Three years have gone by since it was announced that Edgar Wright was coming on board to direct a new take on the novel The Running Man, which was written by Stephen King under his Richard Bachman pen name. The Running Man was, of course, previously turned into a film back in 1987 that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and had little to do with the source material. Earlier this year, it was announced that Glen Powell of Top Gun: Maverick, Hit Man, and Twisters is following in the footsteps of Schwarzenegger to play the lead role in the new adaptation – and now we’re starting to hear the names of some of his co-stars. Last week, it was announced that Katy O’Brian, who had a breakthrough role in Love Lies Bleeding and shared the screen with Powell in Twisters, had signed on to play one of the contestants in the film. Now, Deadline has reported that Daniel Ezra, who played the character Spencer James on 106 episodes of the CW series All American, has also joined the cast. Details on his character were not revealed.
King’s novel has the following description: It was the ultimate death game in a nightmare future America. The year is 2025 and reality TV has grown to the point where people are willing to wager their lives for a chance at a billion-dollar jackpot. Ben Richards is desperate – he needs money to treat his daughter’s illness. His last chance is entering a game show called The Running Man where the goal is to avoid capture by Hunters who are employed to kill him. Surviving this month-long chase is another issue when everyone else on the planet is watching – and willing to turn him in for the reward.
During an interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast last year, Wright said he was drawn to The Running Man because, “I like the film but I like the book more, and they didn’t really adapt the book. Even as a teenager when I saw the Schwarzenegger film I was like, ‘Oh, this isn’t like the book at all!’ And I think, ‘Nobody’s [done] that book.’ So when that came up, I was thinking, and Simon Kinberg says, ‘Do you have any interest in The Running Man?’ I said, ‘You know what? I’ve often thought that that book is something crying out to be adapted.’ Now, that doesn’t mean that it’s easy! [Laughs] But it’s something that we are working on, yes.”
Wright is directing The Running Man from a script he co-wrote with Michael Bacall and is producing the film with Nira Park and Simon Kinberg.
Are you looking forward to seeing what Edgar Wright does with The Running Man? What do you think of Daniel Ezra joining the cast? Let us know by leaving a comment below.