Robert Zemeckis, Peter Jackson And More Sought For 'Ready Player One'

If you thought the idea of Christopher Nolan directing Ready Player One was crazy, you may want to sit down for a second.

Earlier this week, we reported that Warner Bros. was reportedly courting the Intersteller director to helm the sci-fi adventure film, written by Zak Penn based on a book by Ernie Cline. It seemed like a pipe dream – Nolan generally develops his own screenplays – but it hinted at the confidence Warner Bros. had in the new script.

Well, it turns out that confidence is very real. Ain't it Cool News reports not only is Warner Bros. talking to Nolan about it, they're also looking at Robert Zemeckis, Peter Jackson, Edgar Wright and Matthew Vaughn. Read more about the Ready Player One director short list below.

According to Ain't It Cool, Zemeckis is the top choice because of "how heavily his work is referenced in the book. It would be him revisiting the stuff from his heyday that we all fell in love with him for, and would probably the closest we'd ever get to a Zemeckis-directed BTTF 4."

That's true. The story is kind of Willy Wonka meet Tron meets The Running Man. In the future, everyone spends their time in a virtual world called Oasis. When the man who created this multi-trillion dollar software dies, he announces to the world he's giving away his fortune. He's hidden clues within Oasis and whoever finds them can have all his money. This changes the world as people devote their lives to the quest to find these clues.  Now, what really makes this cool is that the creator grew up on '80s pop culture so to truly find the clues, you have to be a total expert in everything from TV to music and movies. People study it as a job. Cline's book tells a story where being a nerd is the coolest thing in the world. With plenty of sci-fi action and excitement along the way. It's really awesome.

Back to the short list, it's important to stress that every studio, on every movie, has a dream list of directors and on that dream list are Christopher Nolan, Robert Zemeckis, Peter Jackson, Edgar Wright and Matthew Vaughn. It's like saying, "We'd love Leonardo DiCaprio or Johnny Depp for that role." It's a nice thought, but it's almost never the reality.

That said, if Penn's screenplay is good enough to even consider going to these directors with it, that's a win for not only fans of Ready Player One, but for non-fans because eventually they're going to get a great movie.

As for each director's availability, there's a chance for each guy. Wright might be the least available because, not only is he sought for Star Trek 3, it seems like he's already prepping a movie. You think those tweets from Cleveland and New Orleans, in December, were for vacation? Tax breaks, people!

Vaughn just finished Kingsman, Jackson finished The Hobbit, Nolan Interstellar, and Zemeckis is in postproduction on The Walk. That comes out in October so you'd have to think if he wants to do it, they would wait on him.

Of this list, if one of these directors actually does it, my money is on Vaughn. The subject matter and opportunity for crazy visuals is right in his wheel house.

What do you think about the Ready Player One director short list?