For many, The Running Man is one of those classic ’80s movies. They’re cheesy, just a bit stupid, but fully commit to Bing as entertaining as possible. Normally, I would be cautious about any Remake of a classic Arnold movie, especially after Total Recall, but I wasn’t. Why? Because Edgar Wright was involved.
At New York Comic Con, Wright, alongside Glen Powell, who plays Ben Richards, and Lee Pace, who plays one of the film’s villains, McCone, sat down to talk about the film and showed off a handful of clips.
Powell joked about how the film was “a fun collision of tone.” He mentioned how whenever The Running Man is mentioned in universe, there’s a certain levity to it. Josh Brolin and Colman Domingo, who introduced the panel as his character Bobby T, try to make the show feel like a mix of UFC and American Idol. Wright even talked about how euphoric the studio scenes were to film, with hundreds of people cheering both for Bobby T and Colman Domingo, especially given how most of the studio scenes were filmed the day Colman received his BAFTA nomination for Sing Sing, which only fed into the delicious amount of showmanship on display.
Copyright: Paramount
But that lighthearted humor was quickly followed by how angry every other scene felt. Powell plays Ben Richards with a sense of palpable rage, yet stays charming all the while. I’m not quite sold on how these two tones will mix in the final product, but it did make me audibly laugh in one of the clips when he was told to his face that he’s the angriest person that’s ever competed on The Running Man.
As far as the production was concerned, Wright spent a lot of time explaining how the film even came to be. He tweeted back in 2017 about how eager he was to direct a remake of The Running Man if he was allowed to, and got a call when he was finishing up Last Night In Soho in 2021 about helming the project.
Wright then spent some time explaining his vision for the film, and how he felt in the Schwarzenegger version, “there was a whole part of the story that wasn’t adapted.” He told the crowd that people shouldn’t think of the film as much as a remake, but as a more faithful adaptation of the original novel by Stephen King. There would still be homage to the Schwarzenegger movie, though, since Powell got approval from Wright to tell the audience that Arnold’s face would adorn the $100 bill in the story. When they told Arnold about the reference and that the $100 bill was the highest denomination of bills in the story, he was immensely satisfied.
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On that note, Wright also explained how anxious he was about presenting King with the script. Wright said that King was “the most famous English teacher in history,” and giving him the script was like giving him homework he didn’t want to fail. Powell later joked about how his casting was reliant on Stephen King, recalling “[Edgar told me] you have to be approved by Stephen King… he’s gonna watch Hitman tonight, so I had to wait overnight for Stephen King to watch Hitman and hope that I still had the role in the morning.” Miraculously enough, he liked Powell enough in that to give him the all clear to play Ben.
It’s clear that Wright put a ton into making The Running Man. He remarked about how large the production was, with 168 different locations used across three different countries. Whether it all comes together is still to be seen, but it’s looking pretty hopeful. As long as Wright channels that same energy from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Hot Fuzz, then we’re in good hands.
The Running Man will release on November 14th, 2025.
