Sci-fi vet Harrison Ford joining ‘Ender’s Game’?

Variety recently reported that “Hugo” star Asa Butterfield has landed the role of Ender Wiggin in the film adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s acclaimed science fiction novel “Ender’s Game.” The film, to be directed by Gavin Hood (“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”), would follow young Ender, a child prodigy training to command a last-ditch attack against an alien race that threatens to destroy humanity. But, you know, no pressure.
 
Now that they've found the right actor to play Ender, the film’s producers still need to fill the important role of Battle School commander Colonel Hyrum Graff. With Viggo Mortensen passing on the role of the manipulative Colonel, Variety says that producers have now turned their attention to an actor who knows a thing or two about aliens and hyper-drives: Harrison Ford.
 
Ford is certainly no stranger to the science fiction genre. The Hollywood legend forged his career with classic sci-fi films like the “Star Wars” trilogy and “Blade Runner,” but he would eventually try to distance himself from the ray-gun and replicant movies that made him famous. Admittedly, Ford’s more recent sci-fi outings like “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and “Cowboys & Aliens” have been less than stellar, but those films were still miles ahead of anything else the veteran actor has made in the past decade. ("K-19: The Widowmaker"? "Hollywood Homicide"? "Extraordinary Measures"? Let's just forget those ever happened.)

While nothing is official yet, Ford could not be more suited for the role of the hardened Colonel. The prospect of a full-blown science fiction return for the man who shot Greedo (and shot him first!) will hopefully drum up enough buzz to make it happen.

"Ender's Game" is looking at a March 2013 release.