Edgar Wright Teases New Details About ‘The Running Man’
Hit Man. (L to R) Adria Arjona as Madison Masters and Glen Powell as Gary Johnson. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix
Director Edgar Wright teased new details about his Running Man remake in a new interview with Empire.
The Running Man was originally released as a novel in 1982 by Stephen King under his Richard Bachman pseudonym. It takes place in a dystopian 2025 in which contestants enter The Running Man, a reality show where players win money by evading hitmen sent to kill them. It was previously adapted into a film back in 1987 starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, although the film was a less than accurate adaptation, with many details and parts of the world altered for the screen.
However, Wright has now confirmed that, unlike the 1987 movie, the action of his film will not be confined to a ‘game zone’. “One of the things about the book that I loved was the fact that Ben Richards is out in the world on his own, so it’s like the deadliest game of hide and seek,” the director told Empire “It does feel like making a road movie in a lot of ways: a very intense, dangerous road movie,” he adds. “Ben is moving through different environments and meeting different people as he tries to survive 30 days out in the wild.”
Wright also teased that audiences would see a new side to leading man Glen Powell, who starred in last year’s Twisters.“I felt it was important to see somebody who hadn’t really done something like this before … It’s similar to Bruce Willis, when he was still the guy from Moonlighting, before he did Die Hard, where that adds to the suspense. Can they make it?”
The Running Man will be directed by Wright who is also co-writing the screenplay along with Michael Bacall (Scott Pilgrim, 21 Jumpstreet). The film stars Glen Powell alongside Katy O’Brian, Daniel Ezra, Lee Pace, Josh Brolin and Coleman Domingo. The Running Man, is just one of the many Stephen King adaptations making their way to the screen, including the recently released The Monkey and Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck. Fellow Bachman novel The Long Walk is also on its way with an adaptation by Francis Lawrence starring Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson and Mark Hamill.
The Running Man is set to be released 7 November 2025.
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