Steven Spielberg Casts Lead in Adaptation of Ready Player One
We’ve been hearing a lot of news lately about the upcoming film adaptation of the Ernie Cline novel, Ready Player One. Now, the Steven Spielberg-directed film has finally cast its Wade Watts.
Tye Sheridan, whose previous credits include Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse and Tree of Life, has nabbed the coveted role and will be starring alongside Olivia Cooke and Ben Mendesohn.
If you haven’t yet read Ready Player One, it tells the story of a virtual world called Oasis. A teenager playing the game ends up competing in a treasure hunt after the game’s founder dies, leaving his fortune as a grand prize.
Sheridan was cast after a long worldwide search dating back to the fall of 2015. The Hollywood Reporter explains:
In an unusual situations, the romantic interest and the villain were picked even as the lead role remained vacant.
In a last ditch effort and showing the difficulties of the search, the studio and the casting directors even took the unusual position to make the search an open call, setting up the website ReadyPlayerOne.com, basically letting the entire world submit for the part of Wade Watts.
Meanwhile, on the Hollywood front, Sheridan signed a holding deal for the part in early February while Spielberg and the casting directors looked at the submissions.
After everything was vetted, Sheridan still remained the choice, beating out thousands.
What do you think of the choice? And are you excited about the film? Tell us in the comments below!
(image via Paramount Pictures)
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