03-22-2018, 02:58 PM
I guess we should all be programmed to love this movie since it deals heavily with our younger years (As I type this I bet there is a book review of this here) and it's directed by Spielberg.
But that's not what this post is about. This post is about me. Much like DM's circle of fame, I too have my ties to celebritydom. I currently have two movie subscription packages on the TV which allows me to see a slew of films, which we never do. The films are uniformly unwatchable.
But there is a game I play. And that game is to see if any of the films I have worked on is currently playing any of the stations. And not a night has gone by when I haven't found at least one of my cinematic triumphs airing. I'm so proud of me. Look. It's not a very fun game.
Of particular note to this story is the fact Last Action Hero has been playing a lot on the STARZ Action channel. I've been catching bits and pieces of it and reminiscing about the sets I built on that show.
But what's important is that Zak Penn wrote the script for Last Action Hero. He also wrote Ready Player One. And to get even a little bit more meta, there is a shoutout to Last Action Hero in Ready Player One.
See? Life is a circle.
But that's not what this post is about. This post is about me. Much like DM's circle of fame, I too have my ties to celebritydom. I currently have two movie subscription packages on the TV which allows me to see a slew of films, which we never do. The films are uniformly unwatchable.
But there is a game I play. And that game is to see if any of the films I have worked on is currently playing any of the stations. And not a night has gone by when I haven't found at least one of my cinematic triumphs airing. I'm so proud of me. Look. It's not a very fun game.
Of particular note to this story is the fact Last Action Hero has been playing a lot on the STARZ Action channel. I've been catching bits and pieces of it and reminiscing about the sets I built on that show.
But what's important is that Zak Penn wrote the script for Last Action Hero. He also wrote Ready Player One. And to get even a little bit more meta, there is a shoutout to Last Action Hero in Ready Player One.
See? Life is a circle.
Quote:Last Action Hero and Ready Player OneScreenwriter Shocked to Find Last Action HeroReference in Ready Player One
[url=https://io9.gizmodo.com/last-action-hero-and-ready-player-one-screenwriter-shoc-1823991953?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_twitter&utm_source=io9_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow#][/url]
The poster for Last Action Hero.Image: Sony
Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One is bursting with so many winks, nods, and references to all areas of pop culture that sometimes, even the people who created those things aren’t aware they’re in the film. Case in point, Ready Player One co-writer Zak Penn.
Penn, best known for writing many of the early X-Men movies, adapted the reference-heavy, self-aware book along with its author, Ernest Cline. Years earlier, he also co-created the 1993 Arnold Schwarzenegger film Last Action Hero which shares several meta-elements with Ready Player One. Last Action Hero seems like exactly the kind of film characters in Ready Player Onewould love but Penn didn’t want any references from one movie in the other.
So he was surprised when, during the opening set piece, the race flashes past a theater showing “Jack Slater III,” a film named after the main character in Last Action Hero.
“I never saw it until the first screening,” Penn told io9. “That’s completely Ernie. He slipped it in there without asking me. He got the ILM guys to do it. I never noticed it, Steven didn’t notice it, I had told him not to but when I saw it I was like ‘Man, that’s sweet.’ But I was shocked when I saw the screen. I was like ‘Whoa. Did that say Jack Slater?”
Yes, it did.
Here’s a Last Action Hero reference in Ready Player One.Photo: Warner Bros.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm