Why was it so hard to adapt Ender's Game the novel into a movie? What have been the specific challenges?

The biggest problems are related to the age of the children.  This problem I'm afraid is insurmountable and any movie will necessarily miss one of the most amazing aspects of the story because it's near impossible to cast children this age doing what they did in the book.  Ender is 6 when he goes to battle school and on the journey kills a bully.  He is 9 at the climax.  I won't go into it more so I don't spoil the movie, but what Ender does at that age and the enormity of the weight that is put onto his shoulders at that age is off the charts.  I can't imagine any 9 year old being able to deal with what Ender did.

How are they managing this problem?  By casting older actors.  The actor that is playing Ender is 15 years old!!!  And Ender is supposed to be YOUNG compared to the other recruits.  A 15 year old doing the things Ender did is still pretty provocative, but a 6 year old killing a bully is a far cry more impressive.  15 year old boys seem to kill all the time these days.  The movie going audience is going think "good.  Serves that bully right."  But in the book the reader is absolutely flabbergasted that a 6 year old boy could kill.  The shock to the reader's system is ground shaking and it really shapes our early view of Ender.  The movie going audience is going to completely miss this introduction.

By casting older children, they are really missing the impact that Ender's game had on a lot of the readers.

I'm upset about this beyond measure.  I was REALLY looking forward to seeing CHILDREN do these things, not teenagers.

But I can't really blame them.  Finding exceptionally gifted young actors is nigh near impossible.

But that boy's got his work cut out for him.  If he doesn't knock Ender out of the park I will always think he sucks as an actor.  What a waste it will be if Ender isn't portrayed well.  It would have been better to cast a 8 or 9 year old and get the same performance out of a younger actor and get that "I can't believe a kid that young could do those things" impact.

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Alex Schamenek on Quora:

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