This weekend, director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Baby Driver, Last Night in Soho) gets the chance to bring a dream project of his to the big screen, an adaptation of Stephen King’s eerily prescient sci-fi thriller The Running Man (which was originally published years after being written by the bestselling author and released under his Richard Bachman pseudonym).
Although the source material was previously adapted into a beloved 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger at the peak of his powers, Wright and co-writer Michael Bacall (who previously collaborated on the Toronto centric action comedy Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) stick closer to King’s original vision, despite the fact that the novel takes place in the year 2025.
In the film, Glen Powell stars as Ben Richards, an American family man in a dystopian future who’s been blacklisted from every job he’s attempted to hold down because he’s outspoken about working conditions. Richards desperately needs medicine to save the life of his young daughter, and as a last resort he sets off to the ultra-wealthy, walled off part of the city that’s controlled by The Network. Richards hopes to appear on one of the media giant’s numerous tacky game shows to make some quick cash, but his quick-fire temper and disrespect for authority make him a contestant on The Running Man, a reality series with life or death stakes. Richards and two other contestants are let out into the world, made to look like villains and layabouts who don’t want to work for a living, and if they can survive thirty days without getting killed – either by goons, everyday citizens, or the Network’s elite squad of hunters – they’ll win a billion dollars. Only one previous contestant has made it close to the end, many only last a few days or weeks, and no one has ever won the grand prize.
A project that has been on Wright’s mind for quite some time, The Running Man also stars Josh Brolin as the Network’s shady and underhanded executive, Colman Domingo as the game show’s energetic and flamboyant host, William H. Macy and Michael Cera as members of an underground resistance willing to help Ben on his way, and Lee Pace (who we interviewed earlier in the week about the film) as the leader of an elite squad of assassins.
We chatted with Wright while he was in Toronto for a pair of screenings of his latest film to talk about how he structures action sequences, soundtrack choices, assembling such a stacked ensemble cast, and how his connection to the novel has changed over the years.
