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Ready Player One: Maleficent’s Elle Fanning Among 3 Frontrunners for Female Lead

FYI: Elle is wearing a 3X1 top. The report adds that there are also two other actresses who are in consideration for the role, but their identities are being kept a secret. Cooke is now in contention for the role along with Elle Fanning and Mistress America newcomer Lola Kirke. Should they be selected, one of them will be playing Art3mis, the famous in-game avatar of a girl named Samantha Cook and ultimately the target of protagonist Wade Watts’ affection. When the eccentric billionaire who created the OASIS dies, he offers up his vast fortune as the prize in an elaborate treasure hunt.

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Among the potential lead female actresses, Fanning has the most experience, The Wrap wrote.

Steven Spielberg will direct the highly anticipated movie adaptation of Ernest Cline’s 2011 best-selling book, Ready Player One, which is set for release on December 15, 2017. Both movies will be presented at the Toronto worldwide Film Festival. Fanning, meanwhile, has a ton of upcoming projects, including the transgender teen drama About Ray, Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon, and Ben Affleck’s Live by Night.

Olivia Cooke stars in A&E’s Bates’ Motel, and was most recently seen in the Sundance darling Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Just this week, she was reported to be in the running (alongside Tatiana Maslany and Gina Rodriguez) for Star Wars Episode VIII.

Lola Kirke will appear next on “Mena” and “Fallen“. Casting director Ellen Lewis is narrowing down the field of contenders while Spielberg finishes up his work on Bridge of Spies and The BFG.

Spielberg is producing alongside Donald De Line, Dan Farah and Kristie Macosko Krieger. Bruce Berman will function as executive producer.

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Set in the near future, Ready Player One follows outcast teenager Wade Watts escapes from his bleak surroundings by logging in to the OASIS, a globally networked virtual utopia where users can lead idyllic alternate lives.

Casting shortlist for Ready Player One's Art3mis revealed