As part of the continuing discussion of Orson Scott Card’s controversial statements on gay marriage, and amid threats of a boycott from Geeks OUT, Gavin Hood (the Ender’s Game director) and Asa Butterfield (Mr. Wiggin himself) have weighed in with their own positions. Says Hood,

My view is I’ve been a member of the Courage Campaign for many years and I’m a little distressed by his point of view on gay marriage,” Hood said. … However, the book is not about that issue, so I hope people can still appreciate the book because I think he wrote a great book, and the themes and ideas in the book, I think, are universal and timeless and applicable, and I hope the book will still be appreciated as a great work of art, even though I don’t agree with the author. I optioned the book, not an author, and I love what the author said in that book. … I think it’s slightly bitterly ironic that those themes that are present in the book are not carried through on his particular view on gay marriage.

Butterfield was also supportive, saying, “I agree with rights for everybody” and “you can’t blame a book for its author”.

In related news, Dustin Lance Black, LGBT-activist and author of both ‘Milk‘ and ‘8‘, has also spoken out on the boycott saying this:

There’s so much good to be done right now, boycotting a movie made by 99% LGBT equality folks in an LGBT equality industry is a waste of our collective energy. Making one phone call to a relative in the south who isn’t quite there yet would be 1,000 times more effective. … The homophobic novelist who wrote the book hasn’t been involved in decades. Misguided boycott.

Sources: Huffington Post, The Guardian