Steven Spielberg and blockbusters go together like popcorn and warm butter – and Ready Player One is the iconic director’s popcorn-iest popcorn flick in well over a decade, fusing the storytelling possibilities of VR with a litany of references to pop culture history. We spoke to Ernest Cline, author of the novel and co-writer of the screenplay, to go in-depth on the major revelations, hidden easter eggs and changes from the book to the screen for a Ready Player One Spoiler Special podcast – and he teased out plenty of juicy details. If the word ‘spoiler’ didn’t clue you in, this is one to read after you’ve seen the film – and if you’re also wanting to read the book unspoiled then you may want to come back here after you’ve turned the final page.
WARNING: CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR READY PLAYER ONE – THE FILM, AND THE BOOK
1) Indiana Jones’ Grail Diary was considered early on
When Steven Spielberg joined the adaptation of Ready Player One, he stated early on his intention to avoid referencing his own work. While the T-Rex from Jurassic Park shows up in the race challenge, one other classic Spielberg element nearly made it onto the screen – the Grail Diary from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which Wade Watts carries with him in the novel. "That was something that he considered putting in,” Cline said. “That was really the only thing that was from his movies that was an essential part of the plot that he decided to not do. He felt like it would stop the story because he was referencing himself."
2) Steven Spielberg brought the screenplay closer to the book
While elements of Ready Player One have changed in the page-to-screen journey, the general structure remains largely similar. But it wasn’t always that way – Cline wrote script drafts before the book hit the shelves, and was encouraged to keep loose links between the novel and the screenplay. But once the book was released and Spielberg signed on for the film, the director wanted to make the screen version more faithful to the original text.
"It wasn't until Steven came on board as the director and announced himself as a huge fan of the book, and wanted to make a lot of changes to bring it back to the book, that I stopped being anxious about the changes and started being excited about all of them,” the writer explained. “I knew he has an amazing record with book-to-film adaptations, and all my favourite book-to-film adaptations have required huge changes from the source material. Fans who go into a book-to-film adaptation having the same exact experience that they had when reading the book, that's a fool's errand and has never happened once in history […] I was happy to make the changes because they all captured the spirit of what was in my book, but still made it more cinematic."
3) An early draft included the Dungeons & Dragons quest Tomb of Horrors
The first of the three key challenges in Ready Player One on-screen is a high-speed race around a virtual movie-New York – a change of pace from the book, which instead sees Parzival play through a famous Dungeons & Dragons ‘module’, Tomb of Horrors. Cline confirmed that an early draft included a D&D play-through, but was quickly shelved. “No-one who read the script had ever played the Tomb of Horrors,” he admitted. “I knew that most of the people who watched the movie, the vast majority of them, would never have played Dungeons & Dragons or that specific module.”
Producer Dan Farah initially came up the idea of the race, partially inspired by Parzival’s choice of the DeLorean as a vehicle in the book, and Spielberg ran with it. “The first challenge, you wanted it to show off the potential of the Oasis and just be visually stunning,” Cline explained. “It immediately shows you the potential of the Oasis, like, 'Oh, I can have any avatar from any character in history, or my own unique character like Parzival, and I can have any vehicle and take it on a race where physics don't apply and anything can happen and the obstacles look photo-realistic, and you have to race past King Kong and the T-Rex'. All of that, I just loved it and could see how Steven was going to knock it out of the park.”
4) The Oasis' version of New York City is packed with film Easter Eggs
King Kong and the T-Rex are front-and-centre in the race sequence, but there are plenty more film references to spot in the New York skyline – Cline revealed that the Silvercup sign from the final showdown in Highlander, a Last Action Hero marquee, the tenement house from Batteries Not Included, the Ghostbusters firehouse and nods to The Warriors can be found in the background.
5) There are plenty more Easter Eggs that the VFX team snuck into the film
In keeping with the film’s Easter Egg hunt, fans will have plenty more secrets to find in Ready Player One when it comes out on home release. In fact, even Cline, Spielberg and co-writer Zak Penn haven’t spotted them all yet. “Steven was saying in Austin [at SXSW] that during his final run-through he spotted a Gremlin in one shot that ILM had snuck in there without asking him,” said Cline. “There was a lot of referencing his stuff in the background without him knowing it, because he would axe any direct references that he found out about."
6) Wade and Samantha meet earlier in the film because of the change of perspective
In the novel, the story is told from Wade Watts’ point of view – and he doesn’t come face-to-face with the real Art3mis, aka Samantha, until the battle for the Oasis is won. But on the big screen the pair meet in real life before the second challenge has even begun, with Wade being brought to the rebellion hideout after IOI blows up his Stack. “It works better for the movie to meet her earlier and not hold off on meeting her in the real world until the end,” Cline explained, also mentioning the change which sees Samantha get captured by IOI instead of Wade. “It's something that happens exactly as it does in the novel, but it happens to a different character. It works great because now Wade is on the outside fighting the battle, and she's the one on the inside who brings down the shield, as opposed to having Wade do everything the way he does in the novel. It's more balance[d] to the characters, and gives her more agency and a bigger role, while still capturing the spirit of what's in the book.”
7) The Shining sequence could have been Blade Runner instead
Ready Player One quite literally steps into cinematic history in the second of the three challenges, with Parzival, Art3mis, Aech, Daito and Sho walking through the halls of The Shining’s Overlook Hotel. But before Kubrick’s all-time classic horror was chosen as the film the characters would stumble into, the script featured a different genre classic. "Initially we had talked about Blade Runner and the Voight-Kampff test, which is in the novel,” revealed Cline. “Steven loved Blade Runner, had visited the set of Blade Runner, [is] friends with Ridley Scott, and Warner Bros owns Blade Runner. But the rights to Blade Runner are a little bit complicated, and they weren't able to get permission to do it.”
After exploring a few different options (Monty Python “didn’t seem right” and War Games “didn’t quite work”, apparently), it was Spielberg who led the charge on Kubrick’s masterpiece. “Once we zeroed in on what Stanley Kubrick movies were released in the 80s, it was just Full Metal Jacket and The Shining. Once Steven saw The Shining, it was all over. He got so excited and so did Janusz Kamiński, because they're the biggest Kubrick Shining fanboys I've ever met. That was so much fun for me and Zak, because that was when we got to see our heroes start to geek out."
8) Physical sets were built for The Shining sequence – and Kubrick's wife visited them
An array of methods were used to bring the characters of Ready Player One into The Shining, and the sequence was partly filmed on physical sets that recreated the Overlook Hotel – from those iconic hallways to Room 237. Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke and Lena Waithe performed on the sets in mo-cap suits when playing their avatars. Spielberg – who was famously friends with Kubrick – still keeps in touch the family, and Stanley’s widow Christiane Kubrick came along to visit when the sequence was being filmed.
9) The loss of Ultraman bumped up the roles of The Iron Giant and Gundam
The third and final challenge in the film hews closely to the book’s multi-giant-robot smackdown outside Castle Anorak – although the elements of the fight are shifted around. “Once we knew that we couldn't use Ultraman, the Gundam took on a bigger role, which is perfect,” Cline says. “We reduced the number of giant robots and consolidated them […] The Iron Giant is another one of my favourite choices. He's mentioned in the book as one of the robots you can select but no-one does […] When we were re-working the story, Zak and Steven seized upon that, and Warner Bros. owns The Iron Giant, so The Iron Giant's role grew much larger.”
10) The mystery of Halliday's true form ties into the sequel
After completing all three tasks and gaining control of the Oasis, Wade finds himself face-to-face not just with the avatar Anorak, but a version of Halliday himself. When Wade asks what Halliday is – he seems more complex and human than just another piece of code – he doesn’t get a proper reply. As it turns out, the answer to that question could form an important part of a sequel. Cline has previously confirmed he’s working on a follow-up novel, possibly providing the basis for a second film. "Anorak, in the novel, is described as a ghost in the machine. A lot of Gunters think that he's somehow an AI copy of Halliday left to roam the Oasis, that he's left in charge of the contest. It's never really explored, but it's hinted at,” Cline explains. “When Steven and I were talking about that scene he asked me, what do you think Anorak is? I told him, and I told him how I thought that might play into the sequel, and I think that's why he included it in the movie. We're going to leave that a mystery and open-ended, but I will tell you that the sequel I've been working on, it flows right into that."
11) It’s the third-hardest film Spielberg has ever made
As for whether Spielberg himself would direct a big-screen sequel remains to be seen – but according to Cline the first film proved a considerable challenge for the director. “He gave this movie his all, he said it's the third-hardest movie he's ever made after Jaws and Saving Private Ryan," the writer says. “I would understand if he wouldn't want to go once more unto the breach, but he tells me he had a great time, even though it was one of the most challenging projects of his life, that he had a blast doing it. So if they do make a sequel, I would love it if he would come back. Only [Jurassic Park author] Michael Crichton has been that lucky, so fingers crossed.”
Ready Player One is out in cinemas now. Listen to the full Ernest Cline interview, plus in-depth discussion of the film, in the Empire Podcast Spoiler Special episode.