In Edgar Wright’s dystopian thriller The Running Man, Glen Powell stars as Ben Richards, an unemployed father who enters a lethal televised game to save his ailing daughter. In a striking early scene, Richards is seen sprinting through a grim, futuristic YMCA-like facility, wearing nothing but a towel, with armed hunters closing in. The desperate dash through a hostile, post-apocalyptic environment culminates in a perilous rooftop rappel, leaving viewers on edge as the tension mounts between the vulnerability of Powell’s character and the scant protection of his towel. This sequence exemplifies the chaotic and overwhelming world Richards must navigate, embodying the intensity that characterizes the film.
The use of the running man motif is central to the plot. Contestants must evade capture and death while the public watches, turning survival into a televised spectacle. The film, inspired by Stephen King’s novel written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, updates the narrative for the present while preserving its core themes of desperate struggle and societal manipulation.
Director Edgar Wright’s Vision and Powell’s Commitment
Edgar Wright directed and co-wrote the film with Michael Bacall, producing alongside Nina Park and Simon Kinberg. Wright revealed that the iconic towel scene was conceptualized before Powell was cast, yet he praised Powell’s willingness to undertake the physically demanding and nearly nude sequence. For Powell, performing his own stunts—including those in the towel chase—added a layer of authenticity and peril to his portrayal.
Powell reflected on the challenge, noting the physical and psychological demands of filming in cold conditions: “I didn’t protest that one,” he admitted, describing the scene as a
“pretty much all of Die Hard in one 10-minute stretch.”
He continued,
“I found it very, very funny, and something that I’ve never seen in a movie before. We’ve all gotten a Postmates delivery out of the shower before. But can you imagine if there were guns along with it?”
Still, he confessed some regret about agreeing to it when shooting took place in February in chilly Bulgaria:
“Being in a towel in front of a crew is one thing, but being in a towel in February in frigid Bulgaria, it’s a sight. It’s a real sight.”
Beyond the physical hurdles, Powell embraces the demanding nature of the project, calling The Running Man the most physically challenging role of his career, surpassing previous portrayals of a pilot, hit man, tornado chaser, and college football quarterback.
Portraying Vulnerability Amid Growing Fame
Off-screen, Powell’s rising stardom mirrors some of the struggles that his character faces. An Austin native, Powell admitted to newfound challenges in public speaking and handling increasing attention.
“It’s been a new thing for me to have to talk to big groups of people,”
he said.
“I’m actually a very shy person who now has to do a lot of unshy things.”
He sees parallels between his journey and Ben Richards’, especially in confronting a media environment that values followers and sensationalism over truth. Powell observed,
“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. 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.”
Within the film’s narrative, Richards realizes he is being manipulated by a merciless system designed to break contestants physically and emotionally. Powell explained,
“And even more so, you’re set up to become the villain so that the world cheers for you to lose. 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.”
Despite the turbulence of fame, Powell is learning to navigate it with grace. He shared,
“Look, this is a new phase in my life, but I’m getting more comfortable, and being able to smile easier at those things.”
Embodying Ben Richards’ Complexity and Anger
One defining trait of Ben Richards is his simmering rage, which pumps energy into the character and drives the story. Director Wright affectionately referred to this version as “Bad Mood Glen.” When asked about coaxing this anger out of Powell, Wright gave credit to the actor’s natural versatility:
“I think he was just brilliant at modulating it. It was fun to wind him up. His anger was like his spinach. I am really happy with his performance in the movie.”
Powell himself noted that anger is not a natural tendency for him in real life. Laughing, he said,
“What’s really funny is nobody’s asked me that ever. And it makes me laugh because I would say as a person, I’m known for having a very long fuse. It takes a lot to make me lose my patience.”
To prepare, he zeroed in on ordinary annoyances—like the temperature and background noise on set—to tap into the necessary emotional intensity.
“You’re just trying to find something that pisses you off,”
Powell explained.
“In a great romance or rom-com, you find something in the other person that you find really attractive and alluring, and you focus on that. [With this,] I would find things that annoyed me a little bit and really focus on it.”
The script provided rich ammunition for Powell, including biting insults like referring to the Running Man viewers as “s—eaters,” a phrase drawn directly from the novel. Wright, an outspoken Stephen King fan, sent the horror author the screenplay before production and was relieved to hear this response:
“I was most nervous about what he would think, but he loved it.”
Still, Wright acknowledged this blessing increased the pressure:
“It was just amazing to have his blessing. But in a weird way, that just ups the pressure because then we’ve still got to make the movie.”
Filming a High-Stakes Road Movie with Global Locations
Unlike the 1987 adaptation of King’s novel, which unfolds mostly within an underground arena, Wright’s film remains faithful to the book’s road movie structure. The production employed an impressive 170 sets and locations worldwide to depict the sprawling dystopian landscape the characters inhabit. Wright recalled,
“There were some days when it felt like we were the traveling circus. And much like Ben Richards on the game itself, we were on our heels the entire time. It felt in some ways like we were really doing the show. We were on the run with Ben Richards.”
The director drew inspiration from John Carpenter’s 1981 film Escape From New York but steered clear of the heavily influential Blade Runner aesthetic. He explained,
“I feel like Blade Runner is so influential — it’s more the thing of, how can we stay away from Blade Runner and do something different? I feel like that one in particular seems to have cornered the market on future dystopia.”
The story’s exact timeframe remains deliberately vague. While Stephen King’s original novel is set in 2025, Wright describes the film’s setting as
“a different tomorrow. We’re sort of five minutes in the future and off to the left.”
He reflected on the common sci-fi pitfall of dating films too far ahead, noting,
“I always think for future watchers, it’s a mistake to put a date on it at all.”
World-Building with Fictional Locations and TV Shows
The film mixes real-world references with invented places like Co-Op City—a slum district where Richards’ family struggles—and Derry, Maine, a familiar setting in King’s works. Central to the story is the televised violence of The Running Man show, combining elements of UFC-style combat sports and American Idol-like spectacle.
Richards is one of three main contestants, accompanied by runners played by Katy O’Brian and Martin Herlihy. Beyond the leading narrative, the filmmakers created numerous fictional TV shows and advertisements to flesh out this dystopian media landscape, though only some made the cut in the final edit. Wright described this additional material:
“There’s definitely a lot of extra crazy, silly stuff from the various shows within shows.”
He gave an example:
“You see this reality show called The Americanos, where we had a murderer’s row of talent: Cat Cohen, Debi Mazar, Emma Sidi playing members of this coffee magnet family on a reality show.”
Comedian Bill O’Neill also makes a cameo as a former Running Man contestant. Wright hinted that much of this extended content may be featured as extras on the home release.
Josh Brolin’s Role as the Sinister Network Executive
Josh Brolin plays Dan Killian, the ruthlessly charming head of the fictitious TV network that broadcasts The Running Man. Powell described Killian as
“a deliciously evil son of a bitch.”
When Brolin was told this characterization, he grinned and joked,
“There you go. Who better than me, right? I mean, you start to get a complex after a while,”
referencing his frequent casting as villains.
Brolin emphasized the complexity behind the surface:
“All the bad guys in movie history that I’ve loved — and a lot of ’em that I’ve gotten to know — are the nicest people in the world. And I’ll say the same about the heroes. You meet the heroes and you’re like, ‘No, what an a–hole.’”
His involvement was nearly derailed by a severe lung infection that left him weakened and struggling to breathe before filming.
“I was like, ‘There’s no way — I’m going to have to drop out of this movie,’”
Brolin recalled.
“I even told Edgar, ‘I don’t know if I can do this. I mean, I can’t even breathe.’”
Brolin persevered, crediting the illness as inadvertently aiding his portrayal of Killian’s subtle menace:
“So the calm in him, I don’t know if that’s so me, because I’m more animated than he is, but I think that there was a lot of quiet compensation, like a quieter evil.”
Brolin also wanted Killian to have a distinct, somewhat unsettling dental appearance, contrasting the usual bright smiles of TV executives. He collaborated with Glenn Close’s recommended prosthetics expert to achieve this, considering it “kind of perfect” for the character’s unsettling charm.
Pulling from his own knowledge of entertainment industry figures—some famous for ruthless tactics—Brolin added dimension to Killian’s performance. He recalled late talent manager Jeff Wald’s notorious behavior in a 1980 incident:
“He put a shotgun in somebody’s mouth to get what he wanted at one point. I know all the stories, and I knew those guys. So it was easy to be able to pull from.”
Lee Pace’s Masked and Menacing Hunter Evan McCone
Serving as The Running Man’s lead hunter is Evan McCone, played by Lee Pace. Described as a “ghost” who haunts Richards throughout his journey, McCone dons a carefully designed mask to conceal a disfigured face. The mask underwent multiple design iterations before the final version was chosen, creating an eerie, bandaged appearance that unsettled Pace himself.
Pace explained,
“It’s so carefully tailored to his face. And there’s something so intentional about him hiding what he looks like that I find terrifying. There’s something very ghostly and terrifying about a killer who’s going to hide his face. It’s the executioner’s mask — and medieval, in a way.”
McCone’s role embodies performative violence and spectacle, aiming to impress a bloodthirsty audience with calculated swagger and theatrical brutality. As Pace stated,
“The network doesn’t orchestrate the killings. The show is about watching him hunt these people down, find them, and then murder them in entertaining ways in front of the audience. That’s who Evan McCone is. One of the ideas that I latched onto early was his ‘performative masculinity.’ That’s what he’s trying to achieve for the audience. He wants the swagger… and to make a spectacle of the violence.”
Colman Domingo Brings the Show’s Charismatic Host to Life
Colman Domingo plays Bobby T, the charismatic host of The Running Man, who commands the crowd with a flair that merges menace and flamboyance. Pace described Domingo’s performance as
“so f—ing fun in this movie. It’s fun to watch Colman take on that delicious big showman. He had that audience of extras in the palm of his hand.”
Domingo had recently wrapped the first season of Netflix’s The Four Seasons before accepting this role just before the holidays. Initially hesitant, he was quickly drawn in by Wright’s reputation and the cast’s company:
“Truly, it was like a week before Christmas, I got this offer and I thought, Oh no. And then I heard Edgar Wright, and I was like, Oh man, I love his work. Glen Powell? Oh, what a good guy. Josh Brolin? Oh, God. I said, Please let this script be bad. I was really hoping. I said, Please!”
He ultimately relished the chance to play such a “tricky character,” noting the contrast between the dark, action-packed worlds depicted earlier in filming and the showman’s spotlight scenes shot later:
“The worlds that they were populating were dark and action-packed. And then suddenly we’re at Radio City Music Hall or whatever, and we have a showman’s song and dance with hot girl dancers and things like that. I wasn’t under duress at all. I came in and had a ball.”
Powell’s Dedication Fueled by Top Gun Mentor Tom Cruise
During the demanding shoot, Powell sought advice from Tom Cruise, who is renowned for performing his own stunts and maintaining rigorous discipline. Powell asked him for tips on both the authenticity of stunts and how to endure the physical toll. The resulting conversation lasted two and a half hours, yielding extensive notes.
Powell shared,
“It was made very clear after talking to him that there was a real sense of discipline around these things and to treat these stunts with reverence, because you can get extremely hurt, and he knows it better than anyone. He’s broken every bone in his body. He’s like, ‘This is not messing around.’”
He also conveyed the impact of stunt work on audience engagement:
“To do all those things is really, really crucial to sell what you need to sell in a movie, and to justify people’s ticket prices. If they’re following you, they want to know that that’s the commitment — if I want you to show up for me, I’ve got to show up for you.”
Stephen King’s Approval and Film’s Thematic Relevance
Stephen King recently viewed the film and offered praise, which was highly significant to Wright and the cast. Wright recalled King’s feedback:
“Stephen King watched the film recently, and one thing he said that I really liked was, ‘It’s much more faithful to the book, but different enough to keep it exciting for me.’”
Wright hopes that audiences find the film both entertaining and thought-provoking. He explained,
“I think, as science fiction, it’s disturbingly relevant to where we’re at today. Maybe more timely than we’d like, or that we could even imagine. I think the best you can hope for with a genre film is that it works — not purely as entertainment, but it leaves you with a lot to chew on. And that’s the response we’ve had so far.”
Powell’s Emotional and Physical Transformation
During a recent Entertainment Weekly cover shoot, Powell was relaxed and welcoming, interacting comfortably with crew and fans, a stark contrast to the frantic character he portrays. His rescue dog Brisket quietly observed alongside the vigorous shoot, though the dog seemed troubled by Powell’s intense workout regimen between photo setups.
Powell candidly admitted the emotional toll of his role:
“Some of the things that you’ll see me go through, not even just physically, but emotionally, it’s pretty hardcore.”
Despite his initial fear to take on the part, he has embraced it as a driving force.
“I’m constantly scared. I just say yes a lot to things that scare me. All my favorite moments of life never involve me feeling necessarily confident. It’s always when I’m going into the unknown.”
He expressed that this fear contributes to his performance’s authenticity:
“That’s one of the things I’m taking away from this experience: letting yourself go on a dangerous run. Taking a bit of a dangerous journey and trusting that you’ll probably survive. On this one, I was proud that I made it to the other side. This was a gauntlet in every way. Spiritually, physically, and emotionally, it was a true crucible. But it always arms you with new things on the other side. So I think I’m chasing the danger a little bit more. (Sorry, Brisket.)”
Anticipation Builds for November Release
The Running Man will hit theaters on November 14, inviting audiences to experience the brutal, high-stakes survival game at the center of this provocative thriller. Blending intense physical stunts with sharp social commentary, the film promises to engage viewers on multiple levels, from adrenaline-pumping action sequences to reflections on media, celebrity, and truth in today’s culture. Glen Powell’s fearless commitment to his role significantly heightens the film’s impact, making it a standout in this year’s cinematic offerings.
