I personaly do, although the burden would rest to a huge extent on one actor (a younger Ralph Finnes would be great, fortunatly, his younger brother, of Shakespeare in Love and Luther fame, is also very talented.)
Are there any plans to follow up with this version (I may have to choose another actor to star in *my* film soon )
Posted by Flaming Toad on a Stick (Member # 9302) on :
I prefer the book, but I don't think that it would be a better movie. Too much symbolism and philosophically ethical dilemmas.
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
Speaker is a great book, but I think it would be a bit dull to watch on screen.
Posted by Princess Leah (Member # 6026) on :
If it was done right, it could probably make a good film, but I don't think the subject matter lends itself to that medium as well as that of EG. For the same reason that LotR has been turned into good movies and the Silmarillion has not, EG is a better bet. Do I make sense? Maybe.
Posted by Cheezecake214 (Member # 9329) on :
I think that if Speaker was made into a movie it wouldnt get the same amount of people wanting to see it. The enders game movie will atrack people that havent read the book, and speaker might not. It would also be a more adult movie and most kids wouldnt see it. EG is a better idea for a movie.
Posted by Vadon (Member # 4561) on :
My opinion is the same as the gerenal consensus to this point.
Speaker is a deep inner philosophical book. You are inside the characters and their motivations for actions throughout the entire book. This is a very hard thing to translate onto the screen. When it is a character's intrinsic motivations guiding them, you can't show it very easily.
Ender's Game, on the other hand, has plenty of extrensic motivation that can be shown. There's the constant threat of the buggers, there's the grueling task of Battle School, and there's the constant need to succeed.
Plus overall appeal to the audience out there, Ender's Game would attract more with the eye-candy action and war going on.
Posted by GodSpoken (Member # 9358) on :
Beautiful substance and story, but you'd have to condense all 3 books to avoid it being nothing more than a setup movie, and that usually annoys people. And you really couldn't condense that kind of content into 2 hours without falling back to a "running around" movie punctuated by arguments and flashback thought scenes.
It's a novel (series), and a great one.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
SPOILER WARNING
I think it could be made into a great movie. But I am not going to make myself anxious over it. I think the best film adaptations tend to stray pretty far from the books they are based on. It would actually make a really good Oscar contender. Brilliant scientist trapped in religion-dominated small town treating everyone around her like crap. Nasty secrets, infidelity, ritual killing.
I'm not quite sure how Ender fits into it all, since I haven't seen many of those movies. I guess Miro would have to have the more central role, with his Christic sacrifice at the end.
Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :
The movie version of Speaker would consist of long, tedious conversations interrupted by moments of nauseating cruelty. And the conclusion would be a long documentary on the life of a nonexistent creature.
Imagine March of the Penguins in which you have to listen to the Penguins talk about their philosophy of life while going back and forth to the ocean.
Doesn't work for me. Not every book needs to be filmed.
Now, Wyrms, Hart's Hope, Enchantment, Homebody, Magic Street - THOSE would be GREAT movies.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
I don't know - the reveal about Nohvina and (omitted to avoid spoiler), the investigation portion of the movie - scifi private eye kind of thing - plus the reveal about why the two xenologers died would be enough to pull a movie together very well.
The Speaker construct is actually a very good device for story telling.
Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :
But the "reveal" about why the xenologers died requires a long, long, long explanation. On film, long explanations are horrible (remember the second Matrix movie?).
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Fortunately, I can't remember much of it.
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
quote:Originally posted by Orson Scott Card: But the "reveal" about why the xenologers died requires a long, long, long explanation. On film, long explanations are horrible (remember the second Matrix movie?).
I'm betting this means it's a good thing I've never seen the Matrix sequels?
Posted by Princess Leah (Member # 6026) on :
Yes. Yes. A very good thing. Remember when The Matrix (first one) came out and everyone was all "ooooh, look, philosophy and cool science fiction and deep questions, and also sexy actors in leather"? Well, that all ends with the sequels (except the leather). One of the movie theatres in my hometown that has something of a sarcastic sense of humor advertised Reloaded as 'Morpheus's Dance Party'. And honestly, that's pretty much all it is. That and a admittedly very cool fight with ~374581357483957 Agent Smiths.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
There is only one Matrix movie.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
quote:But the "reveal" about why the xenologers died requires a long, long, long explanation. On film, long explanations are horrible (remember the second Matrix movie?).
I agree that not all books need to be movies, and I won't really miss not having a SftD movie. But I think you're underestimating the power of what you did in that book.
The problem with the Matrix was that what was being revealed wasn't worth the effort at all.
It was meaningless - unhinted at before, and having no effect on anything that happened five minutes later and beyond. They could have revealed any of a dozen different explanations of who Neo was and why he was important and the entire rest of the trilogy would have been the same.
SftD, on the other hand, resolves standing mysteries in a way that satisfies. You believe that this is the answer, even if you didn't figure it out, because this is how things are.
I think the interest would be built up enough to sustain it if written and edited correctly.
Things we have to know to get the full effect: ** SPOILERS BELOW **
1.) The piggies become trees and consider it an honor to go through the passage to third life. 2.) They thought humans could become trees, too. 3.) Pipo and Libo refused to do what they thought was taking a life. 4.) How what Pipo saw in the descolada model led directly to his death.
Maybe have the xenologers have a recording device that the piggies kept that they return to Ender, to be watched with narration? (Definitely not my field.)
This could be done quickly, informatively, and movingly. It brings the Marcao speaking thread into the what's up with the piggies thread, so everything that happens before and after depends on this reveal. The audience would stick with it.
The scene could easily be done poorly - it would require superb direction, writing, acting, and editing to pull it off. And, it's not something I need to see in a movie.
But I do think the power inherent in the story and characters would carry this along.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
:looks in reverence at Dagonee's post count:
I think the action pretty well establishes what goes on. Pipo gets killed. The piggies worship trees and dream of becoming them. Miro makes fun of them. Ender shows up and tries giving them the benefit of the doubt.
I think the main thing that was wrong with the second Matrix movie was the "to be concluded" BS. The first Matrix had a fair amount of talking in it. You could just tolerate it because it involved cookies and ladies in red dresses and stuff. They went to far in trying to combine the desserts and sex in the sequels.
Posted by cagreat1 (Member # 8511) on :
i think SftD would make a great movie. I think the biggest problem would be a greater focus on the forbidden love that takes place in the novel. What i think would be better is to make the ender quartet a mini series on the sci-fi channel. I think that would be a better medium than a movie. The problem with the books being converted into movies is that they are all too long and involved. It's hard to cut any one part out to shorten it. this is very evident in the EG movie script that keeps getting redone. it's too hard to omit things because most of it is too important to leave out. if you take one event out, you change the characters or you take away from them. Instead of making a movie, i would suggest a show that could be on for one season that would cover the span of all the ender's books (the shadow series would have to be saved for the next season this would give OSC about 2 TV seasons to write the next 4 books with the children of ender)
Posted by CRash (Member # 7754) on :
Agh! Sci-Fi Channel!
*turns green*
I think Ender would be better off staying away from there...
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
The extent of my experience with Sci-Fi channel is Dune, and I thought that was pretty good. I mean, it actually got me to read the book. If you had any idea what it takes to get me to read a book...
Posted by cheiros do ender (Member # 8849) on :
quote:Originally posted by Orson Scott Card: Now, Wyrms, Hart's Hope, Enchantment, Homebody, Magic Street - THOSE would be GREAT movies.
Those first two are disturbing enough in print, thanks.
Posted by CRash (Member # 7754) on :
I wouldn't mind seeing Enchantment as a film.
Posted by Leroy (Member # 9533) on :
I could see SftD in Mini-series format, but I don't know whether the Sci-Fi channel would be up to it. When I think of a really good mini series, I think Band of Brothers. I also think that SftD would lend itself to being split into episodes, especially if each episode was from a different character's pov.
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
)