Fandom 101 Updates (Domain Change, Blog Platform Change)

We are excited to announce that we are updating our domain to FANDOM101.COM, and changing blog platforms! We will still be posting daily fandom, showbiz, and pretty much everything geek news, so be sure to come visit us at FANDOM101.COM!

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Marvel’s ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ Footage Revealed

Get set for a ride into the “galaxy,” as Marvel’s forthcoming Guardians of the Galaxy was previewed to audiences yesterday at the Disney D23 Expo in Anaheim, CA.

Marvel’s Kevin Feige said the excitement they feel for this film reminds them of their anticipation in working on Iron Man, the studio’s first installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“That excites us to debut something brand new,” Feige said.

The cast currently is in London to shoot the film, but Feige offered the audience a sneak peek, among the first to catch this footage.

The early scene reveals Chris Pratt‘s character entering a mysterious building – perhaps a temple – with a flashlight, exploring his surroundings. Suddenly he is approached by men asking who he is. We know Pratt’s character: Star-Lord, otherwise known as Peter Quill.

Then it jumps to a scene involving John C. Reilly‘s Rhomann Dey analyzing profiles of the Guardians of the Galaxy, including Zoe Saldana‘s Gamora and Rocket the Raccoon.

“They call themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy,” Rhomann says.

This clip was only previously shown only at last month’s Comic-Con in San Diego.

We will find out more about these characters when the film debuts August 1, 2014.

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Transformers: Age of Extinction First Official Look at Optimus Prime’s New Design

Transformers: Age of Extinction is not only director Michael Bay’s fourth installment in the Hasbro-based sci-fi franchise, it will (supposedly) also clear the table (read: be a soft reboot of the series) so that another director may assume the reins on the franchise hereon out.

The film includes an entirely different main human cast (from previous installments) – Mark Wahlberg (Lone Survivor), Nicola Peltz (Bates Motel) and Jack Reynor (Delivery Man) – in addition to new players in supporting roles, like Stanley Tucci (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) and Kelsey Grammer (The Expendables 3). 

Meanwhile, on the Autobot/Decepticon side, there are several robotic aliens making their live-action movie debut in Age of Extinction; that includes, the long-awaited fan-favorite Dinobots.

However, there will be a familiar face among the newcomers: Optimus Prime, once again voiced by Peter Cullen. We previously broke down the character’s tweaked design in Age of Extinction, based on the toy version that was unveiled at the 2013 New York Comic-Con.

Now, you can see the real thing – well, “real thing” – on the cover of the latest Empire Magazine issue (for comparison’s sake, we’ve also included an image of Optimus in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, alongside the Empire cover that reveals his look in Age of Extinction):

Pictured alongside Optimus on the Empire cover is Wahlberg as a gearhead named Cade, alongside his daughter (Peltz) and her hot-shot car racer boyfriend (Reynor). While the individual parts may have changed, the bare-bones Transformers formula looks to be carried over into Age of Extinction. 

Hence, the father-daughter conflict between Wahlberg and Peltz will serve as the “heart” of the film, in addition to being a cost-cutting measure for the expensive CGI Transformers (a la Shia LaBeouf’s storyline throughout the previous three movies).

Of course, what would a Michael Bay Transformers movie be without practical effects and set pieces, which are also destroyed alongside the various digital elements in the film? Empire has unveiled an official Age of Extinction behind the scenes photo, which includes Bay giddily filming as members of his cast are suspended in the air (while shooting a scene that appears to involve their car taking a bit of a dive):

On Dark of the Moon, Bay definitely stepped up his game in terms of spectacle, when he incorporated 3D to produce the best action sequences featured in the Transformers franchise to date. 

Unfortunately, the script written by Ehren Kruger (who also wrote Age of Extinction) was lacking in the department of a human story core hook (read: “heart”) compared to the first movie – and even the maligned sequel, Revenge of the Fallen, was (arguably) better able to find a way to justify the inclusion of humans in the ongoing Autobot/Deception war story.

Will that change with Age of Extinction? Well, the “heart” may still be lacking, but at least the rumored storyline – which involves humans tinkering with Transformer technology to produce new creations – provides a simple reason for why the humans are such a large part of the story (that includes Wahlberg’s character). And no doubt, Bay will bring on the expected fireworks like it’s the Fourth of July.

Transformers: Age of Extinction opens in U.S. theaters on June 27th, 2014.

Source: Empire ,Screenrant

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Telltale is Developing a Game of Thrones Game The Direwolf among us.

IGN has learned from multiple sources that Telltale Games is developing a game based on George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones.

It’s worth noting that, while “Game of Thrones” is the title of HBO’s series based on Martin’s books, the series itself is actually known as A Song of Ice and Fire, and the first book is titled A Game of Thrones. 

It’s currently unclear what title Telltale will be using for its game, and whether the storyline will be based on the show, books, or something entirely new.

We reached out to Telltale and received the following statement from Steve Allison, SVP of Publishing:

“We get these sorts of rumors about what we could be working on next cropping up all the time. Officially we have no comment.”

Telltale has a long history of licensed properties, ranging from Jurassic Park to Back to the Future and, more recently, The Walking Dead and Fables. In October, Telltale CEO Dan Connors said that Telltale “can’t wait” to announce its upcoming projects, and noted that it’s working on licenses that “definitely fall into our dream IP scenario.” Interestingly, Martin’s Game of Thrones books famously tell the story from a different character’s point of view in each chapter, a strategy Telltale recently tried out in The Walking Dead’s 400 Days DLC.


Telltale’s Game of Thrones game joins other recent Game of Thrones projects including browser-based MMO Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms from Bigpoint, the Game of Thrones RPG from Atlus, and strategy title Game of Thrones: Genesis from Focus Home Interactive.

Beyond Game of Thrones, Telltale is currently working on the second episode of The Wolf Among Us as well as a follow-up season to The Walking Dead. For much more on Game of Thrones, be sure to check out our coverage of the show, plus find out everything we know about the series in our Game of Thrones wiki.

What would you like to see in a Game of Thrones game from Telltale? Let us know in the comments. Have more information about what Telltale’s up to?

(Source: ign)

 

Continue Reading "Telltale is Developing a Game of Thrones Game The Direwolf among us."

Why Harry Potter Star Daniel Radcliffe Almost Quit The Harry Potter Movies

After eight successful movies, it’s hard to imagine anyone but Daniel Radcliffe in the role of the most famous wizard in the world. But did you know that he almost quit Harry Potter midway through the series?

That’s the small bombshell the now-24-year-old actor dropped when he revealed to The Guardian that he almost stopped playing the famous boy wizard after the third film in the movie franchise, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Radcliffe said:
"By the third film, I thought, if there's a time to get out, it's now; there's still enough time for another actor to come in and establish himself.
"For a while I thought, if I do all of them, will I be able to move on to other stuff or should I start doing other stuff now?"
At the time, Radcliffe was 14 years old, and said that he would have missed appearing alongside his fellow cast members, adding that "actually there aren't many great parts out there for teenage boys, certainly not as good as Harry Potter."

But Radcliffe has also learned to embrace the fact that the character of “the boy who lived” was going to be linked with him forever:

"I know that Potter is going to be with me for the rest of my life, so to try to set a goal where nobody talks about that anymore is stupid.
"It would be like… Paul McCartney might have gone on to do a lot of other things, but people are always going to want to talk about the Beatles."
"It's just a fact of your life, so you can't get annoyed by it or resent it. You have to embrace the fact that you were involved in this incredibly cool thing that did wonders for the British film industry and though you might not always be happy with the work you did on it, the opportunity it has given you to forge a career for yourself is amazing."
Are you relieved that Daniel Radcliffe stuck around for the entirety of the Harry Potter series? Do you think his quitting mid-series would have had an impact on the franchise?

(via Digital Spy, Blastr)

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Is The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus Up For The Crow Reboot?

 If you weren't excited for that reboot of The Crow before, you might be after you hear who's rumored to be joining it now.

After an impressively extended period of development hell, a new adaptation of James O'Barr's classic comic seems finally to be heading toward production. It's got a director in F. Javier Gutierrez (Before the Fall), a star in Luke Evans (The Raven) and O'Barr himself on board as a creative consultant. Now it might be getting some star power of the zombie-killer variety.

According to Schmoes Know, the Walking Dead star and resident favorite cast member Norman Reedus is the "top choice" for the role of "James" in the Crow reboot. 

Exactly who James is and what his role will be are unclear at the moment. He could be an ally to Evans' Eric Draven, helping on his quest to supernaturally avenge his losses, or he could be an adversary, one of the people who murdered Eric's lady love and put him in the ground. 


Whatever the case, the amount of goodwill Reedus carries with genre fans at the moment makes it likely that his role will be a big one, and we're betting he could take on either hero or villain with ease.

So, even if many fans of the original film starring Brandon Lee aren't counting on this reboot to be anything special, the addition of Reedus to the cast will certainly draw more interest from more than a few Walking Dead viewers (and as we know, there are a lot of those), and it might even turn around some fans who didn't want this reboot to happen at all. What do you think? If Reedus joins the flick, will you see it?

(Source: Schmoes Know ,ComingSoon ,Blastr)

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Which Doctor Who star may be up for a Star Wars VII role?

Rumor is there’s a Doctor Who star who may be up for a Star Wars: Episode VII role. Want to see who it is?

According to Bleeding Cool, there’s a rumor (coming from a well-placed source, no less) that Doctor Who's Eleventh Doctor himself, British actor Matt Smith, went in for a role in Star Wars VII.

It's not clear whether Smith has had an audition, did a screen test or just engaged in some timey-wimey chit-chat with director J.J. Abrams or George Lucas.

However, if Smith did, in fact, go in for an audition and ends up being cast in the upcoming Star Wars flick, then it’ll be an awesome case of two major sci-fi franchises colliding. Seeing a former Time Lord exchange his sonic screwdriver for a lightsaber? Now, THAT would be cool.

So, what do you guys think? If the rumor turns out to be true, do you believe that Matt Smith would make a great Jedi or even perhaps a great villain?

(via Comic Book Movie, Blastr)

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Robocop's Exciting New Trailer

Robocop has just released a brand new trailer, does it make you want to see the upcoming re-boot more?

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New Hobbit 2 featurette gets us inside shape-shifter Beorn's amazing house

Wanna meet The Hobbit’s awesome shape-shifter (ok, he's actually called a "skin-changer," but potatoes, potatoes, etc.) character Beorn?  And what about having a nice sneek peak at the dude's lovely home?

Warner Bros. has released a brand-new behind-the-scenes featurette that focuses of Beorn (played by Swedish actor Mikael Persbrandt) whom we—as well as the Company of Dwarves—are set to meet during their continuing quest to reach and reclaim the Kingdom of Erebor under the Lonely Mountain in this year’s upcoming The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug flick.

Peppered with interesting interviews with Hobbit actors, producers and director Peter Jackson himself, this behind-the-scenes video focuses at the tremendous work it took to make the massive set—along with the massive set pieces that go with them.

(This set DOES indeed look terrific, don't you  think? And we can’t wait to see it in all its Middle-earth glory in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.)

Besides the featurette, we also get some more amazing footage of a fully motioned-captured Benedict Cumberbatch sneering and slithering his way as the—let’s face it awesome—Dragon Smaug; more Legolas (the ever youthful Orlando Bloom) and Tauriel (a graceful and regal Evangeline Lilly); and more of that escape in the barrels scene as well as those scary, big-A spiders.

Did you enjoy your behind-the-scenes look to Beorn’s house? Are you looking forward to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug on Dec. 13?

(via Screen Rant, Blastr )

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Thor 2 star rallying fans to help her score Wonder Woman gig

Apparently Jaimie Alexander is pretty psyched about those Wonder Woman rumors — but the Thor: The Dark World star needs your help to make it happen.

We still don’t actually know if Wonder Woman will make an appearance in Batman vs. Superman, but there has been a lot of buzz that Alexander will bring the fan favorite DC heroine to life.

When asked about a possible role in the Man of Steel sequel, Alexander spent most of her interview with MTV dodging the question —but finally admitted it’d be pretty awesome to play Wonder Woman. But how can she make it happen? Get the fans fired up to fight for her.

Here’s an excerpt from her comments:

“I've been a huge fan of Wonder Woman since I was a little kid. So I'm absolutely flattered that a lot of people have chosen me as their fan choice. I think that is pretty epic, and incredibly humbling. These things in recent years, the fans can get things started and they can actually come to pass, which is kind of a cool age we live in. Yeah, that's pretty incredible, we'll see. That would be rad.”

Considering the massive amount of ass she’s kicked in the Thor series, Alexander definitely has the action chops to handle Wonder Woman. But, is she the best choice? What do you think?

(Source: MTV, Blastr)

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Saoirse Ronan Responds To Star Wars And Fantastic Four Casting Rumours

       















You shouldn't believe every rumour you hear.....

Hanna and The Host star Saoirse Ronan was supposudley up for the role of Scarlet Witch in the upcoming Avengers: Age Of Ultron movie (which was taken by Elisabeth Olsen), then she was auditioning for a major role in Star Wars. As well as both of those rumours, one came up about her being cast as Sue Storm in the up and coming Fantastic Four reboot. The first rumour was proved false but what about the other 2?

Saoirse responded to both of these rumours in recent interviews saying:

"I don't have 'Star Wars.' I don't have the role," Ronan said. "I just shouldn't have said anything. I just auditioned for it, like everyone else did."

While she was trying to get the Star Wars role the Fantastic Four rumour was just that:

"I only heard that rumor. I'm not signed up for 'Fantastic Four,'" Ronan said.

Continue Reading "Saoirse Ronan Responds To Star Wars And Fantastic Four Casting Rumours"

Son of original Doctor Who writer sues BBC claiming he owns the TARDIS

Doctor Who's 50th anniversary is supposed to be a time of celebration, but it might end up a time for serious legal battles instead.

Fifty years ago, the very first Doctor Who story starring First Doctor William Hartnell, "An Unearthly Child," aired on the BBC. The writer of that story, Australian BBC staff writer Anthony Coburn, had the honor of being among the first scribes to lend his name to one of the most influential science fiction series of all time. He also had the honor of being the first to write about the Doctor's legendary time machine, the TARDIS. Now, decades after Coburn first wrote about the Doctor, his son Stef has announced plans to sue the BBC over rights to the iconic blue police box, claiming his family should have been paid every time the box was used in a Doctor Who story.

Coburn claims that the BBC has breached the copyright of the TARDIS every year since 1977, the year of his father's death. He believes that, while his father may have given the BBC permission to use the iconic time machine, that permission expired when his father died, and then passed to his mother, who seems to have never said anything about it. Now that his mother has also passed away, Coburn believes all permissions for use of the TARDIS have passed to him, and that the BBC owes his family financial compensation for every use of the time machine since 1977.

"It is by no means my wish to deprive legions of Doctor Who fans (of whom I was never one) of any aspect of their favourite children's programme," Coburn said in a statement. "The only ends I wish to accomplish, by whatever lawful means present themselves, involve bringing about the public recognition that should by rights always have been his due, of my father James Anthony Coburn's seminal contribution to Doctor Who, and proper lawful recompense to his surviving estate."

The BBC has said it will investigate Coburn's complaint, though the company has received no other complaints about the rights to the TARDIS since it first registered a copyright on the time machine in the 1980s. According to Coburn, he would've filed a complaint sooner, but believed he didn't have the rights until after his mother passed. Now he claims the idea for the TARDIS was conceived after his father saw a blue police box on Wimbledon Common in the early 1960s. If you browse the BBC's own script archives from the early days of Doctor Who, though, it looks like the conceptual crafting of the TARDIS was likely a group effort, even if the name itself could have been the work of one man.

So this is either a case of a family member trying to capitalize on a particularly high-profile time for Doctor Who, or a real misstep on the part of the BBC. What do you think's going on here?

(Via The Independent, Blastr)

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Walking Dead producer shares REAL reason we haven't seen the Governor (Spoiler)

Okay Walking Dead fans. Have you been wondering why we haven’t seen the Governor (David Morrissey) yet this season? It turns out the producers got a little “sick” of him last year.(Spoilers Below)

After having most of last season focused on the baddie, the Governor has been soo far absent from the first several episodes of Walking Dead’s fourth season after disappearing at the end of last year. Not that they haven't been busy, still.

Aside from Michonne’s hapless attempts to track him down, he’s been a complete non-factor. According to series creator Robert Kirkman, that was intentional — mostly because they had seen enough of the character to last ‘em for at least a little while.

That’s not to say Morrissey’s portrayal wasn’t good (if anything, it was a little too creepy), it’s just they felt the new year needed some breathing room from the season-long arc about Woodbury and its psycho leader.

Here’s how he explained it to The Hollywood Reporter:

"We've just devoted an entire season to the conflict of The Governor and [new showrunner] Scott Gimple came in and was like, 'You know what? I'm sick of The Governor.' He actually said that. It's not that we don't like that character; it's just that we needed to give that character a break. Going right back into that would seem like more retread of season three and that's the thing we don't want to do…

The Governor is going to see quite a leap in who he is and what his motives are. The Governor that we saw at the end of season three was this homicidal maniac that lost control of his town and we haven't seen him for a long time. He's been stewing and we may be seeing a very different Governor when we finally do catch up to him. We like to keep people guessing and he definitely will return this season. Just when you think things are getting to a breaking point, that's when The Governor layer will be thrown in to make things that much more deadly and dangerous. It's going to be a really big, memorable moment in the show.”

Okay, that actually makes sense — and has us extremely curious to see how insane this guy has gone by the time he finally does resurface. But, c’mon — when the hell will that be?!

Do you like how they’ve played the Governor’s absence, or do you miss Morrissey?

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)

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New Amazing Spider-Man 2 Photos

A few new images of Spidey (Andrew Garfield), Electro (Jamie Foxx), and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) have hit from this summer's The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Take a look -- the wallcrawler has a new look!

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1st Day of the Doctor clip validates Matt Smith's Comic-Con hint

 When people asked for any time of teaser for The Doctor Who 50th episode, Matt Smith replied, "Paintings." Here's our first glimpse of why. 

People had assumed that we wouldn't be seeing any video for The Day of the Doctor until tomorrow's trailer, but the BBC have seen fit to grant us this early surprise. It's only the briefest of snippets, and yet, for reasons that will become clear in a moment, it's still really, really cool.



So Queen Elizabeth I's credentials appear to be a painting of an alien world burning. In fact, it could even be Gallifrey! 


Obviously, this is the tip of the iceberg, but it's neat that the BBC found a way to give fans a clip from this episode that feeds directly into what Matt Smith hinted at months ago.

Just the right glimpse to get us ready for tomorrow's trailer. 

(via Doctor Who)

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Episode VII finally has an official release date

In the sort of official announcement that, like a planet made entirely of ice or dust, passes for genuine life in the endless void of Star Wars news, Disney and Lucasfilm have officially given Episode VII the release date of Dec. 18, 2015. 

Disney chairman Alan Horn said in a statement that the date would “not only anchor the popular holiday filmgoing season but also ensure our extraordinary filmmaking team has the time needed to deliver a sensational picture.

” That latter point is already the subject of some controversy, after reports surfaced in the wake of Michael Arndt leaving that the film’s creative team—including Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy—had pushed for a delay to 2016, a request that Disney CEO Robert Iger accepted with the same sense of forgiveness Darth Vader showed Captain Needa.

Nevertheless, Abrams said today that he and Lawrence Kasdan specifically took over in order to meet that time frame, which now has a definitive end date to when we can stop speculating about things like that. 


It’s also worth noting that this will be the first Star Wars film to be released not in May but rather around Christmas

—because what goes together better than Star Wars and Christmas? 

(Source: Av Club)

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Robocop's Thrilling New Trailer

Finally the brand new trailer for Jose Padilha’s Robocop remake has arrived, filled with a-LOT of action scenes!

Check it out below, and tell us what you think - does this new trailer make you want to see the film more? Robocop is set to come out February 12, 2014. (Via The Playlist)

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Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Is Crossing Over With Thor: The Dark World

The show will follow up on the film's events... 

Marvel is crossing the streams again. The official description of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s November 19th episode titled "The Well" indicates that it will be crossing over with the events that take place in Thor: The Dark World. The synopsis reads as follows:

"In the aftermath of the events chronicled in the feature film Marvel's Thor: The Dark World, Coulson and the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. pick up the pieces--one of which threatens to destroy a member of the team."

The show stars Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge and airs on Tuesdays on ABC.

Continue Reading "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Is Crossing Over With Thor: The Dark World"

The BBC just released the Day of the Doctor's official synopsis.

If you can't wait any longer, now you can finally know what this landmark episode will actually be about. 

There are a slew of things we don't know about Doctor Who's 50th-anniversary episode, The Day of the Doctor, but right at the top of that list is -- what is it about? Because we've heard from Moffat about how, in contrast to most of the show's stories, this one fixates on the Doctor himself. Beyond that though, we just haven't known.

Until now.

"The Doctors embark on their greatest adventure in this 50th anniversary special. In 2013, something terrible is awakening in London’s National Gallery; in 1562, a murderous plot is afoot in Elizabethan England; and somewhere in space an ancient battle reaches its devastating conclusion. All of reality is at stake as the Doctor’s own dangerous past comes back to haunt him.

That is ... not what we were expecting. Yes, we knew Queen Elizabeth would be involved, but the rest is quite a surprise. Is the murderous plot against Elizabeth herself? And is the ancient battle waging in space the time-locked Time War? And what has awakened? Is it the Zygon we've seen set photos of or something else entirely?"

As with most of the information that's been revealed about this episode, the more we know, the more we don't know. Still, that's the fun.

Speculate away and tell us what you think this synopsis could mean.

(via Doctor Who TV, Blastr)

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Director Gavin Hood shares the struggle to film Ender's Game

Director Gavin Hood knew he was taking a big risk with his adaptation of Orson Scott Card's classic sci-fi novel, Ender's Game.

Speaking with Blastr during the film's recent press day in Los Angeles, Hood -- whose resume includes Tsotsi, Rendition and, unfortunately, X-Men Origins: Wolverine -- confirmed that he enjoys adapting material from other sources for film but admitted that approaching one of the most important sci-fi works of the past 30 years was daunting.

"The thing that's key when you're doing an adaptation is to find what it was what emotionally moved the reader," says Hood. "What themes, ideas or concepts made you feel emotionally connected to those characters? It's not necessarily the exact plot that makes you love a book. 

It's a feeling or a flash of insight or a sense of empathy that an author creates in a book that lingers and stays with you. And so for a film to succeed as an adaptation, I think you have to try and identify that and replicate that in your audience. You have to leave your audience feeling similar to the way they felt when they finished reading the book. And that doesn't necessarily mean that you can translate exact scenes into scenes in a book."

What that meant for Hood as he wrote his screenplay for Ender's Game -- after a number of others had taken a crack at it, including Card himself -- was that the story had to be streamlined (a major subplot involving the political career of Ender's older brother Peter was excised) and that, most importantly for this story, much of what was internal in the book had to be made external. 

"A lot of what an author of a book makes you feel comes from the way he describes what characters are thinking and feeling," explains the South African director. "And especially in a book like Ender's Game, which is incredibly internal in many places where the author describes what Ender's thinking, what he's feeling, that explanation and that insight into his thought process is bonding you with a character."

It was partially Hood's desire to create a successful bond with Ender -- the young boy (played by Asa Butterfield) who is recruited by the Earth government of the future to become a military leader who can lead the planet's defenses against an alien invasion -- and partially his own protectiveness toward the source novel that led Hood to write the adaptation himself.

 "I suppose I am (protective)," he says. "But having said that, I got an enormous amount of input because you put your first draft out and then you go to see what the audience, which at that point is your producers and some of your friends, feel when they read it. Am I achieving what I'm trying to achieve? So certainly is not like you write one draft and say 'That's what I'm making.' 

"I mean I went through many, many drafts on this script," Hood continues. "It's hard for me to always say how many drafts because I tinker and then I flavor something and then I tinker more. But there were many, many drafts in order to try and generate the feeling of attachment to Ender Wiggin and an understanding of what I think is the core interesting thing about him, which is his capacity for compassion and his equal but opposite capacity for violence and his struggle to reconcile those two impulses and find some sort of balance and way to live, you know, without being a victim of excessive violence, or frankly, in certain moments, perhaps too much compassion."

The question of compassion vs. violence, as well as the moral quandaries of pre-emptive war, the militarization of society and the indoctrination of children, are keenly brought to the fore in Hood's film, as Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) and war hero Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley) attempt to mold Ender and his teammates at Battle School into brilliant tacticians yet ruthless warriors. 

Nearly 30 years after Ender's Game was first published, those subjects remain relevant today. Is that because of the predictive nature of science fiction itself or the fact that little has changed in humankind's thinking since the book was written?

"I think that's a great question. I think we probably haven't progressed in the thousands of years that we've been on the planet, and we probably won't," says Hood with a small laugh. "What's so interesting about us is that as much as our technology advances, the reason we can still watch plays from hundreds of years ago and all the way back to the Greeks is because emotionally we keep having to learn the same lessons over and over again. Emotionally we still need the same things. 

We need love, we need affection and we still suffer from the same difficult emotional impulses foe jealousy or we feel terrible when we're betrayed. These things haven't changed no matter how well our iPads work. They just take place in newer and more interesting or more unusual environments. And science fiction is great because it affords us this opportunity to create a world that we've never seen before, and yet explore concepts that are timeless and universal."

One of the timeless aspects of the film version of Ender's Game is the visual style that Hood brings to the screen. The movie has an elegant, almost classically futuristic look (if that oxymoron even makes sense), and many of its images -- a ship taking off from a massive launchpad, or the devastated surface of an alien planet -- are almost reminiscent of the great pulp sci-fi covers of decades past. We ask Hood if he was influenced by those or at least interested in channeling them for a movie that itself is based on a work of sci-fi literature.

"I don't know," he says frankly. "Probably, and not consciously, but as a fan you absorb all kinds of things. And I know I've absorbed a lot of Kubrick too. People go, 'Oh, some of your shots are very Kubrickian.' It's not like I want to imitate Kubrick, it's just that I've loved his movies and I love those classic sort of iconic compositions that really speak to a sort of a formal military rigidity. And I don't know, I think when you're making stuff you don't even realize where your influences are coming from until someone points them out to you. So I don't know that I consciously did it, but you might very well be right."

Whether Hood wants to return -- or will have the chance to return -- to the world he's created for Ender's Game onscreen is an abstract question at this point, at least until the box office returns for this movie prove healthy enough for the studio (Summit) to consider approaching the five other books that follow. And then if Hood does want that opportunity, the next adaptation will bring a fresh set of challenges. 

"It was really a struggle to get this one to the screen, and I think the studio and everybody is waiting to see whether this one is well received before they will commission another one," says Hood candidly. "And the reason that one is tricky to commission is only because, as you know, (second novel) Speaker for the Dead takes place 30 years later. So we'll have to be quite innovative in terms of how we approach the sequel if we want to use our young cast, which I think we do. So there are many conversations to have, but none of them are even going to happen unless this movie kicks ass."

Ender's Game is out in theaters this Friday (November 1).

(Source: Blastr)

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