Author Ernest Cline's novel Ready Player One is filled to the brim with references to the works of director Steven Spielberg -- but we already know that's something that's going to be changed in a big way for Spielberg's upcoming big screen adaptation. The filmmaker has gone on record saying that when he came aboard the project, one of the things that was done to the story was the removal of references to his own movies. As we learned today, however, not all of these nods have been expunged, as the feature will feature one key element from a Spielberg-produced blockbuster: the Delorean from Back To The Future.

The domestic press day for The BFG was held this afternoon in Los Angeles, and it was during a roundtable with a group of film journalists that Steven Spielberg discussed the approach to his own work within Ready Player One. The filmmaker was asked how he would prevent the reference-filled movie from being a personal "victory lap" of the 1980s, and while he reiterated that most mentions of his own work has been removed, there are certain elements from his career that still will be in the finished piece. Said Spielberg,

I think we were pretty awesome in the 1980s. I love the '80s, and I think one of the reasons I decided to make the movie was that it brought me back to the 1980s and let me do anything I want -- except for my own movies. I've cut most of my movies out of Ernie [Cline]'s book, except for the Delorean and a couple of other things that I had something to do with. I've cut a lot of my own references out. I was very happy to see that there was enough without me! The '80s was a great time to grow up.

Fans will be quick to note that the time traveling Delorean is only sort of a reference to a Steven Spielberg movie, as Back To The Future was produced by the filmmaker -- who left the directing duties to his friend Robert Zemeckis. While Spielberg didn't say it specifically, it's entirely possible that it's because of his greater distance from the feature that he felt comfortable including the reference in the movie -- though we'll have to wait and see what the "couple other things" he mentions are to be sure.