You mentioned how you saw your avatar while you guys were shooting. Is the version that we see of Parzival in the movie what you were seeing or did he evolve afterward?
Well, actually, that’s funny you ask that, ’cause my avatar was the last one to be finalized. Even when we were shooting I knew what I was gonna be wearing and I had the same build and the same kind of hairstyle, but when I saw myself driving my avatar on a 2D screen in real time when I was standing inside the motion capture volume, he looked a lot like me, and he looked very human. I knew he wouldn’t in the final version of the film unlike the rest of everyone else’s avatars. Aech [Lena Waithe] looks very similar to what he looks like when we were shooting this film, I would say Olivia’s character, Art3mis, changed the most, but was pretty close to what she was then. Daito [Win Morisaki] and Sho [Philip Zhao] are basically the same. It was only me that had no idea what the character was gonna look like in the final version. I was thrilled the first time I saw the avatar. We had reshoots at the end of this past year in, like, November or something. Steven came up to me and he said, “We’ve finalized your avatar, I have a picture of it, do you wanna see?” I think we both decided it might be better if I just waited til I saw him in the film since I had waited already. So, that’s what I did.
Was it strange to work on something for so long ago and then make so many other projects in the interim? Had you forgotten about a lot of it?
Yeah and there’s a lot that you can’t possibly imagine. I mean, I know it’s all written there on the screen, but this film has all these crazy battle sequences [in the virtual OASIS world]. You have no idea what characters are gonna be running around or who’s gonna be battling right next to Parzival and Art3mis. All that stuff is really cool to see even for someone like me who was in the film and there every day during production. I haven’t had this experience with a lot of films that I’ve been in before, but during all the parts that were animated when they’re inside of the OASIS it really allowed me to let go of the movie and watch it objectively because I had no idea what the final animation was gonna look like. In that aspect, it was really cool. And I think also, when people go to see the movie the animation is so refreshing and it’s so good. When you live in that world and realize it soaks in and you understand that it’s photo-real virtual universe, it’s amazing. I have never seen anything like it. Honestly, this film blew me away and the animation that ILM turned in really, really exceeded my expectations. I think they did such amazing work.
So you’d shot your first X-Men movie, “X-Men: Apocalypse,” before this, right?
Mm-hmm.
Then you go through this production and, eventually, you go and you shoot another one, “X-Men: Dark Phoenix.” Did going through “Ready Player One” make that visual effects process easier?
At the end of the day, it really, for me, if a story speaks to me no matter if it’s a 200 million dollar movie or a $200,000 movie, if it speaks to me and I feel like there’s a message that’s important to relay to mass audiences and it challenged me in a way that allows me to grow and learn, then that’s where I find fulfillment. I have become quite versed in visual effects and I’m really interested in the technical side of film-making as well. Being behind the camera for me is something I’m kind of totally fascinated by and interested in. I guess it’s just because it’s my curious nature. I like to understand every aspect of film-making and it’s something that I have a deep passion for. When you’re on set with Janusz Kaminski and all of these amazing visual effects supervisors from ILM who supervised “Star Wars” and “Avatar” you would be crazy not to ask them questions and not learn I feel. I really had my notepad out every day on this movie. I was taking notes, asking questions, I tried to do it where it didn’t annoy people but generally, people find it exciting when young people genuinely wanna learn about their craft. I wanna take advantage of someone who has had so much experience and success in doing what they do.
In the book, Wade starts off more overweight and is described as having acne. Am I wrong in saying that you tried to do that a little bit for your character? It seems like there’s a hint of that and you look significantly thinner in person today.
Yes, you are wrong. (Laughs.) I still think that what was important is that we captured the spirit of the character. He’s someone who lost his parents at a very early age and lives with his aunt and he’s in the Stacks, which are slums, basically, he’s someone who doesn’t have a lot of money, who doesn’t have a great foundation to grow in or a great home life. It justifies why he escapes to the virtual world and he’s obsessed with the OASIS. As long as that was in place, I felt that he would be relatable because that’s a very human element. All these characters in our movie I think, have something about them, whether it’s a physical attribute that they’re not proud of, or they’re not comfortable with, or it’s their sexuality, or it’s their age. These characters are what makes this film relatable and what makes this film so human and adds so much heart. That’s why I love this movie is because it’s for everyone. Although it’s a huge Steven Spielberg movie it’s big in scope and it’s visually stunning it has those human elements and those elements are really what I take away from the film and are gonna hold on to forever.
“Ready Player One” opens nationwide and on IMAX on Thursday.
