L.E. Staiman and Cheston Mizel on Their Comedic take on ‘Ready Player One’ in ‘Love Virtually’

Ever wonder what it would be like if Ready Player One was a comedy? Well, then you’re probably going to love the movie Love Virtually. Telling the story of a world that checks into a virtual reality and one that holds it with much too high a power, the film (which was written by Cheston Mizel and L.E. Staiman) takes us into this fantastical world split between animation and live-action.

Roddy (Peter Gilroy) ruins his life trying to get a ring for his girlfriend and it quickly becomes all about trying to win her back, which is easier said than done but in a world of trying to find love in the virtual world, can you connect when everything is a simulation? It reminded me a lot of Ready Player One if we were poking fun at the content and so when I spoke with Staiman and Mizel, I asked them about it and Staiman responded that it was part of the joy of making the film.

“Oh man, it was such a joy getting to satirize that genre because I loved Ready Player One,” he said. “I loved the book. I read it years ago. I loved the movie, but it leaves so much to parody and to poke fun at. And so this is the equivalent of going and sitting through Ready Player One and yelling out jokes during the movie and kind of making fun of it and taking it to an absolute absurdity. So, being on set with some of the comedy legends that we had in the movie, it was just like being at summer camp every day was so much fun.” And the film does have some absolute legends that makes it such a fun watch! Like Saturday Night Live legend Cheri Oteri, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Paul F. Tompkins.

You can see our full chat here:

Love Virtually is available on digital and on demand now!

(featured image: Premiere Digital)