Coming off of Top Gun: Maverick and Twisters, Glen Powell is the hottest, new leading man in Hollywood at the moment. As speculation mounts about what he'll do next (he recently started following James Gunn on Instagram, sparking Batman rumors), the actor has confirmed his next film project.
According to reports, Powell was selected for the lead, over other A-listers like Chris Evans, Ryan Gosling, and Chris Hemsworth.
Speaking to Indiewire, Powell confirmed that he'll start filming Edgar Wright's The Running Man this fall.
"I’m going to be shooting 'The Running Man' in the fall. So I’m going to be in London, but I am going to be going back for proctored exams," said Powell, who will also be simultaneously trying to finish up his undergraduate degree.
He continued, "Edgar has been very nice about letting me finish my degree in the middle of his massive movie...We’ve been going back and forth on script stuff, and it’s so fun. The world that Edgar’s developed on this thing is just outrageous. It’s so good. And really, we’re just both such big fans of the Stephen King book, and it’s going to be a great character. I’m so fired up about it. "
A little-known fact is that the 1987 film, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, is actually based on a Stephen King novel. Schwarzenegger's film had huge departures from the source material while the upcoming collaboration from Powell and Wright is said to be a more faithful adaptation.
For instance, in King's novel, Ben Richards is an out-of-shape everyman, down on his luck and hoping to earn money for his wife and children.
Schwarzenegger, on the other hand, portrays a powerful former police captain who is forced to take part in the lethal games after being falsely accused of a crime he did not commit.
Wright is directing the pic for Paramount Pictures, with Michael Bacall penning the script. With filming set for this fall, expect additional casting to get underway fairly soon.
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.