Simon Pegg Joins Ready Player One

Simon Pegg has to be one of the busiest people in movies today.  From his "cult classic" movies Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End, he also recently appeared in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and is one of the main actors (and more recently, writer) for the Star Trek movies.  Now, he can add Ogdon Morrow to that list. 

Ogden Morrow is one of the creators of a company that gave the world a free VR system to enjoy called "Oasis" in the book Ready Player One.  It's other creator and programmer, James Halliday, passes away at the beginning of the book, so don't worry, I'm not giving anything away there.  Before his passing, Halliday created an "easter egg" hunt that takes place throughout the worlds of Oasis.  The winner of this easter egg hunt wins his share of the company and all his wealth.  He did this because he has no heirs or family.  He also wants people to learn about the things that he loved the most growing up, and it all ties into the search for the egg.  It covers everything from Dungeons and Dragons to 80's television shows, movies, video games, and music.  And if you want to win this hunt, you have to know everything from this decade inside and out.

Ready Player One was written by Ernest Cline back in 2011 and it was recently announced that it had been picked up by Warner Bros. to be made into a movie.  Steven Spielberg has signed on to direct the film, and should begin filming as soon as he finishes up his current project, The BFG.  Other actors that have been cast for the film include Tye Sheridan as the main character of the book, Wade Watts (a.k.a. Parzival), Olivia Cooke as Samantha Cook (a.k.a. Art3mis) and Ben Mendelsohn as Nolan Sorrento (a.k.a. the big bad guy of the story).

If you haven't had a chance to read this story, I highly recommend doing so before the movie comes out, because I really don't know if they will be able to fit everything into the film due to copyrights of the other properties.  If you're not much of a reader, pick up the audiobook, it's a great listen narrated by the always enjoyable, Wil Wheaton.

Ready Player One is scheduled for release March 28, 2018.