

Since Ain't It Cool News is carrying the story, we're certainly not going to deny it here. The director of Ender's Game is Wolfgang Petersen. The studio that is developing it is Warner Brothers. OSC is really happy about both.

The upshot is that all are agreed on a fairly detailed outline of a film that combines Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow in a way that will combine the most important elements of both. Together, the stories make one terrific film.

To fans of the book, OSC offers this reminder: "The movie can't show everything from either book, let alone both. So there will almost certainly be scenes and even plot threads that you cared about which are not present in the film. Fortunately, the books still exist, and so readers will be able to experience those scenes for many years in the future.

"The most important thing for the film, though, is that it be a marvelous movie in its own right, whether you've read the books or not. And I can promise you: If the film we settled on in the past few days' meetings is the film that actually gets made, fans of the books will be very, very happy with it - and so will those who go see the movie without ever having read or even heard of the books."

We will not release details of the film story, however. Not ever. Not nohow. All we'll say is this: Ender is the main character. Bean is also very important and will be a point of view character, too. Both Col. Graff and Mazer Rackham will be major adult roles, and major children's roles will definitely include Petra, Alai, and Bonzo. There will, of course, be many other lesser roles for adults and children.

However, nothing whatsoever will be done about casting or hiring until after the script is finished. The film's release will not be scheduled until the script is fully agreed upon AND the director has finished his next film. So it will certainly be at least two years and more likely three, maybe even four years before the film is released.

Be patient. The longer it takes, the better it's going to be. And in the meantime, we'll try to get some firstrate Ender's Game computer games out on the market so that some of you, at least, can get inside the battle room before the movie is released.

For more details on director Wolfgang Petersen, follow one of these links.

http://www.german-way.com/german/petersen.html

http://www.scene360.com/DIRECTORchair_peterson.html

http://us.imdb.com/Name?Petersen,+Wolfgang