Entertainment
Glen Powell Reveals He Had to Get Stephen King’s Approval to Lead Running Man and Only Got It After Author Watched Hit Man
NEED TO KNOW
- Glen Powell revealed that he had to get Stephen King’s sign-off before he could play the lead role of Ben Richards in the new The Running Man film
- The film’s director, Edgar Wright, told Powell that King watched his movie Hit Man before making his decision
- Wright shared that he also had to receive King’s approval on his screenplay adaptation of the author’s 1982 book — something he said was “nerve-wracking”
Glen Powell had to get one important thumbs-up before taking on The Running Man.
The Twisters star, 36, revealed at New York Comic Con that — even though director Edgar Wright, 51, offered him the lead role in the new film — he needed to receive the green light from Stephen King, who originally penned the book the movie is based on.
“Edgar offered me this movie, and I was like, ‘Yes.’ I’m like, ‘Let’s go…’ And then, like, later that night [Edgar says], ‘By the way, like, you have to be approved by Stephen King. He’s gonna watch Hit Man tonight,” Powell recalled with a laugh.
“And so I had to wait overnight for Stephen King to watch Hit Man and hope that I still had the role in the morning. It’s terrible,” he added.
The actor confirmed that King, 78, “loved” the film, and he was able to keep his job playing Ben Richards, a working-class citizen who takes part in a “deadly competition” called “The Running Man” after being convinced “to enter the game as a last resort,” per a synopsis.
In the film, Ben (Powell) “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.” However, “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,” the synopsis reads.
But Powell wasn’t the only one who needed sign-off before The Running Man could move forward. Director Edgar Wright said it was “nerve-wracking” to send his screenplay adaptation of King’s novel to the author himself before he could start shooting anything.
“Stephen King read the screenplay before we started filming, and you know, Stephen King, he’s like the most famous English teacher in history… I was like, ‘This is so nerve-wracking to have to hand in our homework to [him],’ ” he shared.
“But he loved the screenplay, and so it was great,” he added.
Wright noted that his film not only pays “homage” to King’s 1982 book but also the 1987 version of the film, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as Ben Richards. While his new film is “more faithful to the book” than the 1987 iteration, it is still an “adaptation” that incorporates modern ideas from the 21st century.
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Powell agreed, saying, “The coolest part about this [film] that I’m just really excited about is Edgar decided to take this [story] — loyal to the book — out in the real world.”
“Citizens can record [and] report you. They can take you out,” he explained. “So there’s this sort of, like, ever-present feeling of tension that’s throughout the entire movie. It’s relentless.”
The Running Man premieres in theaters on November 14.
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