Ender’s Game Hired Zero Gravity Expert To Work With Actors

Orson Scott Card would be happy to know that the Ender’s Game movie wasn’t just thrown together with no care for the real life experiences of space. As it turns out, the movies special effects supervisor hired a real life zero gravity expert to consult for the film.

Ender’s Game tells the story of gifted child, Ender Wiggin; a boy recruited to leave earth and head to Battle School. Ender is tasked with saving the world from an alien race that is pushing for the end of humankind.

Much of the book and movies action takes place in Battle School, inside the the battle room — a weightless part of the station where teams of students train and battle during strategic games with one another.

To make sure zero gravity actually looked like zero gravity, the team brought in former astronaut Greg Chamitoff, who advised cast and crew throughout the movies production. Chamitoff provided filmmakers with photos, videos and suggested dialogue that is often used in space.

The zero gravity expert spent much of his time working with Asa Butterfield, the film’s star, to make sure he had zero gravity down to a science.

Speaking to SPACE.com, Chamitoff said, “It was a great time because the kids are very smart, and they’re curious, They want to make things look right, and they had terrific questions. We kind of spent time pushing off the walls and bouncing around the room and pretending we’re in zero gravity.”

Chamitoff’s biggest challenge was helping young actors realize that moving through space is not like moving in slow-motion.

“When you move from one place to another, you tend to push off carefully and hold on until the last second so you get exactly the path you want aiming at some handhold or something somewhere else,” Chamitoff said. “Then, when you get to the other end, you have to absorb all the energy you put in by pushing off. So, you don’t push really hard because then you’d have to smash into something … That doesn’t mean you can’t be moving like crazy, really fast on your way somewhere.”

By showing the films actors video from his time in space, the zero gravity expert was able to show the Ender’s Game crew what it really looks like to move in space. Some of his very own photos made their way into the movies imagery.

Chamitoff already has something in common with Ender’s Game. The films visual effects supervisor, Matthew Butler, was his roommate in graduate school. It was that original connection that got Chamitoff his letter of invitation to work on the film.

Ender’s Game opens today at theaters around the United States.