If you’ve seen Ready Player One you might have thought that the main villain looks kind of familiar. Of course you might have to do some research on Scientology leader David Miscavige in order to really tell for certain. But once you do take a look at them you might get the feeling that Steven Spielberg and the casting crew might have been looking for one of the most highly protected leaders there is when it comes to anything organized and reeking of what might or might not be an actual religion. Apologies to any Scientology followers out there, this article is meant for entertainment and nothing else. But the allegations against Miscavige, mostly of abuse in the last decade and more, kind of make him less than the polished image that he appears to be.
In terms of likening the two to each other however they both seem a bit too intense for their own good and capable of being absolutely ruthless if they feel the need. It’s also seen that they don’t seem to like being told no, but again the allegations against Miscavige are said to be false, no matter that the church saw fit to firmly discredit those that stepped forward, basically crushing them like bugs. Wait, that seems familiar since Wade’s aunt and her boyfriend were killed when Wade refused the villain. Is there a correlation of sorts here? It’s wiser to state that there is none since Ready Player One is about a fantasy world where players can escape to work, play, and just hang out if they want. This world is based upon their belief and the programming that has been carefully managed to….wait, are we sure this doesn’t sound anything like Scientology? Okay that was a cheap shot and I apologize, but it’s starting to come through loud and clear just why the villain in RPO looks the way he does.
There are few directors, if any, that have never allowed their personal beliefs and biases to be shown in a film. Ultimately they all realize that to make a successful movie that people want to watch they have to park their egos on the curb a time or two in order to get the main point across. But a lot of them tend to put what they think is needed into a film whether the fans think the same or not. That almost seems to be the case in RPO. The main bad guy is just hard-looking, he doesn’t seem like he has a nice bone in his body, just a mask that he can take on and off as he wishes. That alone makes him dangerous, since underneath that thin veneer a person would have no idea just what he’s thinking. Using David Miscavige for the template seems plausible but it also seems like Spielberg might have tried to incorporate a few lesser known traits as well.
It’s easy to assume that Spielberg reads up on people occasionally to get more ideas for his films.
Am I the only one that thought Ben Mendelsohn's #ReadyPlayerOne villain was a sly swipe at Scientology's David Miscavige? With IOI's indentured servitude similar to Sea Org's billion year contract? Am I giving this movie too much credit? pic.twitter.com/7Q9OWf0oVN
— Max Evry (@maxevry) April 1, 2018
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