Edgar Wright’s The Running Man is bringing audiences a more faithful adaptation of Stephen King’s 1982 novel. It is also bringing Glen Powell in nothing but a towel on the side of a building as well as Glen Powell running around in a tank top.
The film, which releases on November 14, follows Ben Richards (Powell), a man who ends up running for his life on the game show “The Running Man.” And Wright throws Powell into some situations that will be delightful for fans of the Top Gun: Maverick actor.
But one thing I found absolutely fascinating while watching the film is how Edgar Wright shot the strength of men in this movie. Both their physical strength as well as Ben’s emotional strength. One of my notes (which I wrote in the back of Stephen King’s Misery) simply said “This is a movie about arms” and I said by it. Mainly because the camera does linger on Ben Richards’ arms when he’s propelling down the side of a building just a smidge too long to be anything other than Wright’s take on the female gaze.
I spoke with Glen Powell for The Running Man and we talked a lot about Ben’s emotional journey and how Powell connected with him but I also did bring up the arms bit because, as Wright told me, Powell was having a “guns off” with co-star Daniel Ezra and Lee Pace.
It does though show how Powell changed his body for Ben Richards because it isn’t enough for Ben to just be emotionally strong and determined to survive, we have to also believe that this man can survive on a show like this. Which led to Glen Powell saying “Harrison Ford” to me which…if you know me, you know I am still not okay.
“I just wanted Ben to be a tank”
I asked Powell about the physical transformation he had to go through and finding the balance between Ben’s inner strength and what he needed to do to physically look like a guy who was doing incredibly dangerous jobs before getting blacklisted by the Network.
“One of the things that I wanted with Ben was that he’s not John Wick,” he said. “He’s not like a professional assassin or fighter, he’s a blue collar guy who just sort of represents blue collar strength, the every man strength. And we talked about guys like Harrison Ford, guys that weren’t the guy that delivers the hardest hit but the guy that receives the hardest hit and still gets up, you know? And I just wanted Ben to be a tank.”
And Ben is very much a Harrison Ford type. He gets punched in the face and has to get up and go through the Network’s tests with blood on his face. “The amount of abuse that Ben Richard takes over this movie is kind of extraordinary. So not only did I need to practically survive it, you know, as the guy playing Ben, but I also wanted him to kind of represent a guy who’s sturdy enough to kind of take all that abuse.”
At the end of the day, Ben Richards is strong because his job demanded it of him but he really is just a guy who wants to make sure his daughter and wife are happy. As Powell said, Ben is “a guy who’s trying to show up for his family. He’s a guy that literally leaves the house on a pharmacy run. He was just trying to get medicine for his daughter and goes on this crazy, crazy adventure where the entire world is trying to hunt him. So I think for me, trying to embody that strength is… it’s twofold. It’s trying to make sure that those things feel married together, but the guns off aspect that you’re talking about…”
The “guns off” scene is one scene in the movie where Glen Powell and Daniel Ezra are talking to each other wearing tank tops and it cuts to a video of Lee Pace also with no sleeves on. You all can enjoy that when you see the film, in theaters.
You can watch our full interview here:
The Running Man is in theaters on November 14.
(featured image: Paramount Pictures)
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
