'Ready Player One' transported me to a fantasy world: Steven Spielberg

LOS ANGELES: Veteran filmmaker Steven Spielberg said his upcoming sci-fi film "Ready Player One" transported him to a fantasy world and that he got to live in the space for three years which was the cherry on cake.

The 71-year-old director said he started working on the escapist movie while working on social reality films such as "Bridge of Spies" and "The Post".

"This was my great escape movie. For me, it was a film that fulfilled all of my fantasies of the places I go in my imagination when I get out of town. I got to live this for three years. I got to actually escape into the imagination of Ernest Cline and Zak Penn (writers); it was amazing.

"But I came back to Earth a couple of times. I made a few films. I made 'Bridge of Spies' and 'The Post' while I was making Ready Player One, so I got that whiplash effect of going from social reality to total escapist entertainment. And I'm feeling it. It's a great feeling, but it also makes my wife and kids kind of crazy because they don't know who dad's going to be when he comes home in the evening, or which dad they're going to get," Spielberg said in a statement.

Set in the year 2045, the film explores a time when humanity is depends on virtual reality software OASIS to engage in work and play to escape the desolation of the real-world.

The movie is Cline's 2011 novel of the same name.

Featuring Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, T J Miller, Simon Pegg and Mark Rylance, the film is slated to release in India on March 30.