Paramount Pictures (via SFFGazette.com) has released two new posters for Edgar Wright's (Shaun of the Dead, Baby Driver, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) adaptation of Stephen King's The Running Man, which stars Glen Powell in the lead role of Ben Richards.
The sci-fi novel, which King penned under the pseudonym Richard Bachman in 1982, was previously adapted as a 1987 movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, but this new take will not be a remake, and is expected to stick much closer to the original story.
King's book is a dystopian thriller set in the United States during the year 2025, when the nation's economy is in ruins and world violence is at an all-time high. Desperate to earn enough money to save his family, protagonist Ben Richards decides to participate in a popular - and incredibly dangerous - game show called The Running Man, which allows contestants to go anywhere in the world... while being hunted down by a team of trained killers.
"I think the journey of Ben Richards and me, there's definitely overlap, which is as a public figure, especially now, I would say the truth has probably never mattered less — we're in a TikTokification age where everyone's trying to gain followers or after their own agendas," Powell tells EW. "People do whatever it takes to get what they need and say whatever they need to say to get what they need… You can't blame anyone, but it is just the system that we live in."
"And even more so, you're set up to become the villain so that the world cheers for you to lose," Powell goes on. "I find it always fascinating in terms of our news cycle, how quickly news spreads and how quickly we're here to define heroes and villains, and how odd that there's no nuance or fact-checking. It's rapid headlines, almost to an overwhelming degree, which is very dangerous. And you start to see that pack mentality of how the internet works. And we very much play on that in The Running Man."
Powell also revealed that the movie pays homage to Schwarzenegger's original take on Richards by making the Terminator star the face of a $100 dollar bill (see below).
"In a near-future society, The Running Man is the top-rated show on television—a deadly competition where contestants, known as Runners, must survive 30 days while being hunted by professional assassins, with every move broadcast to a bloodthirsty public and each day bringing a greater cash reward. Desperate to save his sick daughter, working-class Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is convinced by the show’s charming but ruthless producer, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), to enter the game as a last resort.
But Ben’s defiance, instincts, and grit turn him into an unexpected fan favorite—and a threat to the entire system. As ratings skyrocket, so does the danger, and Ben must outwit not just the Hunters, but a nation addicted to watching him fall."