Four years have gone by since it was announced that Edgar Wright was coming on board to direct a new take on the novel The Running Man, which was written by Stephen King under his Richard Bachman pen name. The Running Man was, of course, previously turned into a film back in 1987 that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and had little to do with the source material. Last year, Wright’s film entered production with Glen Powell of Top Gun: Maverick, Hit Man, and Twisters in the lead role. Filming wrapped in the early months of this year, with the movie aiming for a November 7th theatrical release – and today, the first trailer has dropped online! You can check it out in the embed above.
King’s novel has the following description: It was the ultimate death game in a nightmare future America. The year is 2025 and reality TV has grown to the point where people are willing to wager their lives for a chance at a billion-dollar jackpot. Ben Richards is desperate – he needs money to treat his daughter’s illness. His last chance is entering a game show called The Running Man where the goal is to avoid capture by Hunters who are employed to kill him. Surviving this month-long chase is another issue when everyone else on the planet is watching – and willing to turn him in for the reward. Here’s the synopsis for the new film adaptation: In a near-future society, The Running Man is the top-rated show on television—a deadly competition where contestants, known as Runners, must survive 30 days while being hunted by professional assassins, with every move broadcast to a bloodthirsty public and each day bringing a greater cash reward. Desperate to save his sick daughter, working-class Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is convinced by the show’s charming but ruthless producer, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), to enter the game as a last resort. But Ben’s defiance, instincts, and grit turn him into an unexpected fan favorite—and a threat to the entire system. As ratings skyrocket, so does the danger, and Ben must outwit not just the Hunters, but a nation addicted to watching him fall.
During an interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast a while back, Wright said he was drawn to The Running Man because, “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 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! [Laughs] But it’s something that we are working on, yes.”
Wright is directing The Running Man from a script he co-wrote with Michael Bacall and is producing the film with Nira Park and Simon Kinberg. Powell is joined in the cast by Katy O’Brian (who had a breakthrough role in Love Lies Bleeding and shared the screen with Powell in Twisters) as a contestant; Daniel Ezra, who played the character Spencer James on 106 episodes of the CW series All American; Josh Brolin (Outer Range), playing a TV executive who is the main villain; Lee Pace (Halt and Catch Fire) as a ruthless hunter; Michael Cera (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) as a “naïve rebel who tries to help the desperate man”; Emilia Jones (CODA) as a “privileged woman blind to the oppression of the government“; David Zayas (Dexter) as a character named Richard Manuel; Colman Domingo (Fear the Walking Dead) as the host of The Running Man, a violent reality show promising an outrageous cash prize; 6-foot-8-inch actor and former MMA fighter Chi Lewis-Parry (28 Years Later) as a runner; and Jayme Lawson (Sinners) and William H. Macy of Fargo and Boogie Nights in unspecified roles.
What did you think of the trailer for Edgar Wright’s The Running Man? Let us know by leaving a comment below – and take a look at the poster while you’re scrolling down:
