5 things we learned about Edgar Wright’s The Running Man (NYCC)

The year of Stephen King adaptations continues, and it may culminate with the most anticipated year yet. Fan-favorite director Edgar Wright has been circling “The Running Man” for some time, and that dream is finally set to become a reality in just a few weeks. Led by Glen Powell as Ben Richards, enters the Huge shoe left by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1987 movie “Running Man.”the story focuses on a dystopian game show where several contestants encounter scary hunters. Mission: Survive 30 days and win the $1 billion jackpot. If you fail, you’ll be doomed to a horrific death at the hands of one of countless guards ready to shoot. No pressure!

On the strength of the popular book and the glorious ’80s film that has gained something of a cult following over the decades, it’s all set for a buzzy spectacle for the remake at this year’s New York Comic Con. During the film’s hour-long panel in New York City, Powell and co-star Lee Pace (who plays the masked villain known as Evan Macon) joined Wright to tease the blockbuster that’s already on everyone’s radar. Between heaping praise on the film’s cast and crew, spoiling attendees with a few exclusive clips and a full trailer that hypes up the carnage to come, and even showing some love for Powell’s beloved dog Brisket (although, unfortunately, he left the pup at home in Austin, Texas during this promotional tour), the A-list panelists dished out some tantalizing tidbits about what we can expect when the film hits theaters this November.

Here are the five most fascinating things we learned about Running Man.

Some call it “embodiment,” some say it’s just filming your shot — either way, director Edgar Wright deserves credit for making this new version of “The Running Man” happen by putting it online and letting the universe do its thing. /Film previously reported this news in 2023, when producer Simon Kinberg confirmed it Wright tweeted about how “The Running Man” would be the remake he’d ever want to do He succeeded in planting the seed in Kinberg’s mind. When he and Paramount finally embarked on the long and complicated quest to remake the film, he remembered that social media post and, well, the rest is now incredibly about to become history. During the NYCC panel, Wright expanded on his personal backstory involving Stephen King’s work and why he decided to focus on this specific novel:

“I read Stephen King’s Bachman books (his early works written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman) when I was a teenager, and ‘Running Man’ was one of the books (…) I read it before I saw the 1987 movie. So when I saw the Arnold Schwarzenegger version, I was very aware that it was very loosely based on the book. And so I felt like there was a whole part of the story that wasn’t adapted. Reruns My favorite productions are the ones that offer something different from other releases. So, this is not an attempt to remake this movie. This is what is most faithful to the book. So, that has always been a source of excitement for me.”

Wright went on to reveal that he actually bumped into Kinberg backstage in front of the committee, prompting him to go down memory lane. As he explained: “I’m pretty sure[Kinberg]saw that tweet because in 2021, I got an email saying, ‘Hey, is it true that you’re interested in doing The Running Man?’ And I said (dryly) ‘Yes.’ It was an absolute gift through email, to have a project that you actually thought about show up in your inbox.” Who says the Internet can’t do some good every now and then?

Ah, yes, welcome to one of our favorite nonsensical debates for every movie nerd. Where does the line lie between a remake of a previous film and a simple adaptation of the same source material? Well, apparently we can look to Edgar Wright’s “The Running Man” to help solve this little mystery. No, there’s no getting around the huge footprint left by star Arnold Schwarzenegger and director Paul Michael Glaser from the only other film based on Stephen King’s original 1982 novel. Additionally, both Wright and Powell were quick to reassure fans that they have nothing but the utmost respect for what came before. But, at the same time, it’s clear that the project’s cast and crew wouldn’t have bothered with this in the first place if it didn’t bring something unique and different to the proceedings.

The end result, by all accounts, is an experience that feels more like another adaptation of the source material, rather than a Disney-style remake. As great as the pressure might be to live up to fan standards, Wright had a more imposing character to satisfy: King himself. Fortunately, Wright’s script (co-written by Michael Bacall) passes the test. As Wright explained:

“I would say it’s more faithful to the book. We pay homage to the great Arnold in the movie. But yeah, it’s more faithful to the book than the 1987 movie. But it’s also an adaptation as well. Probably the most nerve-wracking part of the production was Stephen King reading the script before we started shooting. He’s like the most famous English teacher in history, so I said, ‘This is very nerve-wracking.'” Gotta hand it to Stephen King. But he I love the script so it was great, it was a real split.”

Of the many reasons to look forward to “The Running Man,” there’s one that can’t be overlooked: Glen Powell leading an actual action movie for the first time. The fast-rising actor has starred in genre projects before such as “Twisters,” “Anyone But You” and “Hit Man.” However, this film presented a new challenge, requiring the actor to rely on an unusual habit that he first noticed in one of his lesser-known films. You may know that before he achieved his big success, Powell previously played an unfortunate Wall Street character who ended up on the wrong end of Tom Hardy’s fists as Bane in “The Dark Knight Rises.” Next, he appeared in 2014’s “The Expendables 3” and got an up-close look at the biggest action stars on the planet in action.

What could he have brought from that experience to The Running Man, you ask? Well, when pressed to remember any particular moment he had witnessed and kept in his back pocket, he replied:

“I watched a bunch of these guys do pumping exercises before filming. These guys were carrying weights on set. I stole it. One of my favorite memories from Expendables is riding in a tank with Arnold Schwarzenegger to a private screening. That was the high point of my life.”

There’s a good reason for the weights, as it turns out. As seen in several trailers, one clip shown during the panel showed Paul’s Ben Richards making a quick escape from an apartment building while coming out of the bathroom… wearing nothing but a bath towel. Yes, we’ll leave the rest to your imagination.

It’s funny how things go. When Stephen King first sat down to write The Running Man in the early 1980s, he decided that a dystopian thriller should be set far enough in the future so that the story could pack an extra punch. The place he chose, of course, was 2025. The irony was certainly not lost on Edgar Wright when this eccentricity of timing led to the imminent release of his new adaptation of the same story in the same year. As fun as that might be for online talking points, Wright didn’t want to draw too much attention to it. In fact, his film never specifies the year in which it is set. According to the director, this was a conscious decision from the beginning:

I will say, we don’t say in the movie what year it is. It’s not in the script, we act as if tomorrow is different. As a sci-fi fan, the movies never go too far. (“2001: A Space Odyssey”) is one of my favorite movies of all time, but I’m also sad that we haven’t gotten to “2001” technology yet. Or like in the movie “Escape from New York,” where they say, “The year is 1997.” So, we decided not to spend a whole year, just imagine that tomorrow is different.”

The changes don’t stop there. The biggest difference from the original film is, surprisingly, one of the key choices Wright made to stay closer to the book. Wright went on to describe how this “deadliest game of hide-and-seek” was somewhat confined to the 1987 film, taking place almost entirely in an underground arena with no real sense of its scope and scale. The remake changes this by opening things up significantly to allow anyone to join the hunt… though Wright will eventually regret it. Although I complained as a teenager, that complaint went away when it came time to film all those extended sequences. “Now, having done a very difficult shoot in 170 locations, I realize, ‘Oh, yeah, these guys were smart.’”

No, we’re not talking about Michael Cera. So far, the marketing campaign for “The Running Man” has made no secret of the fact that Edgar Wright has enlisted his old friend from 2010’s “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” for a key supporting role. During the panel, Wright spoke glowingly of Serra’s performance as “an explosion of energy” injected into the story at a crucial moment. Playing the character of Elton Parakis, a bearded, glasses-wearing rebel who helps Glen Powell’s Ben Richards along the way, Cera once again brings his slightly jovial sensibilities to a world that’s always turned up to 11. But as much fun as it was to be reunited with his old collaborator after 15 years, the secret sauce behind “The Running Man” came from a somewhat lesser-known name — one with significant ties to… “Scott.” Hajj as well.

Although history remembers it as an Edgar Wright film, “Scott Pilgrim” would not have been the same without the contributions of co-writer Michael Bacall, who once again teamed up with the acclaimed director on “The Running Man.” You’re probably familiar with his work, even if you’re not completely familiar with him (and that’s not counting his dozens of acting appearances), primarily through his writing in the “Jump Street” films. It should come as no surprise, then, that Wright decided to turn “The Running Man” into a mini-meet “Scott Pilgrim” in more ways than one, bringing different tones and genres together in one of the last must-see events of the year.

“The Running Man” will hit theaters on November 14, 2025.