Edgar Wright is on the run. Not from the authorities, thankfully, but to the editing suite. “I’m going back to work after this call,” he says, as he sits down for a Zoom with Empire long after most people will have clocked off for the day. He’s got a film to complete, after all. And that film is The Running Man, in which Glen Powell stars as a man who becomes a contestant on the deadliest game show in the world. Imagine if The Chase involved actual chasing, and you’re halfway there.
If the title seems familiar, that’s because you may have seen the 1987 movie of the same name, starring one Arnold Schwarzenegger. That was loosely based on the Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King) book of the same name. Wright’s version promises to be much more faithful, and the trailer — out today — promises a typically wild Wrightian ride. Here, he pauses just long enough inbetween lung-busting strides to tell us about some of the trailer’s key moments and images.
Meet Ben
When Wright was looking for someone to play his Ben Richards, he didn’t want a Schwarzenegger-style physique. He wanted a normal guy. Well, normal-ish. “He’s in better shape than you and I ever will be,” laughs Wright of Glen Powell. “That was important, because this is not a remake. Ben is an out of work dad. He’s worked in construction.” Which explains the rippling muscles and washboard abs.
Richards is a desperate man. In the dystopian near-future in which the film is set (the book, coincidentally, is set in the year 2025; Wright’s movie might not be quite so specific), work is thin on the ground, money even more so. Which is an issue when you have a sick child. “He’s in a desperate situation because he and his wife (Jayme Lawson) can’t afford to buy real medicine.” There’s only one solution. But it’s a desperate one, as befits a desperate man.
The running man
In this world, TV is dominated by one channel, The Network, which runs a series of incredibly dangerous game shows, all of which offer cash rewards to anyone foolish enough, or in dire enough straits, to risk not just humiliation but serious injury by becoming a contestant. We may glimpse some of those shows in Wright’s movie. But Richards winds up as a contestant on the most dangerous game of all: ‘The Running Man’, in which the rules are simple: you go on the run. You try to stay hidden, while being hunted by anyone and everyone. You survive 30 days, you win. You lose, you die. “It’s not necessarily Ben’s plan to go on ‘The Running Man’,” says Wright. “He would happily go on one of the other game shows and risk injury instead of death, but by a series of circumstances he does end up as the prime candidate to be The Running Man.” In other words, he catches the eye of…
All you need is Killian
…Dan Killian, the producer of the show, played here by Josh Brolin in full-on sinister smarm mode. In the Arnie film, Killian’s role was modified from the book so that he also became the host of ‘The Running Man’ (which was also tweaked to become a self-contained subterranean affair). “Killian in our movie is the master manipulator behind the scenes,” says Wright. “My main directive to Josh was, ‘you think you’re right all the time, all you’re trying to do is create the best show.’”
Any resemblance to TV personalities/moguls living or, well, living is very much coincidental. In one moment in the trailer, Ben squares up to Killian and delivers his variation on Arnie’s ‘I’ll be back’. “I’m going to come back here and burn this building down. I promise,” he whispers. Killian smiles. “That’s the spirit,” he replies. “Glen is rightly furious in the scene that happens in,” teases Wright. “And Josh is excited by that prospect, because in his head this is good FreeVee. He’s in pursuit of the ultimate show, no matter how many people get crushed along the way.” But if Killian isn’t the host of ‘The Running Man’, who is…?
Hello, Bobby T
It’s Colman Domingo as Bobby T, the ringmaster of a very twisted circus. Domingo filmed for about a week on the elaborate Running Man gameshow set, holding court in front of a baying mob of about 300 extras. “He was in the middle of his Oscar campaign,” laughs Wright. “I actually announced his BAFTA nomination [for Sing Sing] on stage. And he had the extras in the palm of his hand. It is’t necessarily an actor’s job to whip up the extras, but it was an amazing thing to witness him conducting the audience.” And if you were wondering if Wright’s movie would have the same satirical edge as the 1987 film, the King novel, or another 80s colossus like RoboCop, some of Bobby T’s lines in the trailer — “bloodlust is our birthright!”, “this is America, goddammit, and we don’t put up with no bullshit!” — would seem to be a very strong ‘yes’. As would the shot of the banes of Richards’ life, framed against an American flag…
Release the Hunters
The rules of ‘The Running Man’ mean that any citizen can spot, and kill, Richards in exchange for a big sack of cash. But to further complicate things, he’s targeted, from the off, by professionals. Guys who do this for a living. The Hunters. Not the larger-than-life goons that populated the Arnie film (“Here is Sub-Zero! Now, plain Zero!”), but ultra-efficient killing machines and masters of disguise. Wright calls them, “a team of five fearsome crack hunters who are always one step ahead of the game. That was something in the book that I thought was interesting. It always reminded me a little bit of the Superposse in Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid.”
The running woman
We get to see the Hunters in action throughout the trailer. And they’re not always chasing Ben. There are two other contestants in The Running Man, and one of them is Laughlin, played by Katy O’Brian. “Ben is inducted at the same time as them, and they all set off together as well,” says Wright. But they very quickly split up, and at certain points we’ll pick up their stories. In one scene, Laughlin appears to have stolen what looks like a pink Cadillac. If you’re going to run, run in style.
He’ll be (on the) back (of money)
The eagle-eyed amongst you may already have spotted an Arnold Easter egg. As one of the game show’s hostesses flashes some cash, that looks like an awfully familiar face beaming on the back of the $100 bill. Wright is keeping schtum. But he will admit that he and Powell spoke to Schwarzenegger before filming began. “It was such a lovely conversation,” he says. “He essentially gave us his blessing, which was really sweet. It was me, Glen, and Michael Bacall [Wright’s co-writer on this and Scott Pilgrim Vs The World] in my flat when we got on the phone with Arnold. Patrick [Schwarzenegger] patched us in as well. A double Schwarzenegger!”
Slip-slidin' away
[Very Jeff Goldblum voice] “Uh, now, eventually, uh, you do, uh, plan to have some running man in your, uh, uh, Running Man trailer?” And we’re duly obliged in the back half of the trailer with glimpses of the mayhem Wright has marshalled. Pride of place is a complex oner as Richards is spotted by a drone while taking refuge in what looks like a rundown hotel. Chased by it, and others, Richards sprints along a corridor, and slides into an open elevator. “From the conception of it in the script, there was always the idea of doing that as a oner,” says Wright. “The way they’re shooting the show is to have these advanced drones, so it was actually sort of a gift. So if you see cameras in the sky, something bad is about to happen.”
Incidentally, the fellow guest who tells Ben that he’s on FreeVee (King’s quirky sci-fi name for TV in this world), and who can be seen flashing a peace sign at the drone as that oner begins? That’s Michael Bacall. Whom Wright also credits with choosing the song that soundtracks the trailer. “That’s ‘Underdog’, by Sly & The Family Stone,” says Wright. “That’s been in the script since draft one. And it’s kind of poignant, that Sly just passed away a couple of weeks ago.”
Ice-cool McCone
While in the elevator, Ben is confronted with a Hunter, who casually kicks a grenade back at Richards. This masked man is McCone, the chief Hunter, who is played by Lee Pace. Trust us, he’s played by Lee Pace, even though you can’t see his Lee Face. “That’s straight out of the book,” says Wright. “He’s not visible to the public on the show. He’s like The Stig of ‘The Running Man’.” On that bombshell…
Take me to the bridge
Powell, who had just graduated from The Tom Cruise School Of Filmmaking, did many of his own stunts. So yes, that is him leaping off a bridge as something (perhaps some stars in reasonably priced cars) go boom-boom behind him. “It was amazing,” says Wright of the stunt. “It took a lot of planning to work it all out. And to see Glen finally do that jump was pretty wild.”
The jumping man
It’s not the only jump in Powell’s portfolio either. (Maybe they should rename the movie, The Jumping Man.) Because in one scene, Richards can be seen clambering up a wall, and tensing himself for a spring of some kind. Oh, and he’s dressed only in a towel whilst doing so. Wright utterly refutes any suggestions that putting one of the world’s most attractive movie stars in a towel was a ploy to get bums on seats. “It’s in the book!” he laughs. “You wouldn’t catch me doing that.” Well, of course. After all, Glen Powell is in better shape than any of us will ever be. “Aside from anything else, it was fucking freezing. But that’s not a trick. Glen really is abseiling down the building with just a towel.”
The plane! The plane!
Fans of the book will be intrigued to see that there are a couple of scenes set on a plane. Whether or not that means that the ending of the movie will be faithful to the book is undetermined. If you don’t know what we’re talking about, The Running Man by Richard Bachman is available now in all good and evil bookshops.
Elton (not John)
“Live-action, it’s the first time I’ve worked with Michael since Scott Pilgrim,” says Wright of Michael Cera, who pops up at the end as Elton, a mysterious guy who appears to be helping Ben. “I don’t want to give too much away, but his character is a bit of a surprise in the movie.” As for the button on the trailer, where Elton electrocutes a group of bad guys with a water pistol, “that is part of a much larger, wilder sequence.” Get ready to run, folks.
The Running Man comes to UK cinemas from 7 November