Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. We got an exciting nugget of in-development info for you that gets me ridiculously excited for the future.

We here AICN got a tip that Steven Spielberg was pursuing Gene Wilder for one of his upcoming projects and that just about made 8 year old me cry tears of joy.

It was almost too good to be true since Wilder has long stuck to his retirement, but we dug a little deeper and got a second source to confirm that meetings will be or already have taken place. The question is which project?

Our sources seem to think Spielberg is trying to get Wilder to lend his voice to The BFG (which would be a remarkable return to the world of Roald Dahl for Mr. Wilder), but there's also another project on Steven's plate that he'd be perfect for.

Let's use our pure imaginations for a second and think about how amazing Gene Wilder would be as James Halliday, the creator of the virtual universe OASIS in Ready Player One. The character is unquestionably in the Wonka mold and I can already see the mischievous twinkle in Wilder's eye selling the small glimpses we get at the figure that towers over the entire story. Wouldn't it be something if that happened?

Either way, the idea that Spielberg is trying to put Wilder back in a film, one way or another, is exciting beyond words for me. Gene has long said that there are very few people who could pull him out of retirement. One of those people he named was Mel Brooks. Is one of the others Steven Spielberg?

So, that's the big rumor. We have it sourced, but it is early and who knows what Wilder will say, but I thought you guys might want to know.

-Eric Vespe

”Quint”

quint@aintitcool.com

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