The Running Man director Edgar Wright explains why he cast Glen Powell in the film
Edgar Wright cast Glen Powell in ‘The Running Man’ because he wanted to use an actor “who hadn’t really done something like this before”.
The 36-year-old actor has made a name for himself after starring in action movies like ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, ‘Hit Man’ and ‘Twisters’, and Wright wanted to give the star a leading role in the upcoming thriller remake so audiences could see a different side of him.
In an interview with Empire magazine, the 50-year-old director said: “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’ – which is based on author Stephen King’s 1982 novel of the same name – follows the desperate Ben Richards (Powell) who signs on to participate in the TV game show ‘The Running Man’, where enemies of the state have to evade death at the hands of the game’s stalkers to try and win their freedom.
Wright vowed that his ‘Running Man’ film would be a faithful adaptation of King’s book and teased it would be a “very intense, dangerous road movie”.
He said: “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.
“It does feel like making a road movie in a lot of ways: a very intense, dangerous road movie. Ben is moving through different environments and meeting different people as he tries to survive 30 days out in the wild.”
As well as Powell, ’The Running Man’ will also star Katy O’Brian, Josh Brolin, Colman Domingo, Daniel Ezra, Lee Pace and Michael Cera.
Wright’s ‘The Running Man’ will be the second movie adaptation of the thriller novel, with the book first being brought to life on the big screen in 1987 – with Arnold Schwarzenegger starring as Ben Richards.
The ‘Late Night in Soho’ filmmaker previously said his ‘Running Man’ movie would follow the source material more closely than the previous flick.
During an appearance on the ‘Happy Sad Confused’ podcast, Wright explained: “I like the film, but I like the book more, and they didn’t really adapt the book.
“Even as a teenager, when I saw the Schwarzenegger film, I was like, ‘Oh, this isn’t like the book at all!’ And I think, ‘Nobody’s [done] that book’.
“So when that came up, I was thinking, and [producer] Simon Kinberg says, ‘Do you have any interest in ‘The Running Man?’ I said, ‘You know what? I’ve often thought that that book is something crying out to be adapted’. Now, that doesn’t mean that it’s easy!”
