Interview: Hailee Steinfeld and Asa Butterfield Talk ENDER’S GAME

Director Gavin Hood’s Ender’s Game is an adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s novel. The cast features Harrison Ford, Sir Ben Kingsley, Hailee Steinfeld and Asa Butterfield as the title character. I had the chance to talk to Steinfeld and Butterfield about the pressure of making a big budget special effects movie.

Often young actors and actress can be quite precocious, always wanting to be the centre of attention. However, when I spoke to Asa Butterfield Hailee Stienfeld they came across as intelligent and grounded teenagers. Two average kids who just so happen to make movies with huge movie stars.

How did you cope with the special effects on the film?

Hailee Steinfeld: It was interesting. Ender’s Game was my third film. Before that I had done two period pieces. So to go from a place where you are given specific props and everything around you, due to that time, to standing in front of a green-screen where you have nothing but your imagination was something that I had never done before. It was really interesting and I was fascinated by that. It was definitely a challenge for me but seeing it now is so exciting. It’s so visually beautiful and it’s amazing to watch it all come together.

You’ve just worked with Kevin Costner in Paris on Three Days To Kill – how was that?

Hailee Steinfeld: Amazing. So, so cool. I had such a great experience. He’s amazing. I loved filming in Paris. That film comes out in a couple of months.

Special effects films are very demanding to make. Did you get used to them straight away?

Asa Butterfield: All of us had never done a movie with this many special effects, this much CGI. For me it was a case of convincing yourself, as the character, that you are seeing ships flying in the air, you’re seeing that person over there that you’re shooting with your laser gun. It’s a really interesting experience. That combined with Gavin’s amount of energy which he projected. We sort of absorbed it almost and it convinced us that were seeing these sights.

Ender’s Game opens in the UK on 25 October and in the US on 1st November