Variety broke the story of Steinfeld's likely involvement, as the actress is in negotiations to play the only girl in Salamander Army, the first team in the zero gravity game at which Ender excels.  Petra, who eventually commands her own army, is one of a core group of young characters who constitute Ender's trusted inner circle. 

Stenfeld broke big last year with Oscar-nominated lead performance in The Coen Brothers' True Grit, and he involvement in Ender's Game demonstrates the level of onscreen talent Oddlot Entertainment is recruiting for the film.  She's set to play Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, a new adaptation of Shakespeare's play from director Carlo Carlei.

Butterfield, currently appearing in 3D all over the nation as the title character in Hugo, was revealed as the choice to play Ender a few weeks back, and his involvement was confirmed yesterday.  That report also mentioned that the search is on for a grown-up to play Colonel Hyrum Graff, the authority figure at Battle School and a surrogate father figure for Ender.  Viggo Mortensen was briefly in talks, and now the filmmakers are looking at a list of familiar actors that includes Harrison Ford.

With a talent like Stenfeld as Petra, it'll be interesting to see how the casting of other young characters such as Bean, Dink, and Bonzo Madrid pans out.  Orson Scott Card has long stressed that the kids of the Battle School are a diverse international group, and I wonder how closely the film will stick to that vision.

Gavin Hood, the helmer of Tsotsi, Rendition, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, is directing from his own screenplay, with Star Trek and Transformers writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci as producers.  Gigi Pritzker and Linda McDonough are also producing, and visual effects company Digital Domain is not only providing the requisite effects, but has a stake in the film financially and creatively.

Ender's Game is set to being production early next year for release on March 15, 2013.