EXCLUSIVE

We’ve already wrapped up our five-part series detailing our visit to the ‘Ender’s Game’ movie set, but today we’re sharing ten bonus facts about the set visit!

1. In the PREVIS conference room, all four walls were plastered with the film’s storyboard. we noticed that there were 143 scenes on this storyboard. This number will probably change as the film completes post-production.

2. Caleb Thaggard dyed his blonde hair red for his role as Stilson.

3. In the lunch area, we spotted a picture on door of an ‘Ender’s Game’ paintball team that some of the crew put together.

4. There are equal numbers of men and women in the film’s version of battle school. All of the girls wore their hair in buns, but Petra Arkanian actress, Hailee Steinfeld, was the only actress we noticed who wore a braided bun.

5. We mentioned this on our podcast, but Orson Scott Card’s co-author in the First Formic War Trilogy, Aaron Johnston, has a small part as an officer in the movie. He’s also an associate producer.

6. Surprisingly, we met another person with a small walk-on role as an officer, Larry Kramer (J.D.). At the time, Kramer was a Dean of Stanford Law. Apparently, “Kramer cajoled an entertainment-lawyer alumnus to get him an invitation.”

7. Battle school students are not allowed to bring any personal items to the station so that they are not reminded of home. In the film, students roll up socks and play ball with them.

8. While on set, we saw two scenes being filmed, neither of which were from the book. One scene involved Ender and Petra, and the other involved Sergeant Dap on “graduation day.” Sorry, no spoilers!

9. While we interviewed set designers, Ben Procter and Sean Haworth, they passed around a smartphone with a virtual battle school. When the the phone was pointed up you saw the battle school’s ceiling, when the phone was pointed left you went down a hallway etc. It was very cool.

10. Sadly, there is no prop to represent an ansible. However, we did notice a background display in Colonel Graff’s viewing room with the term “ansible” and a bunch of neat graphics.

Don’t forget to check out the rest of our set reports:

Part 1: The Road to Production
Part 2: Adapting a Classic with Gavin Hood
Part 3: Creating Costumes and Props for the Future
Part 4: Hilarious Cast Interview
Part 5: Sir Ben Kingsley, Set Design, and Stunts

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