Colin Firth to Star in Gavin Hood's Drone Thriller 'Eye in the Sky'

Colin Firth isn't exactly the actor one would think of as an action star, but he does seem to be embracing that role of late. He recently wrapped up a starring role in Matthew Vaughn's comic book adaptation The Secret Service, and while he'll go into familiar dramedy territory in Woody Allen's Magic in the Moonlight, a return to action will follow. Firth is set to star and produce Eye in the Sky, a military thriller that has just landed a director in Gavin Hood.

Hood, who last helmed Ender's Game, will direct the film which features a script by Guy Hibbert that "centers on London-based military intelligence officer Colonel Michelle Madden who is remotely commanding a top secret drone operation that aims to capture a group of terrorists in Nairobi. The mission suddenly escalates from a “capture” to a “kill” operation when she realizes the targets are about to embark on a suicide mission, which would result in the deaths of many innocent civilians. Meanwhile, American drone pilot Steve Watts is poised to destroy the safe-house when a nine-year-old-girl enters the kill zone." Firth would presumably play the American pilot.

Filming is set to begin in August so we should see it some time next year.

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The Final Trailer for 'Ender's Game' Starring Asa Butterfield and Harrison Ford

After teasing us with one of those annoying previews yesterday, Summit Entertainment has released the final trailer for Ender's Game, Gavin Hood's adaptation of the sci-fi classic novel by the controversial Orson Scott Card. Hugo star Asa Butterfield ventures into the future as Ender Wiggin, the brightest recruit at Battle School, where children are trained to fight a war against bug-like alien invaders known as the Formics. Moreso than the previous trailers, this one delivers on the scope of the film and the intense action, while also selling the performances by grizzled veterans Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley. What it doesn't do is suggest at the darker emotional beats contained within the story, which are likely to be what audiences take with them when all is said and done.

Directed by Gavin Hood and co-starring Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin, Moises Arias, and Viola Davis, Ender's Game opens on November 1st.


ENDER'S GAME - Trailer 2 by dmagianet

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Abigail Breslin joins the cast of 'Ender's Game'

Admit it. If you were one of those who endured New Year's Eve, you thought it was weird watching the heavily made up Abigail Breslin racing around town flashing her bra at people. She was and probably always will be Little Miss Sunshine to us, even as she makes the awkward transition into more mature roles. Her next big move? Stepping into a long-awaited adaptation of a revered science fiction novel.

Breslin will join Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Brendan Meyer, Hailee Steinfeld, and the recently confirmed Harrison Ford in Ender's Game, based on the series of novels by Orson Scott Card. She'll play Valentine Wiggin, Ender's older sister and one of his fiercest protectors during his training at Battle School. Ford, who was first rumored for a role last month, will play Colonel Hyrum Graff, Ender's manipulative trainer at the school. Production is set to begin in just a couple of months.

Gavin Hood(Tsotsi, X-men Origins: Wolverine) is both writing and directing, and frankly he's proven to be a mixed bag. I liked that Rendition drew attention to one of the great injustices frequently committed by our military, it just should've been in a more convincing story. Tsotsi justifiably took home the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2005, and Wolverine....let's just say the canucklehead has never faced an enemy as vicious as it's horrible script. [Variety]

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Hugo's Asa Butterfield offered the lead role in Ender's Game

More than 25 years after Orson Scott Card released his seminal sci-fi novel, Ender's Game, the long gestating film adaptation is finally rounding into shape. In the works for nearly a decade, the project floundered under the guidance of Wolfgang Peterson. Multiple scripts, and Card's rigid view of how the film should go proved to be road blocks for awhile, but with the addition of Gavin Hood(Tsotsi) earlier this year to both write and direct, things appear to moving full steam ahead. So much so that it appears Hood has made his choice for the critical role of Andrew "Ender" Wiggin.

Deadline notes that an offer has been made to fast rising talent, Asa Butterfield, the star of Martin Scorsese's 3D adventure film, Hugo. After a small part in 2007's momentary hit, Son of Rambow, Butterfield has since shown his ability to work with some pretty heavy material as star of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. He'll need to bring his A-game if he's going to please fans who have helped keep Ender's Game so popular for the last two decades. Card's novel has led to multiple sequels, a video game, and a highly acclaimed series of Marvel comics.

Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman(Star Trek) are producing, and the plan is clearly to turn this into another huge franchise that can compete with the similar(at least on the surface) The Hunger Games. Ender's Game is set in a future Earth where an intergalactic war with an invading alien force rages. Child soldiers are recruited and trained to become military commanders in the fight. The first novel in the series follows Ender's training in Battle School through the use of simulations and anti-gravity scenarios. Children being drafted to fight and kill must be in style now. How soon before somebody starts plotting to remake Battle Royale again?

Ender's Game has been set for a March 15th 2013 release.

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