Ahead of
the release of Gavin Hood's sci-fi epic Ender's Game, the stars were in
London's Leicester Square for a Q&A event and to share some clips from the
film with a huge crowd of expectant fans. After screening the trailer and two
clips from the film released on October 25th, the stars took to the stage to answer
questions from fans.
It got off
to a rocky start with some unexpected delays but finally producers Bob Orci, Gigi
Pritzker, stars Sir Ben Kingsley, Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Hailee
Steinfeld and director Gavin Hood took their seats to much applause. Harrison Ford
appeared to be in a good mood, if a little slow sadly these days as he speaks
and thinks. Sir Ben spoke at length about his character while Asa Butterfield
also had plenty to say on his experience of making the film. While Steinfeld
was quiet, she was charming whenever she spoke. Director Gavin Hood and the
producers all demonstrated their passion for the film and the book it was based
on.
Nothing was
mentioned on the whole Orson Scott Card homophobic controversy unfortunately as
I would have been interested to see what would have been said on it. I
completely understand people wanting to boycott this movie if you feel strongly
about what Card has said in the past but on
the other hand, whether the guy is homophobic or not makes no
difference to his talent as a writer. It's difficult as I don't want to make
the guy even richer or give his views any more publicity but I think the film
looks interesting and I hope it has some important points to make about war.
The book is
nearly 30 years old and seems to have been very prescient. Gavin Hood gave us
Tsotsi and adapted Card's much loved book for the screen. Producer Gigi
Pritzker has been trying to get the film made since buying the rights 13 years
ago so it's been a pretty epic struggle to get it made. Along with Butterfield,
Steinfeld and the big guns Sir Ben and Mr Ford, the film also stars Little Miss
Sunshine's Abigail Breslin and The Help's Viola Davis.
It could be
Starship Troopers without the satire or it could be a serious Independence Day
with added moral ambiguity and complex themes about the ethics of war. Either
way it was an interesting Q&A and I hope you will check out my videos from
the event below and at the bottom is the trailer:
Harrison Ford on Special effects from Star Wars to Ender's Game:
Ben Kingsley, Asa Butterfield and Gavin Hood on Ender's Game adaptation
Hailee Steinfeld on Ender's Game characters
Director Gavin Hood talks casting Ender's Game
Ben Kingsley discusses his character in Ender's Game
Asa Butterfield & Harrison Ford talk Ender's Game
