Opening on November 1st is Gavin Hood‘s adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s award-winning sci-fi novel Ender’s Game.  The film tells the story of Andrew “Ender” Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a young boy sent away to Battle School to hone his military skills and, hopefully, save the world from an impending alien invasion.  The film also stars Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, Viola Davis, Khylin Rhambo, Moises Arias, and Ben Kingsley.  For more on the film, here's the trailer, our Comic-Con recap, and all our previous coverage.

While at Comic-Con, I sat down with Hood and producer Bob Orci.  We talked about how they decided on the footage they'd show at Comic-Con, the debate and controversy surrounding Card’s homophobic comments, the editing process, the current running time, and more.  In addition, with Orci co-writing and producing the recent Star Trek films, I asked about the current status of a new Star Trek TV show and Star Trek 3.  Hit the jump to watch.

enders-game-poster

Gavin Hood and Bob Orci:

  • :08 What do they collect?
  • 1:05 How did they decide what footage to bring to Comic-Con? Said they were rushing to finish VFX shots they wanted to specifically show at Comic-Con.
  • 3:01 Orson Scott Card’s homophobic comments and how they have impacted the film. Hood says it’s an important debate to have, and they do not agree with Card’s opinions on gay marriage. “We love the book, and we’d like to think that the art can stand separate from that artist; there are 620 artists who’ve worked on this movie, gay artists, straight artists, and they’ve done amazing work.”
  • 4:55 Hood talks reconciling his love of the book with feeling that he doesn’t agree with Card.
  • 5:32 They talk about contradictions in world history and why the debate is perfectly valid, “I’m not going to throw the Declaration of Independence out because Jefferson was slave owner.”
  • 6:21 How long was Hood’s first assembly cut?  Says they shot the movie in 75 days with kids who could only work 5 hours a day.
  • 7:01 They aren’t quite done with the cut, but it’s just under two hours long.
  • 7:21 Status of Star Trek 3 and a Trek TV series. “We’re talking to Paramount to see if we can make their plans and scheduling, when they want the movie to come out if that’s something that we can deliver for them, and if we have a good idea.”

enders-game-harrison-ford-asa-butterfield