After Schwarzenegger: Meet the New Heroes of This 37-Year-Old Cult Sci-Fi Film!

This project has been in the works for many years and has now moved closer to production, suggesting that filming could start soon.

The “Running Man” remake will be directed and co-written by Edgar Wright, who has reimagined the story alongside Michael Bacall, who will officially pen the script.

It has been known since last spring that the film’s lead actor will be none other than Glen Powell, one of the standout actors of 2024, known for his performances in “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Set It Up,” as well as his recent appearances in “Twisters” this past summer, and “Hit Man,” released directly on Canal+ this September.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor set to play the formidable villain of the film has been found too! Josh Brolin is reportedly in final negotiations to take on this role. Brolin is well-known for his roles in “Dune,” “No Country for Old Men,” and “Avengers,” among others.

Katy O’Brian, a breakout star from “Loves Lies Bleeding,” will also join the cast. This past summer, she co-starred with Glen Powell in “Twisters.”

A Long-term Project

Edgar Wright has been working on this remake of the 1987 film by Paul Michael Glaser featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger for several years. For context, Wright is known for directing films like “Shaun of the Dead” (2004), “Hot Fuzz” (2007), “Scott Pilgrim” (2010), “The World’s End” (2013), “Baby Driver” (2017), and more recently, “Last Night in Soho” (2021).

In 2021, Deadline reported that the filmmaker was attached to direct the remake, with Simon Kinberg co-producing. Kinberg had then shared more details about the project.

“[Edgar Wright is] one of my favorite directors of all time and one of my favorite people, just a really great guy. Obviously a cinephile. We are actively working on it. He is actively working on the script with Michael Bacall. And our hope would be that it would be a film that, again, all fingers crossed, luck and everything else going our way, Edgar might be able to direct next year.”

What’s It About?

Originally published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman in 1982, Stephen King’s novel “Running Man” is set in 2025. The story follows a man named Ben Richards as he participates in a deadly TV game show called The Running Man, where he is declared an enemy of the state and hunted by murderous hitmen.

The novel was first adapted into a film in 1987, directed by Paul Michael Glaser with Arnold Schwarzenegger playing Ben Richards.

And What About Gérard Lanvin?

Interestingly, Gérard Lanvin also played a similar role to Ben Richards. In the 1983 film “Le Prix du Danger” directed by Yves Boisset, he portrayed François Jacquemard, a young unemployed man who agrees to participate in a deadly televised game for a substantial sum of money.

While the screenplay for the film was based on the 1958 short story “The Prize of Peril” by Robert Sheckley, the plot bears a striking resemblance to that of “Running Man,” which was released a few years after Boisset’s film. In the 1990s, a lawsuit was filed accusing Paul Michael Glaser’s film of plagiarism. Although Glaser claimed he was inspired by Stephen King’s 1982 novel, he lost the first trial, won on appeal, but ultimately lost again in the French Supreme Court.

Regardless, the plaintiffs struggled to obtain the compensation they sought, amounting to over one million francs, or more than 150,000 euros.

However, we will soon see a new version of Ben Richards in just over a year, portrayed by Hollywood’s highly sought-after actor, Glen Powell! In the United States, the film is already scheduled for release on November 21, 2025.