Ready Player One

Adam Murray - Choreography & Movement Direction

Adam Murray served as Choreographer and Movement Director on Ready Player One, the science-fiction action adventure directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the global bestseller by Ernest Cline. Spanning both live-action performance and large-scale virtual sequences, Adam was instrumental in developing a cohesive physical language that bridged the grounded reality of the real world with the heightened, rule-breaking physicality of the OASIS. From early creative development, Spielberg was keen to explore a new hybrid movement vocabulary that fused human authenticity with the expressive freedom of virtual reality, and Adam was central to defining and realising that vision.

Working closely with Spielberg, the cast, and all major creative departments, Adam collaborated across disciplines to shape movement that supported world-building, character identity, and narrative clarity within a technologically complex production. His work extended across live action, motion capture, and simulcam environments, designing movement systems that translated fluidly between physical performance and digital execution while retaining emotional and character truth. A key creative partnership was formed with stunt coordinator Gary Powell, with whom Adam worked extensively to realise ambitious aerial and action sequences that combined choreography, movement theory, and stunt design into a unified physical language.

Adam’s appointment to the film followed a personal recommendation from producer Marc Platt, who put him forward to Spielberg after being impressed by his work during his years as Associate Choreographer on Wicked. This endorsement led to Adam being embedded as a key creative voice on Ready Player One, shaping how performers physically inhabited both human and avatar identities throughout the film.

Directed by Spielberg from a screenplay by Ernest Cline and Zak Penn, the film blends cutting-edge visual effects with character-driven performance. It stars Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance. Produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, Ready Player One was released worldwide on March 30, 2018.