Art by SharksDen
Legendary director Steven Spielberg (Schindler’s List, Jaws, and Jurassic Park) has reportedly been brought on board by Warner Bros. to direct the film adaptation of Ernest Cline’s hit SF novel, Ready Player One. Spielberg is expected to begin work on Ready Player One after he completed The BFG, an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book. Spielberg and several of his films are mentioned in Ready Player One, which could make for a fun cameo in the film.
Ready Player One is set in a near future dystopia where the protagonist, a young man who dearly loves all things ’80s SF, lives the majority of his life inside a virtual world. A nostalgia trip from end-to-end, Deadline points out the challenges that Warner Bros. faces in regards to licensing for all of the various properties that Cline includes in Ready Player One. “The book is loaded with references of popular culture rich in 1980s video game icons. How will the studio handle that?” Deadline asked in their piece about Spielberg’s involvement.
“I think what we have to do is drill down to the best version of the movie and then see who wants to be a part of what will surely be a great film,” Greg Silverman, Warner Bros.’s President of Creative Development and Worldwide Production, told Deadline. “What we found with The Lego Movie is that when we went and talked to those having the rights, people got excited about being involved.” Interesting times ahead for the production company. A lot of Ready Player One‘s plot relies heavily on the properties it directly references.
The initial script was written by Cline himself and Eric Eason, with Avengers screenwriter Zac Penn brought on to pen (*ahem*) a rewrite based on their work.
There is no announced release date for the film.
The thing that startled me most about Ready Player One is that it seemed to be 80s pop culture with the women taken out. You’d think women hadn’t been invented until 1991 or something.
But, Ladyhawke!
In all seriousness, that’s a very important and valid criticism of RPO, Cat.
I’m interested in seeing how this all plays out. If they can get the right licenses to do the story justice (which is going to be no small challenge), then I think it could be an awesome movie!