The orginal suggestion of OSC to play Ender was Jack Lloyd[!] so that doesn't bode well for the skill thing. On the other hand, look at a movie like Narnia where they got a bunch of child actors who hand't really done anything before and that turned out well. Plus, there are all sorts of other things that the movie could spawn. (warning, mild profanity).

__________________
When I die I want to go peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming in terror, like his passengers.

It did?

I thought so. Certainly the acting wasn't the problem I had with it. Then again, I really like Tilda Swinton, and I'm very disappointed at the rumour I heard that they won't be making The Magician's Nephew.

__________________
Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

I had to look her up and finally realized she played the character of the Witch, which I will agree was nicely done.

My wry comment was in response to your remark about the children's acting. I will admit the little girl who played Lucy was adorable, but I thought the girl who played Susan was made of wood. After a while, my displeasure with the child actors' performances gets too wrapped up with the story itself, which I enjoyed as a child and now find to be absurd. The movie only brought out that absurdity to me and left a bad taste in my mouth.

I'm disappointed to hear that, too. I was under the impression they had optioned all seven books.

IMDB lists Prince Caspian for next year and Dawn Treader for 2009.

At least they don't have the same problem as the Harry Potter producers do of needing to make all the movies before the actors outgrow the characters...

__________________
SeanF

"Ask to understand, but don't challenge unless you have the knowledge."--NEOWatcher

The contents of this post are ©2009 by SeanF and may not be copied or retransmitted in any form without the express written consent of SeanF

Read the books and you'll realize that it's quite appropriate, Susan was made of wood

__________________
‘To those who regard “crime fiction” as some sacred icon which must follow a rigid formula, I will always be the man who writes 18-syllable haiku.’Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.

If it makes you feel better, James, Prince Caspian is the only other book in which Susan appears - except as an adult again in A Horse and His Boy.

__________________
SeanF

"Ask to understand, but don't challenge unless you have the knowledge."--NEOWatcher

The contents of this post are ©2009 by SeanF and may not be copied or retransmitted in any form without the express written consent of SeanF

I was, too. I have to admit that I don't recall where my information comes from; probably one of my local Friendly Suncoast Guys. (Suncoast is a US chain that sells DVDs at greatly-inflated prices but is the only local place to find certain things.) It's possible that my information is wrong; I quite hope it is. Tilda Swinton as Jadis in London would be a thing to behold.

I have always loved the books, and I'm glad they're finally making movies worthy of them. In the old BBC production, I tend to reference "That fat, squeaky girl who plays Lucy." Which is bad, given that Lucy is supposed to be thin and thoughtful.

And, yes, Susan is appalling. She is no longer a Friend of Narnia.

__________________
Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Hmmm... I did read the books, long ago, and don't have any memory of that particular plot point.

Then again, I'm a non-subtle reader. I had to have someone spell out the religious references in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe after I read it. I had completely missed them.

I've got to admit it...that doesn't make me feel any better. However, my problems with the movie stem not only from the child actors but from the plot itself. I'd discuss more, but I don't think I could without veering into religious discussion, which I believe is outside the bounds of this forum.

Well, in a figurative sense. She was a total prig who, as (I believe) Lady Polly put it, spent her whole life trying to be the age she is in Last Battle, and, now that she's reached it, will spend the rest of her life trying to stay that age.

__________________
Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

I've always felt Susan got a bad rap, I'd really recommend reading the short story "The Problem Of Susan" by Neil Gaiman (though I agree that the other children were better actors in the movie).

A Horse and his Boy might be... awkward, so to speak, in the current political climate. Too bad though, it was always my favourite book (though, in retospect, very problematic).

__________________
When I die I want to go peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming in terror, like his passengers.

Ah yes. I do love the language used in that book; takes you back to an earlier era.

"That boy is manifestly no son of yours, for your cheek is as dark as mine, but the boy is fair and white, like the accursed but beautiful barbarians who inhabit the remote north."

They just don't write like that anymore...

__________________
There is a growing tendancy to think of Man as a rational, thinking being, which is absurd.- Marvin the Martian.

It's gotten to the point where careful investigation is needed just to tell parody from reality. I think that means reality is broken.- Noclevername.

All of which is why I was so surprised that it was Magician's Nephew that they were threatening not to make. I mean, even Last Battle?

__________________
Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

I'd like to see that as well, though with a little updating to the technology: Gibson has no cellphones in the future, and maybe make the decks keyboard-less

__________________
If we don't play god, who will?-James Watson
I never think of the future, it comes soon enough.-Albert Einstein
The large print giveth and the small print taketh away.-Tom Waits
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a yo-yo.-Enoch Root, The Confusion
When I was a kid, if someone brandished a shrink gun he'd get a little bit of respect!-Myron Reducto, Harvey Birdman

Gillianren, check out the little blurb at the bottom of this page:

Every year through 2013 would suggest six more movies...

__________________
SeanF

"Ask to understand, but don't challenge unless you have the knowledge."--NEOWatcher

The contents of this post are ©2009 by SeanF and may not be copied or retransmitted in any form without the express written consent of SeanF

The reawakening of this thread reminded me of something I read on John Varley's website recently:

__________________
At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009
All moderation in purple

Yay, Tilda Swinton as Jadis in London! Yay for rumour being wrong! (IMDB has info for nothing past Voyage of the Dawn Treader, of course.)

__________________
Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Well, there is one by E. C. Tubb that I hope won't be made into a movie! In the book, astronauts run afoul of a random spacetime phenomenon or alien (can't remember which) that literally turns people inside out.

My dad was the one who originally bought the book; I just read bits of it (the gory bits, of course, as the rest of the book was very tedious ).

__________________
The dose makes the poison--Paracelsus (1493-1541) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracelsus

I don't know. That's why I'm asking--Noclevername

Intelligence may not be clearly defined, but you know stupid when you see it--Noclevername

Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge--Carl Sagan (1934-1996)

Blatantly derailing this thread, I wouldn't mind seeing Outland remade, on a Siberian oil drilling station, with the McGuffin being lost artifacts of the ancients rather than laborers hopped up on goofballs (which would be taken as a given, and part of the backrgound for the story).

The Dark Light Years - let's see 'em make that movie

__________________
This is not an idea to be tossed aside lightly - it should be thrown with great force

My god, it's been forty years since I read that.

Interesting challenge.

__________________
If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers.

AHAB is not very problematic. The setting is essentially medieval Ottoman. As long they present it relatively accurately, the plot will work.

Tash and Tashlan, to understate the matter, will be a cross-cultural conundrum.

__________________
Keeper of the Jabberwock

Lewis really got a bug in his ear about Islam towards the end of his life. He called it "the greatest Christian heresy". If Walden Media want to make their own contribution to the clash of civilisations, then they couldn't really do better than to film "The Last Battle."

__________________
There is a growing tendancy to think of Man as a rational, thinking being, which is absurd.- Marvin the Martian.

It's gotten to the point where careful investigation is needed just to tell parody from reality. I think that means reality is broken.- Noclevername.

I'd go and see that. I'm not sure it really would be hard to do, in fact reading it I thought it could make a good movie, if it was done carefully.

__________________
"I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, pseudo-science and superstition will seem year by year more tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive." - Carl Sagan, 1995