It’s not everyday that Steven Spielberg comes to Birmingham but Warner Bros seems to really love the city as in the summer of 2016, Ready Player One came to town.
The set was spread over areas of Digbeth and the Jewellery Quarter. Both locations transformed into an apocalyptic world as part of the main storyline. I do always find it funny how Birmingham and Stoke on Trent are often used as these ‘apocalyptic’ backdrops. I wonder why.
Courtesy of Bruce Smith who just so happened to be passing on the day of shooting. We have some incredible behind-the-scenes images including a car chase, the van that H, Artemis, Daito, Sho and Parcival use to escape IOI in an epic scene. In addition, we have some images of Hannah John-Kamen and Lena Waithe’s stunt double amongst the action.
Check out a variety of stills below from the shoot in Birmingham.
It reminds me of when the production of the Glen Close movie The Girl With All the Gifts came to Stoke on Trent.
That was such a surreal experience as the old abandoned bus station was turned into the home of the zombie apocalypse as Paddy Considine, Gemma Arteton and Glenn Close were just randomly wandering around Hanley town centre.
I had the pleasure of being an extra on that movie and it was the most fun I’ve had on a film set.
We got paid to stand around all day talking and the second the director yelled action we just stood there motionless as the particular zombies (or hungries as they were known in the movie) were activated by movement.
Easiest few days of work of my entire life and I’d do it again in a heartbeat!
Take a look at more stills on set from Ready Player One and then check out the movie and see if you can spot the exact scenes that were used in the film.
That’s always a fun game!
