"Edgar Wright thinks he may have been working toward The Running Man his entire career. In fact, you could say that he manifested it. Back in 2017, the director tweeted that he would like to have a go at The Running Man, the 1982 Stephen King dystopian novel published under the writer's pseudonym, Richard Bachman. It was just an answer to a question from a fan during a random Q&A, but"
""The reason I said The Running Man was actually not because I wanted to remake the 1987 film," Wright tells Inverse. "While I enjoyed the 1987 one, when I saw it, I had already read the book as a teenager. I saw how wildly different the story was, apart from a bit of a game show. The rest of it, who Ben Richards is, the perspective the story is from, what the area of gameplay is, and who the other characters are, is completely different.""
"Wright's The Running Man is certainly closer to King's original novel than the Schwarzenegger movie, which contained the game to one arena and inexplicably centered on a wrestling gimmick. The 2025 film follows Glen Powell's Ben Richards, a poor blue-collar man who, out of desperation to save his sick daughter, joins the dangerous game show The Running Man, in which the contestants are hunted for sport."
Edgar Wright first signaled interest in adapting The Running Man in 2017 via a tweet and later became attached to direct a 2021 adaptation. He intends the film to be far more loyal to Stephen King's 1982 novel written as Richard Bachman than the 1987 Schwarzenegger action version. Wright emphasizes differences in protagonist Ben Richards, narrative perspective, gameplay area, and supporting characters. The 2025 film stars Glen Powell as Ben Richards, a blue-collar father who joins the lethal game show to save his sick daughter. Contestants are hunted for sport, facing professional killers and other dangers.
Read at Inverse
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