by: Jay Carlson

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl was the darling of this year’s Sundance, a terrific film full of heart and humor. It’s no surprise that the film’s lead actress, Olivia Cooke, caught a lot of powerful people’s attention with her turn in Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s film. Among them Rian Johnson, currently prepping Star Wars: Episode VIII and Steven Spielberg prepping Ready Player One.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cooke will play Art3mis who is an ally to the main character Wade Watts.  

As of last week it had been rumored that Spielberg’s short list included Cooke as well as Elle Fanning and Lola Kirke. Out of the three I always thought that Cooke was the best choice for the role. All three actresses are immensely talented, but Cooke just feels right.

Fanning has a long history of excellent work, including J.J. Abrams homage to Spielberg Super 8, but my personal favorite might be the often overlooked Sophia Coppola film Somewhere.

Kirke may not have been around as long as Fanning but she’s turned in some terrific work in the last couple years, with a standout turn in David Fincher’s Gone Girl and Noah Baumbach’s Mistress America.

Cooke also hasn’t been around very long but I’ve really enjoyed her in Bates Motel and she broke my heart in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.

I would imagine that Cooke accepting the role in Ready Player One would take her out of contention for Star Wars: Episode VIII. I’d say a Spielberg film is a pretty great fallback.

Ready Player One takes place in a future where mostly everyone lives their lives in a VR world called The Oasis. The creator of this world hid an Easter egg somewhere, promising that whoever finds it would get a vast amount of wealth and control over The Oasis itself. The problem is the clues are damn near impossible to decipher, even years after the death of the man who created the giant egg hunt.

Now Wade, a high school student, must battle other egg hunters (or ‘gunters’ as they like to be called) for the ultimate prize. And battling everyone is an evil and greedy corporation whose sole goal is to find the egg and gain control of The Oasis for pure monetary gain.