New Photos Emerge From The Set Of Steven Spielberg’s READY PLAYER ONE
As you may or may not have known, Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One is currently filming over in the UK (in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter, to be specific), right out in the open where anyone can gawk at it...and you know what that means: a bunch of unofficial set photos (and videos!) are popping up over on Twitter.
Context clues tell us that Spielberg's staying loyal to Ernie Cline's novel: we're still in a dystopian American future, Wade Watts' high school is still a complete hell hole, and James Halliday's treasure hunt is still very much on (check out that billboard towards the end of this photo stream).
Let's see what else we can see!
Walked through dystopian America walking to work this morning! #ReadyPlayerOne #spielberginbrum pic.twitter.com/Fdxnn8537M
— Node (@thisisnode) September 6, 2016
#ReadyPlayerOne @GreatCharlesSt Lionel Street. #spielberginbrum pic.twitter.com/SWQmh2v8Vi
— Great Charles Street (@GreatCharlesSt) September 5, 2016
Watching the filming of #ReadyPlayerOne on my way home from work. Really cool they're filming in the #JQ pic.twitter.com/SK38yu6m4J
— Michelle (@Shelliweb) September 5, 2016
Speilberg rolls in to town. Set of #ReadyPlayerOne in City all ready for action pic @snappersk pic.twitter.com/FqJgZzPLAT
— Together Birmingham (@BirminghamWeAre) September 5, 2016
Quick interjection: I really like the way trucks look in this movie!
#spielberginbrum directing the cast for #ReadyPlayerOne @GreatCharlesSt pic.twitter.com/dgrh1188UX
— Great Charles Street (@GreatCharlesSt) September 5, 2016
"MAKE ENGLAND AMERICAN AGAIN" - Spielberg. That bloody phone box hider. #StevenSpielberg #Birmingham #ReadyPlayerOne pic.twitter.com/WWprL7Jftz
— Kirsty Bosley (@Bozzers) September 6, 2016
It's very exciting walking to work in the midst of a film set. #ReadyPlayerOne #Birmingham pic.twitter.com/2Hh5rux98h
— Dave Thompson (@DaveThompsonCC) September 6, 2016
Love the look of this! Fun walking through the Birmingham streets seeing it come to life #readyplayerone #spielberg pic.twitter.com/cnFgYu0QG5
— Christopher Bevan (@ChrisBevan89) September 6, 2016
High School deconstruction so soon #Spielberg #ReadyPlayerOne @birminghammail @_grahamyoung pic.twitter.com/VVthb4J2ip
— What's On Birmingham (@WhatsOnBMail) September 6, 2016
Once again, I find myself wondering what Spielberg's final product is going to look like. Ernie Cline's novel is, somewhat famously, a mish-mash of 80s and 90s pop culture (everything from Wargames and classic Atari games to Back To The Future and the Millenium Falcon make an appearance), and I can't help but wonder how many of those elements will make the leap to screen.
Will this end up being a Who Framed Roger Rabbit?-type deal, with multiple companies and studios lending their trademarked properties to Warner Bros? Or will Spielberg only be drawing pop culture artifacts from the WB archives? In the grand scheme of things, this is probably a minor question, but - for whatever reason - it's one I've spent a lot of time thinking about. Here's hoping Hollywood gives him the run of the place.
Ready Player One arrives in theaters on...holy shit, March 30th, 2018? We've got a long wait for this one. Settle in for many, many updates over the next year and a half.
