One of the finest comic actors of all time, Gene Wilder hasn’t appeared on screens for over a decade, with his last credit being a 2003 episode of Will & Grace. Not one to allow a living legend to enjoy their retirement in peace, Steven Spielberg is reportedly trying to get Wilder to undertake a brief role in one of his new movies, although information about which role (and more importantly, which movie) is being kept under wraps.
Luckily, this means we get to speculate, so here goes; filming on the live action remake of Roald Dahl‘s beloved classic The BFG has wrapped in time for the July 2016 release date, but Wilder could have been recruited to do some voice acting for one of the giants during the extensive post-production process. Even further in the distance (and a tiny bit more likely) is Spielberg’s adaptation of Ernest Cline‘s genre-bending bestseller Ready Player One, due to hit screens in December 2017.
Again, that would only be a brief role, as it seems likely he would be playing James Halliday, the inventor of the virtual universe who is dead at the time of the action – the reason he would be required for such a brief role is that Halliday is not entirely dissimilar from Willy Wonka, his most beloved role. Either way, Gene Wilder is a screen presence that is sorely missed and if this rumour turns out to be true, then Spielberg has ensured that, at least one of his new movies is a must see.
#Peace.Love.GeneWilder
