ENDER’S GAME Finds Petra in Hailee Steinfeld?

• Tweet
• Pin It

Ender Wiggin’s closest ally might have some serious ‘true grit’ because Hailee Steinfeld is in negotiations to play the female lead in OddLot Entertainment’s Ender’s Game, based on Orson Scott Card’s award-winning novel.

We recently learned that Hugo star Asa Butterfield would be playing the title character, and now Variety brings word that Steinfeld is in talks for the role of Petra Arkanian, the only girl to make it through the rigorous training program and become a part of Salamander Army. Like Ender and many other children of this future time and place, Petra is recruited by the government to fight insect-like aliens that seek to overthrow the planet.

For a while, Steinfeld’s name was mentioned on a regular basis when casting for Katniss in The Hunger Games was a hot topic, but, of course, that role went to Jennifer Lawrence. I think Steinfeld did a great job in True Grit, would have been an awesome Katniss Everdeen, and I believe the same type of attitude she displayed in True Grit would serve her well in the role of Petra.

It’s interesting that Steinfeld went from possibly starring in one violently-themed novel adaptation to being in talks for a role in another one. Ender’s Game might rub some people the wrong way on the big screen because these kids mean business. They’re schooled from an early age to kick butt and take names, and Ender kills a couple of kids single-handedly in just the first few chapters. Will Hollywood go for that or will the film have to be ‘sanitized?’

Ender’s Game is expected to arrive in theaters on March 15, 2013 so the studio might be keeping an eye on The Hunger Games to see how audiences react to the YA violence in that film, before deciding for themselves what is and isn’t safe to show in this one.