More than 40 years ago, Stephen King wrote a story about a deadly game show playing out in a dystopian world – in the year 2025. Now, "The Running Man" is heading to the big screen (again) with the help of Edgar Wright. Expect action-packed material and food for thought. Los Angeles (dpa) – A new adaptation of Stephen King’s 1982 novel "The Running Man", published under his pen name Richard Bachman and set in a dystopian America in 2025, is returning to screens with spectacular action entertainment and a disturbingly timely message. Fifty years ago, the master of horror came up a story that he eventually published in 1982 as "The Running Man", albeit under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. The fresh adaptation owes much to the signature directing style of Edgar Wright, of "Shaun of the Dead" and "Baby Driver" fame, and to a star-studded cast featuring Glen Powell, Josh Brolin, Colman Domingo, Lee Pace, Michael Cera and Emilia Jones. Glen Powell as a new action star For Powell, after films such as "Anyone But You", "Top Gun: Maverick" and "Twisters", this is his biggest action role to date, propelling him up the Hollywood ladder. He plays Ben Richards, a man desperately trying to raise money for his sick daughter’s care in a society deeply divided between rich and poor. His last hope is a deadly game show with a large cash prize. In the hit show "The Running Man", contestants must run for their lives for 30 days while professional killers hunt them down. Their fight for survival is broadcast live to an enthralled audience nationwide, and the prize money rises with each day they survive. To maximize ratings, the show is manipulated by slick producer Dan Killian (Brolin). Usually the brutal game ends with the runner’s death, but Richards fights bravely and cleverly against the hunters, and gradually wins over the usually bloodthirsty viewers. "There's something about this guy who's an ordinary guy who's feeling cheated by a rigged system," Powell told dpa. "The system is built to crush people that are trying to do their best, to provide for their families. And this is a guy who's fighting against that system." "The Running Man" is a true burst of adrenaline, with Richards constantly on the move. The stunts were pretty tough, Powell said with a wink, admitting he had to take a few knocks. One eye-catching scene sees him abseil down a building facade wearing only a towel. The actor shows off his muscles, but he's by no means matching the old Ben Richards character from the first "Running Man" film in 1987. And that's a good thing. Schwarzenegger paved the way Powell has big shoes to fill. After all no less than "Terminator" star Arnold Schwarzenegger played the character with massive muscle power. Back then, his character turned into a policeman who, framed by a conspiracy, is wrongly branded a criminal and hopes for freedom in return for taking part in the murderous game show. Directed by Paul Michael Glaser, the 1987 film diverged sharply from King’s source material. Its only setting was a combat arena, where Richards dispatched his pursuers in just one round. By contrast, Edgar Wright’s "Running Man" hews closely to the novel. The hunt in the dystopian world stretches over 30 days. The runners race through a divided futuristic nation of slums, abandoned residential districts and high-tech cities. Meanwhile, a powerful TV network keeps viewers glued to their screens with brutal game shows of every kind, and whips people up against the contestants with propaganda and lies. Alarming vision The things that King predicted in his book, including deepfakes (AI-generated videos that look real but are in fact manipulated), are "quite alarming," the director told dpa. "Dystopian fiction generally is presenting you with a warning," he noted, explaining that he read the novel with great enthusiasm as a teenager around 1988. "But also, I think, it is an entertaining action film," Wright said. "Its job is to hold a funhouse mirror up to reality." This director certainly knows how to lighten a dark story with witty touches. He got Schwarzenegger's blessing to print a photo of the former action star on $100 bills. In a "retro-futuristic" detail, he also weaves videotapes in the film, as a homage to the book’s 1980s publication. The runners must record a piece each day with an old video camera and send it to the game show’s producers as proof. Josh Brolin – perhaps best known for his role in another sci-fi adaptation, "Dune" – plays the at-first-charming, perfectly groomed producer who, in Brolin’s words, hides "the worst dark side of us". He manipulates and controls the masses, like in an authoritarian system. Powell is amazed at King’s foresight in writing "The Running Man" more than 40 years ago. "So much of what he wrote has come true, unfortunately. And the world that Ben Richards occupies is eerily similar to ours." His advice to audiences: have fun with the film and look around you. "It really makes you think, which I don't think a lot of action movies really do this these days." The makers have received high-profile support from King. (The author distanced himself from the earlier Schwarzenegger version because it hardly resembled the source material.) The 78-year-old wrote on X that the new film was fantastic and drew a comparison with the action hit "Die Hard", which became a box-office smash in 1988 and made Bruce Willis a star. The following information is not intended for publication dpa mub xx a3 lif
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