In Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One”, one of the feature film’s sequences stands out from the others. She alone is worth watching the film.
Ready Player One is far, very far from being Steven Spielberg’s best film. Some will even say that it is one of his worst. However, one very particular scene alone is worth the trip. It marks the meeting between the universe of ET’s father and that of another cinema giant, Stanley Kubrick.
In Ready Player One, a futuristic world falling apart forces people to take refuge in a virtual world, the OASIS. The inventor of this game decides to bequeath his fortune to whoever manages to find a digital Easter egg hidden in the parallel universe.
From then on, the characters cross numerous settings and meet pop culture heroes. Although it delivers a rather interesting message on the phenomenon of virtual reality, Ready Player One is a rather conventional blockbuster, until the appearance of an enjoyable sequence, that of the film Shining.
Stanley Kubrick’s classic, adapted from Stephen King’s novel, is recreated in detail in a ten-minute scene. The Overlook Hotel, the bathroom, the reception room, the maze, it’s all there. Even the wave of blood released from the elevator doors. Enough to transform mainstream entertainment into a horror film.
Warner Bros. The bathroom from “The Shining” recreated in “Ready Player One.”
Although Jack Nicholson does not appear in this segment, his silhouette is suggested. And it is no coincidence that Steven Spielberg chose The Shining: it was on the set of this film that he met Stanley Kubrick for the first time. The director of Jurassic Park visited the set in 1979. The studio where The Shining was filmed would later be used for the first Indiana Jones.
For this scene, part of the set was actually built – such as the bathroom, the elevator and its corridor – and another part – the view room with the stairs – was recreated digitally.
Ready Player One is available on Netflix until June 30.