When I first heard that Edgar Wright’s (Shaun of the Dead, Baby Driver) newest project was a re-imagining of ‘The Running Man,’ Stephen King’s sci-fi dystopian extravaganza, I immediately pictured opera-singing Dynamo (clap if you love Dynamo!) from the 1987 adaptation. The 80’s Arnold flick, directed by Paul Michael Glaser, took a few liberties with the source material, resulting in a spectacularly gory cheese-fest. The novel, on the other hand, plays it straight. Set in 2025, America is in totalitarian lockdown.
Protagonist Ben Richards joins ‘The Running Man,’ a popular television program where contestants are paid $100 an hour to travel anywhere in the world while evading death from an elite squad of “hunters.” If the contestant can survive for 30 days they will receive 1 billion dollars. Spoiler alert: Nobody has ever won. Deadline reports that Wright & co. will stick closer to the source material for this adaptation.
This isn’t exactly groundbreaking news from Wright, who mentioned in 2017 that if he could remake any movie it would be ‘The Running Man.’ Joining Wright is past writing collaborator Michael Bacall. No other pre-production or casting news to report for now, but here’s hoping for a proper Richard Dawson replacement. And maybe, just maybe, Dynamo!
Credit: TriStar Pictures // TAFT Entertainment Pictures // Keith Barish Productions //
