Shadow & Act | Tambay Obenson
“Ready Player One” is a 2011 multiple award-winning science fiction and dystopian novel by Ernest Cline. A film adaptation directed by Steven Spielberg is in the works, and is slated to begin production this summer (2016), for a spring 2018 premiere.
The film rights were purchased by Warner Bros. Cline adapted his own novel into a screenplay. Over the years, Eric Eason and Zak Penn assisted Cline with rewrites. Steven Spielberg signed on to direct in March 2015 and will also produce with Kristie Macosko Krieger of Amblin Partners.
Synopsis: In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenager Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade’s devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world’s digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator’s obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade’s going to survive, he’ll have to win—and confront the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.
Tye Sheridan stars as Wade. He’s joined in the cast by Ben Mendelsohn, T.J. Miller, Olivia Cooke, Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance.
Announced today, British actress Hannah John-Kamen, who stars in the Syfy series “Killjoys,” has joined the cast, although no word on what role exactly she’s signed up to play. I should say that there are really just 7 key characters in the story, so she could very be filling in the last slot.
Or not… we’ll find out eventually.
The movie will begin production in the spring of 2016 and will be filmed in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
John-Kamen, the daughter of a Nigerian psychologist and Norwegian fashion model, just wrapped the season finale episode of Netflix’s “Black Mirror.” Next month (July), you can catch her leading a trio of bounty hunters on Syfy’s “Killjoys,” which will launch its second season on July 1.
She is represented by Paradigm, Luber Roklin Entertainment and Scott Marshall and Associates in the UK.
Deadline was first to report the news of John-Kamen’s casting.