I was excited to hear about Steven Spielberg taking on the director’s job on the film adaptation of Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, and then I was equally disappointed that he would be leaving out any of the references to himself or his films in fear of being too self-referential (I’m still hoping this is a bad rumor). Now, new word is circling that none other than Simon Pegg is currently in talks to join the cast. This wouldn’t be his first time working with the famous director. The two paired on the Mo-cap Tin Tin film a few years ago.
As to who Pegg would be playing, it would be Ogden Morrow, the co-creator of OASIS. If he takes the role, he’ll be joining a cast that already includes Tye Sheridan (X-Men: Apocalypse) as Wade, Olivia Cooke (Me, Earle, and the Dying Girl) as Art3mis, and Ben Mendelsohn as the film’s big bad, Nolan Sorrento.
I loved the book and I both love and fear the idea of a movie. The original story was written without having to worry about license rights and inter-studio politics. Much of what made it so cool were the plethora of pop culture references that moved between 80’s movies, classic games, sci-fi, and even Manga. As great as this movie could be, it would also be really easy to mess up.