Lionsgate, the company behind the upcoming film adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, finally weighed in on the controversy surrounding the writer’s controversial anti-gay marriage views. The studio said it will host an LGBT benefit premiere for Ender’s Game. Meanwhile, one writer has surprisingly spoken out against the protests, claiming that energies are best spent elsewhere.
As the film’s release nears, Card issued a statement last week to Entertainment Weekly, calling the gay marriage issue now “moot” after the Supreme Court decisions last month. He also stressed that Ender’s Game, written in 1984, is set in the future and has nothing to do with these issues.
Still, groups like GeeokOut! called for a protest of the film and Lionsgate was forced to respond Friday.
The studio noted that it has produced films like Gods and Monsters and The Perks of Being A Wallflower, so “we obviously do not agree with the personal views of Orson Scott Card and those of the National Organization for Marriage.
“However, they are completely irrelevant to a discussion of Ender’s Game. The simple fact is that neither the underlying book nor the film itself reflect these views in any way, shape or form. On the contrary, the film not only transports viewers to an entertaining and action-filled world, but it does so with positive and inspiring characters who ultimately deliver an ennobling and life-affirming message.”
The studio said that it will continue supporting the LGBT community and even announced “a benefit premiere for Ender’s Game.” However, Lionsgate offered no further information on the event.
Meanwhile, the Hollywood Reporter notes that Dustin Lance Black, who won an Oscar for writing Milk, has called the attempts to boycott of the film a “waste” of energy on Facebook.
“There's so much good to be done right now,” Black wrote. “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 1000 times more effective.”
Ender’s Game isn’t out until Nov. 1 and stars Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld and Viola Davis.
image: Amazon