Stranger in a Strange Land

Ender's Game, its controversial author, and a very personal history

By Rany Jazayerli

Grantland - November 1, 2013

The Ender's Game movie premieres today, nearly 30 years after Orson Scott Card's science fiction classic was published. The film, in development for almost half that time, does not lack star power. The story is about a dystopian future in which pubescent boys and girls are recruited to lead armies against aliens who nearly destroyed humanity a generation earlier, and the film necessarily casts teenagers¹ in the lead roles. Asa Butterfield, who plays the title role of Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, was last seen displaying his talents as the lead in Martin Scorsese's beautifully rendered (albeit interminably boring) Hugo. Abigail Breslin, who plays Ender's sister Valentine, and Hailee Steinfeld, who plays Ender's Battle School mentor, both earned Oscar nominations before they were 15. The adult leads, Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, and Viola Davis, are even more decorated. If the movie flops, it won't be because the actors can't act.
The star you won't see associated with the film in any meaningful way is the book's author. Card, one of the modern-day giants of science fiction, has been invisible in the marketing lead-up to the film's release.² This is both profoundly sad and completely understandable: Card has been an outspoken opponent of gay rights for many years, arguing vociferously against same-sex marriage and serving until recently on the board of the National Organization for Marriage.

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