According to crafty fan photos captured on the set of Ready Player One, the film will include at least a handful of references to some of Steven Spielberg’s most iconic films from the 1980s. Fans spotted images of Spielberg’s famous shark from Jaws, plus Gizmo from 1984’s Gremlins, which was produced by Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment.
It was probably unavoidable for Spielberg to be self-referential in the film adaptation of Ready Player One. Ernest Cline’s novel is steeped in 1980s culture, complete with a boatload of references to some of Spielberg’s best directorial work (like Raiders of the Lost Ark) and other films he produced (like Back to the Future). Spielberg previously stated that he eliminated most of the story’s references to his own work “except for the DeLorean and a couple of other things.” Now, it seems that the “couple of other things” have made their way to the set of Spielberg’s upcoming sci-fi epic in a big way.
Even though he’s directing, Spielberg will be far from the only pop-culture icon mentioned in the Tye Sheridan vehicle, as set pics have also confirmed the appearance — at least, in the background — of the Flash, Sagat from the Street Fighter series, and many, many others.
It’s unclear how the film adaptation will tackle the scene in the book when R2-D2 is a DJ at a dance club, or the scores of starships from Star Trek, Star Wars, and Battlestar Galactica, but we’ll find out when Ready Player One his theaters on March 30, 2018.
