If you’ve been experiencing Glen Powell withdrawals after a particularly Powell-heavy 2024 (Twisters! Hit Man! Anyone But You!) then fear not. There’s a fresh slice of Glen on the way – from none other than Edgar Wright, in his first film since Last Night In Soho. The duo have teamed up for a fresh adaptation of The Running Man, Stephen King’s tale of a dystopian deathmatch in a future America – previously adapted in 1987 as an Arnold Schwarzenegger action vehicle, famously not the most faithful take on the source material. Now Wright is bringing the story to the screen in a version said to be closer to the book, with Powell as Ben Richards – on the run from murderous Hunters in the hopes of winning piles of cash. Check out the trailer:
This looks like a blast – and while it’s Wright working from source material for the first time since Scott Pilgrim, there’s all the signature style you’d expect from his work. In fact, this looks like him back in Baby Driver mode, delivering zippy thrills and moments of comedy as the action stakes pile up. Powell looks to be in magnetic form as the desperate man hoping to save his family with those winnings – and he even gets a little Hit Man disguise moment in there. Elsewhere we have Love Lies Bleeding’s Katy O’Brian in a cowboy hat (!), an electric Colman Domingo as ‘The Running Man’ show host, and Josh Brolin in menacing mode as the man holding Ben’s fate in his hands. And yes, that was a Scott Pilgrim reunion at the end, with Michael Cera wielding a deadly super-soaker. Sign us up.
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We’ll see what Wright, returning Soho cinematographer Chung Chung-hoon, Powell and co have cooked up when The Running Man hits UK cinemas on 7 November. Start stretching those legs. Oh, and keep your eyes peeled on empireonline.com for an Edgar Wright trailer breakdown interview, coming very shortly…