Toned-Down Violence, Aiming at PG-13 Rating

‘Ender’s Game’ movie actor, Brandon Soo Hoo, was recently interviewed by Geek Legacy. Brandon told Geek Legacy that he was a fan of the book and how excited he was when he was cast as Fly Molo. He also noted a few of the book for film adaptions that had to be made, including toning down some of the violence:

GL: How close is the film to the actual story in the book? I understand that some things have to be left out to fit it into a movie, but how much did things actually change from the book to the movie?
B: While adapting the book to a script, our director Gavin [Hood] took much care to keep most things accurate to the book. Though, due to the PG-13 rating, some of the more graphic content was toned down.

GL: How does the movie portray the army? Are there a lot more, a lot less, or close to the same amount of member in the movie?
B: There were actually quite a few Battle School students hired for the film; around 40 or 50. There are probably hundreds in the book itself, but for the production, 50 was plenty.

Brandon also dished about a prank on fellow cast member, Moises Arias (Bonzo Madrid):

GL: Were there any pranks while you were on set?
B: Too many pranks to keep track of. One particularly nasty one involved waking up Moises [Arias, who plays Bonzo] with a mouthful of Tobasco. Moises hates spicy food, so he wasn’t happy about this one.

Read the full interview from Geek Legacy here, including more information about training for battle scenes.

The ‘Ender’s Game’ film will be released in U.S. theaters on November 1, 2013.