Edgar Wright is placing his personal spin on The Running Man, and this time, it’s staying nearer to Stephen King’s authentic imaginative and prescient. The upcoming movie, starring Glen Powell (Prime Gun: Maverick, Twisters), is about to hit theaters on November 7, 2025, courtesy of Paramount.
Not like the 1987 Schwarzenegger-led adaptation, which turned the dystopian thriller right into a high-octane, game-show spectacle, Wright’s model guarantees to seize the uncooked, survivalist essence of King’s novel.
In a dialog with Empire Magazine, Wright opened up about what excites him most about his take:
“One of many issues in regards to the e-book that I cherished was the truth that Ben Richards is out on the planet on his personal, so it’s just like the deadliest recreation of cover and search. It does really feel like making a street film in a whole lot of methods: a really intense, harmful street film.”
Wright elaborated additional: “Ben is shifting by totally different environments and assembly totally different individuals as he tries to outlive 30 days out within the wild.”
The film is certain to be very totally different from the neon-soaked, gladiator-style motion of Paul Michael Glaser’s The Working Man, however that’s precisely the purpose. King’s novel, revealed below his Richard Bachman pseudonym in 1982, is extra of a relentless, paranoid chase than a loopy bloodsport.
Becoming a member of Powell within the forged are Colman Domingo (Candyman) and Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding), although their roles are nonetheless below wraps.
For these unfamiliar, the 1987 movie reworked King’s story right into a dystopian recreation present the place convicts struggle for his or her freedom towards flamboyant killers. Whereas it deviated from the novel, the film carved out a legacy of its personal.
Powell previously talked in regards to the upcoming undertaking, saying: “I have been an Edgar Wright fan my entire life. And speaking to him about Working Man, what’s been actually unbelievable is his tackle it. It’s totally a lot not the unique Schwarzenegger flick, it is rather more grounded within the Stephen King (novella) model.
“Whereas I like the unique 1987 movie, it is rather totally different from the story that King wrote, so I’m truly very enthusiastic about the truth that Wright’s movie can be a lot nearer to the supply materials.”
Wright previously discussed his imaginative and prescient for the movie and the way he desires it to be a real adaptation of the e-book, saying: “I believe these days as nicely is like by way of like, you understand I believe when remakes are executed nicely is that if there’s one thing else so as to add or there is a totally different tackle it.
He continued: “So I believe the issue is usually lately like remakes are simply sort of facsimiles of the unique movie and I do not actually get that enthusiastic about a whole lot of them as a result of they really feel like type of karaoke variations of the originals.”
Wright added: “Clearly again in just like the ’70s and ’80s you had ones the place they had been additive like Philip Kauffman’s Invasion of the Physique Snatchers or John Carpenter’s The Factor or David Cronenberg’s The Fly; it is taking one thing and doing one thing attention-grabbing with it.’“
He goes on to particularly speak about his imaginative and prescient for it, saying: “When it comes to like issues that I have been (doing), like you understand, The Working Man which is one thing that’s in lively improvement. Why is that attention-grabbing to me? I just like the movie however I just like the e-book extra and so they did not actually adapt the e-book.”
He stated: “Whilst a youngster once I noticed the Schwarzenegger movie I used to be like, ‘Oh this is not just like the e-book in any respect,’ and I believe no person’s tailored that e-book.
“So when that got here up I used to be considering you understand and Simon Kinberg says ‘Do you will have any curiosity in The Working Man?’ I stated, ‘ what I’ve usually thought that that e-book is is one thing like crying out to be tailored.’ Now that does not imply that it is easy however like it’s one thing that we’re engaged on, sure, I will say that a lot.”
Wright’s movie is seeking to faucet into one thing totally different, one thing grimmer, extra suspenseful, and true to King’s authentic dystopian nightmare. I can’t wait to see what Wright delivers!
