Edgar Wright talks about his adaptation of Stephen King’s THE RUNNING MAN and his desire to stay faithful to the book

Edgar Wright has been attached to direct a new film adaptation of Stephen King The runner for a couple of years. He’s actively developing it, and in a recent interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, he discussed his vision for the film and how he wants it to be a true adaptation of the book, not like the original 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which was a thing completely different. Wright said:

“I think even nowadays it’s like in terms of similar, you know, I think when remakes are done well it’s whether there’s something else to add or there’s a different take on it. So I think the problem sometimes is recently how the remakes are just kind of facsimiles of the original movie and I don’t get too excited about a lot of them because they feel like kind of karaoke versions of the originals.Obviously in the 70’s and 80’s there were those where they were additive like Philip Kauffman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers or John Carpenter’s The Thing or David Cronenberg’s The Fly; it’s taking something and doing something interesting with it.’

He goes on to talk specifically about The runner and his vision about it, saying:

“In terms of similar things that I’ve done, as you know, The Running Man, which is something that’s in active development. Why is that interesting to me? I like the movie, but I like the book more and they “Not I actually adapted the book. Even as a teenager, when I saw the Schwarzenegger movie, I thought, “Oh, this is nothing like the book,” and I don’t think anyone has adapted that book. So when this came out, I was thinking I know and Simon Kinberg says “Do you have any interest in The Running Man?” I said, “You know, what I often thought that book was something like crying out to be adapted.” That doesn’t mean it’s easy, but like it’s something we’re working on, yeah, I’ll say that.”

The runner is a dystopian story set in a future society where the government controls everything, the story follows Ben Richards, a desperate and impoverished man who participates in a deadly game called “The Running Man” to win money for his family. The game sees Richards being hunted by professional killers as he tries to evade capture for a month. As he navigates a decaying and dangerous cityscape, Richards becomes a symbol of resistance against the oppressive government.

I love that Wright actually adapts a Stephen King story and I’m confident he’ll do a great job. I’m excited about this film project!