Warner Bros. isn’t concealing its confidence in Zak Penn’s script for Ready Player One, an adaptation of the dystopian bestseller by Ernie Cline. On Friday, we brought you word that the studio had offered directorial duties to none other than Interstellar helmer Christopher Nolan, and now, four more high-profile directors have been added to the studio’s rather ambitious wish list. In addition to Nolan, Warner Bros. is apparently now looking at Robert Zemeckis, Peter Jackon, Edgar Wright and Matthew Vaughn.
According to Ain’t It Cool, Zemeckis is currently the studio’s top choice to direct, given how heavily the script references his films, including Back to the Future. “It would be him revisiting the stuff from his hayday that we all fell in love with him for and would probably the closest we’d ever get to a Zemeckis-directed BTTF 4,” the site wrote.
It’s true that Ready Player One would be a natural fit for Zemeckis. It’s set in the future, in a world where everyone spends their lives in a virtual reality called Oasis. When the rich creator of this technology dies, he announces that he’s hidden clues throughout Oasis that will lead one person to claim his fortune. The competition for the fortune, a pop culture quiz, becomes a life-or-death race when people start to kill in order to boost their chances.
Here’s more on Cline’s book via Amazon:
In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage 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.
It’d be amazing to see Nolan, Jackson, Wright or Vaughn come aboard, though Zemeckis seems like a more likely option. Nolan usually adapts his own screenplays, Jackson is coming off the epic final entry in his Hobbit trilogy, Wright is already mulling over Star Trek 3 and Vaughn’s The Secret Service is hitting theaters soon. Zemeckis may simply have more time in his schedule.
Tell us, who do you want to see direct Ready Player One?