The novel reads and functions like a video game walkthrough guide, or a forum post about someone’s favourite gaming moments it is commentary rather than a narrative. The book has often been criticised for its lack of characterisation and dramatic tension: the three trials that make up the backbone of the plot are hastily reported, with constant pop culture references substituting for the character’s internal life. Ready Player One channels 80s geek obsessions into a text that reflects the language of emerging internet culture. But it prompted me to finish the novel, because I wanted to see what would happen when I had total control over the end product, as opposed to movies where you have almost no control over anything.” “It took years for the movie to get made, and my screenplay got heavily altered,” he says, recalling battles with producers about changing the plot and characters. In the early 2000s, Cline got a film script made, but the movie – Fanboys, about a bunch of kids trying to access Skywalker Ranch to see an early cut of The Phantom Menace – was disjointed and awkward. I would order copies of their screenplays and study them.” I felt very much like Wade – my heroes were George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, John Milius, John Hughes. “It turned me into an uber cinephile, and I watched all my favourite movies over and over again. “The VCR landed in my teenage years, and opened up the whole world of film to me,” he says. 02:23 Watch the trailer for Ready Player One - videoĪt first he dabbled in screenwriting.

Ernest cline