Like a carnival coconut seemingly nailed to the pole so it can’t be knocked down, Ender’s Game is one of those novels that Hollywood is forever trying to put on screen, but that always appears doomed to fail. And now Tsotsi**/**X-Men Origins: Wolverine **director Gavin Hood is the latest filmmaker attached and willing to give it a try.
Orson Scott Card published Ender’s Game in 1985, adapted from his own short story that emerged in the magazine Analog Science Fiction and Fact back in 1977.
The plot is set on a future Earth where mankind is dreading the latest attack from the Formics, an insect race that has already launched two destructive barrages against the planet. In order to fight back, an international fleet trains the world’s most talented, promising children as generals through a variety of combat simulations and games. One of the most prodigious is the book’s hero, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, who proves to be a natural tactician.
Card’s novel has been a huge success, nabbing both the Hugo and Nebula awards and also drawing fire for its unflinching attitude to violence, which is largely justified in the way the author handles his world.
Since its publication, Card has had time to not only update the original tale, but also write several follow-up novels and stories across two series, with the most recent being 2008’s Ender’s Exile (with another planned title on the way).
But though plenty of scripts have been written (including by Card himself), the film version has always eluded studios. It's a difficult, tough-to-sell and expensive proposition for any company looking to tackle an adaptation. Wolfgang Petersen was the most recent director attached, but left the project after creative differences rose their scaly heads.
Now, though Hood has polished Card’s latest draft for Odd Lot Entertainment and is developing the project as a likely directorial job. While, as the LA Times points out, this doesn’t mean he’ll actually do it, we’re guessing most fans of the book will be in a quandary given how Wolverine turned out. Still, given the quality of Tsotsi and the numerous stories about studio tinkering on the X-Men film, hopefully Hood’s character-driven side will win out if he does take the reins of the Game.