Though he seems a little old for the part already, Asa Butterfield (from the upcoming Scorsese film “Hugo”) has been cast as young Ender Wiggin in the Ender’s Game adaptation. (Deadline has the story.)
It was obvious that any live-action version of the story would have to be altered in a lot of ways to fit the logistics of filming that way and so this is really no surprise to me. I was hoping they’d get a company like Pixar involved (or have ILM get in on their second animated film after Rango) to bring the story to life, but no such luck.
I’ll be seeing Hugo soon enough to see if the kid has any acting chops, but he’s working with Scorsese so even if he didn’t it could seem like he does.
Ender’s Game is the riveting tale of a young boy drafted by the military to lead the world against an invasion from the Buggers. (Which makes a lot more sense when you take Orson Scott Cards irrational homophobia into account.) Despite patches of less than stellar writing, it’s a fantastic book and I would give it my highest recommendation for fans of science fiction. You can pick it up on Amazon cheap.
This movie is being produced by the Star Trek writing team of Orci and Kurtzman and is supposed to released MArch 15, 2013.