From book to film

WHEN your first published novel gets turned into a movie, it is a big deal.
Imagine what it was like for Ernest Cline when his 2011 debut novel, Ready Player One, was set to be adapted into a film by none other than the legendary Steven Spielberg, with Cline onboard to write the screenplay.
Ready Player One is set in 2044, in a world struggling with problems brought on by the energy crisis, global warming, and overpopulation.
The only way people can escape their troubles is by turning to the Oasis, a virtual simulator that functions both as a game, and a virtual society.
When its creator James Halliday dies, he leaves a pre-recorded message offering his entire fortune and the corporation that runs Oasis to the person who finds an Easter egg Halliday has left inside the program.
Years later, a young man named Wade Watts stumbles upon one of the three keys pointing to the Easter egg, and this sets him off on an epic quest.
While he makes allies with other players, he finds himself in danger when he refuses to be recruited by Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn), the head of a multinational corporation that wants to control the Oasis.
During a teleconference call with Cline in Los Angeles, the author explained: “There was a gap of seven years when I sold the movie rights [to when the film was made].
“I sold the film rights the day after I sold the book rights. It was so shocking that I wasn’t even sure if it was happening.

“There was a bidding war [to publish] the book in 2010, and then there was a bidding war for the film rights, with me attached to write the screenplay.
“It was a long development process. They did not even sign on a director until 2015.”
During this time, Cline admitted he wasn’t even sure the movie was going to be made, until Spielberg came onboard.
At that moment, he knew it would be made into a movie, and a good movie at that.
“Every day since then has been better than the last,” said Cline.
In both the film and the book, Oasis creator Halliday displays his love of 80s pop culture, especially the iconic movies of the decade.

Cline explained: “James Halliday and I are the same age. [The 80s] was the formative decade for me, that was my childhood. I think everybody is nostalgic about the time in which they are growing up.
“It was like the golden age of cinema. There were movies that basically made me want to become a filmmaker and storyteller – movies like Jaws, Close Encounters, Alien, Goonies, and Back to the Future.
“It was my favourite decade, when most of my favourite films were made.
“Movies can have a profound effect on you, just like books can. Much of life, growing up, being an adult, and finding your place in the world is [inspired by] movies, playing adventure games, and listening to music.
“Music and song lyrics also have a profound effect on you.
“It is not just the pop culture, but also the tone of the decade: it was a very uncynical time.
“When you look back at your childhood, you are automatically nostalgic, but you also see it as being a little better than it was.
“The 80s was the dawn of the computer age. All these new technologies arrived when I was a kid and so I grew up with it. I had all these things the previous generation didn’t.
“The 80s was also the decade when we found our path to where we are now, the age of the internet.”
When he was writing Ready Player One, Cline had not intended for it to be the first book of a series.
He explained: “I never mapped it out as a trilogy, I was just trying to write my first novel, make it good and have it published.
“When the book came out, my fans asked me about the potential for a sequel. I knew I would eventually write it.”
He then registered the domain name for Ready Player One, as well as the domain names for Ready Player Two and Ready Player Three.
“Because I knew, one day, I wanted to turn the story into a trilogy,” he said. “I had so much fun creating that world that I wanted to create more stories.”
When asked if his protagonist Wade Watts is in any way based on him, Cline said: “Yes. All the characters are different facets of me or people that I know.
“I try to capture different types of geek archetypes, but Wade is a character who is a passionate fan boy or enthusiast, someone who loves video games passionately and studies all the works of its creators.
“I have done that with [filmmakers] George Lucas, James Cameron, and Steven Spielberg. I have studied all of their works because they inspire me.
“Wade is that kind of person. He studies his heroes, looks up to them and is inspired by them. These are all facets of my personality.”
As for when fans can expect the second book, Cline said it might take a couple of years.