After joining forces on the 2010 cult classic Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Michael Cera and Edgar Wright are reuniting on the latter's upcoming remake of The Running Man.
For those unfamiliar with the original 1987 film (which is based on a Stephen King novel), the story is centered around a desperate man named Ben Richards, who is in need of cash for a medical procedure that could save his daughter's life. Out of options, he turns to the futuristic setting's most popular reality TV series, a government-operated program where contestants have to navigate an unforgiving gauntlet while facing off against the show's hunters- brutal warriors who'll use deadly force to halt the contestant's progress.
The Schwarzenegger-led picture made significant changes from the source material, but Powell and Wright's future collaboration is reportedly set to be a more accurate rendition.
For instance, in the original novel, Ben Richards is an out-of-shape everyman who struggles to provide for his family.
Schwarzenegger's Ben Richards was a muscular, former police captain compelled to participate in dangerous games after being wrongly convicted of a crime he did not commit.
THR confirmed Cera's addition to the cast, which already includes Glen Powell ( Top Gun: Maverick, Twisters) in the lead role, while Josh Brolin (Dune: Part Two, Avengers: Infinity War) is set to play the main villain. Rounding out the cast are Emilia Jones (Locke & Key), Lee Pace (Halt and Catch Fire, Foundation), and Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding). Specifically, Brolin is set to play a producer of the show, while Pace plays one of the fiendish hunters tasked with hunting down the game's contestants.
Cera is reportedly playing a rebel that's out to overthrow the government and finds himself assisting Powell's lead character.
Katy O'Brian, Daniel Ezra, and Karl Glusman are also set to appear in supporting roles.
Wright and Cera previously reunited on Netflix's 2023 animated remake of the Scott Pilgrim film, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.
Filming on the Paramount action/sci-fi flick is scheduled to begin in London, after the Christmas holiday.
Michael Bacall (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Project X) penned the script.
The Running Man (1987) Synopsis: In a dystopian America, the country totalitarian state where the favorite television program is "The Running Man" -- a game show in which prisoners must run to freedom to avoid a brutal death. Having been made a scapegoat by the government, an imprisoned Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has the opportunity to make it back to the outside again by being a contestant on the deadly show, although the twisted host, Damon Killian (Richard Dawson), has no intention of letting him escape.