With Interstellar blasting off into box office glory, it’s clear that director Christopher Nolan can write his own ticket at Warner Bros. However, the entertainment studio appears to want him for something else very specific: the adaptation of Ernest Cline’s ode to all things video games and 1980s, Ready Player One.
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Tracking Board broke the rumor. The book is set in the near future in which most of humanity spends time in an Oculus Rift / MMO world because the real world is pretty terrible. Inside the persistent universe, the game’s creator has left instructions for a vast and ultimate treasure hunt. When protagonist Wade Watts figures out the first clue, the race is on to save the digital world from those who would attempt to exploit it.
The book is basically the entirety of the recent glut of eighties nostalgia condensed into one easy to read tome. Video game references, movie references, it’s more than a love letter, it’s like a creepy stalker note to the author’s youth. It’s ultimately a sweet book with love and devotion to a cause in it.
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Which makes it completely wrong for Christopher Nolan. I have no doubt the director will be able to make the film visually alluring, but the man is not known for his warmth or taste for nostalgia. He’s an intellectual populist filmmaker and his movies are very dry. They’re great, but something like Ready Player One is far outside his wheelhouse.
Not to mention that the mere cost of paying for all the game and film license’s featured could probably cost roughly the size of a small country’s GDP. The script’s writer Zak Penn (who did a pass of The Avengers) told /Film that he has managed to cut down on the overuse of 80s references while maintaining the book’s core philosophy.
Still. Christopher Nolan? Would not be my first nor even second choice.
Fans of classic era video games, great 80s movies and bad 80s tv shows will definitely find something to love in Ready Player One. Pick it up at Amazon today.