The Help's Viola Davis has just been cast in a supporting role for the Gavin Hood-directed adaptation of Orsen Scott Card's Ender's Game. I still find it unbelievable that this movie is actually happening. Fans have been waiting for it for so long, and we still have a long way to go. But at least we know it's coming.
According to Variety, "Davis will play a military psychologist who oversees the emotional welfare of young trainees. She also helps design the games that test their skills and resilience." The actress will join the previously cast Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, and Harrison Ford. Damn, this is such a great cast so far! I'm excited to see who else they get to jump on board.
Davis was nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards and is sure to make a great contribution to this film. What are your thoughts on Davis getting cast?
Here's a full description of the the classic 1985 Orson Scott Card sci-fi novel:
In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.
Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.
Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.