I just noticed that
Wolfgang Petersen directed both
In the Line of Fire and
Air Force One. That means he's directed at least two
movies about people who want to kill the president
[
1].
I was looking at Petersen's
Wikipedia entry and apparently he is to direct a feature film adaptation of
Ender's Game. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
The only Petersen movie that I have really liked was the classic
Das Boot. None of his Hollywood blockbusters have impressed me much. His direction of
John Malkovich's
psychopath in
In the Line of Fire seems mechanical and
faux-psychopathic rather that genuinely creepy (and his direction of
Harrison "Mr. President" Ford
in
Air Fore One is best remembered (by me at least) by him saying "Get Off My Plane" in the manner of
Sparkplug Witwicky to his
son: "When next we meet, we are enemies!").
On the other hand, the only
Orson Scott Card book that I really liked was
Ender's Game. The first set of sequels of that series which feature
Ender are interesting, but nothing to
write home about. The second series, which features his lieutenant
Bean, has degenerated into poorly conceived and written war stories about young brat military commanders, and is made up of
much pseudo-intellectual banalities. Maybe it is appropriate that someone who only directed one really good movie direct movie adaptation of the one good book written by a science fiction author.
[
1] Dear secret service. Please note that I am talking about fictional assassin and presidents. Thank you.
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