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Olivia Cooke Lands the Lead in Spielberg's 'Ready Player One' Movie
by Alex Billington
September 11, 2015
Source: THR
From Dying Girl to OASIS. Spielberg has cast the first major role in his upcoming adaptation of the beloved geek novel Ready Player One. Actress Olivia Cooke, last seen in this year's Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (read my Sundance review), will star in Ready Player One as "Art3mis", one of the players that the lead character Wade Watts (or "Parzival") befriends and eventually falls for. While it's likely that Spielberg is also seeing actors for the other lead roles, no other names have been confirmed yet, and Cooke is the first one officially cast. THR seems to hint she has been offered the role, but is the only one with an offer so far.
Ready Player One is Spielberg's next movie following Bridge of Spies. It's currently in the early casting and pre-production stages, with an already-announced December 2017 release date. The script for Ready Player One comes from Zak Penn (X-Men: The Last Stand, The Avengers), who rewrote a previous draft by Eric Eason and Cline himself. The main character, Wade Watts, is still being cast along with his other good friend "Aech", another female role, as well as Daito & Shoto and OASIS creators James Halliday & Ogden Morrow (who is basically Steve Wozniak, so they should just cast Wozniak himself). We'll be keeping a close eye on this as casting continues, since I'm a huge fan of the book and cannot wait to see Spielberg's movie.
Olivia Cooke is 21 years old. In addition to Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, she has recently appeared in Ouija, The Quiet Ones, and The Signal. She's a talented actress and a perfect choice for the role of Art3mis.
Reader Feedback - 18 Comments
1
she is definitely more strikingly beautiful than the Art3mis I always imagined while reading the book. I can only hope they cast someone overweight and slightly unattractive to play Parzival.
Ryan on Sep 11, 2015
2
I'm sure they can make her look a little nerdy and awkward with makeup and wardrobe...one only has to look at Rooney Mara in Dragon Tattoo to see the wonders of the craft
Venom on Sep 11, 2015
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4
My copy is at work right now. Art3mis' description is not that of a skinny minnie pixie. I think Art3mis as a little bigger than Jewel Staite in Firefly. Jewel wasn't gigantic, but she had more on her than other characters I've seen. I'll see if I can find the passage. You've got me wondering if I'm having shared vision with Ryan or just projecting.
redtie on Sep 12, 2015
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6
Oh no... I feel like some immense body-shaming is about to happen. :S
lewinston on Sep 11, 2015
7
What?! Why?!
Ricardo_PT on Sep 12, 2015
8
I'm sure she's going to do a good job but I know for a fact there are people out there who are going to talk about how's she's "too skinny" to be Art3mis. Sure... they'll talk about for a little bit that the casting director made the wrong choice but they'll forget about it after awhile and go back to attacking her body shape.
lewinston on Sep 12, 2015
9
Oh, I get it. I think she's cool and I never pictured Art3mis as being overweight. If anything, it's Percival I'm most worried about
Ricardo_PT on Sep 13, 2015
10
I know nothing about this woman, but I hope this movie can turn out as good as everyone hopes it will.
DAVIDPD on Sep 11, 2015
11
Awesome in Quiet Ones and Ouija, looking forward to see her under Spielberg. Should be very cool. ๐ ยต/โ>X) โ โ โ
Christian Plourde on Sep 11, 2015
12
Ready Player One is if the Metaverse and Charley and the Chocolate factory had a child. Unfortunately, the author let the pop culture references fill out most of the details. In terms of story telling, the book was an "and-then" adventure. One thing leading to another without any worry. Good concept, so-so execution. I am excited to see what Spielberg does with the story.
redtie on Sep 12, 2015
13
Couldn't disagree more. The execution was excellent.
Venom on Sep 12, 2015
14
Spot on! Very cool concept, oversaturated with pop cult references, very little substance in the actual story and narrative. I still read it at full speed though and kept me hook. I'm looking forward to the book
Ricardo_PT on Sep 12, 2015
15
It was an enjoyable book, but missed it's own target audience. Stuffed full of references for 35+ year olds, yet written in the style of a 'young adult' novel.
Richard Marsden on Sep 14, 2015
16
'his other good friend "Aech", another female role' FFS, massive Spoiler!
Richard Marsden on Sep 14, 2015
17
^^^ I don't remember all the character names, but I think you're right. This is a pretty big spoiler!
EmagSamurai on Sep 14, 2015
18
Yeah Alex, I'm not quite sure why you decided to post that bro.
Why? on Sep 14, 2015
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