Glen Powell had to hold his breath before officially landing his next big role in The Running Man, and the reason was none other than Stephen King himself.
During a panel at New York Comic Con, the Twisters actor shared that although director Edgar Wright had offered him the lead role in Paramount Pictures’ upcoming adaptation, it wasn’t a done deal until the author who wrote the original 1982 novel gave his approval.
“Edgar offered me this movie, and I was like, ‘Yes.’ I’m like, ‘Let’s go…’ And then, like, later that night [Edgar says], ‘By the way, like, you have to be approved by Stephen King. He’s gonna watch Hit Man tonight,’” Powell recalled, according to PEOPLE.
That set up a long, anxious night for the actor.
“And so I had to wait overnight for Stephen King to watch Hit Man and hope that I still had the role in the morning. It’s terrible,” he said.
Luckily for Powell, King gave his stamp of approval after watching the film.
“He loved it,” the actor confirmed, a decision that secured his role as Ben Richards, the story’s working-class protagonist who is forced to take part in a brutal reality competition to save his sick daughter.
The deadly game show follows contestants being hunted by professional assassins, with survival as their only goal.
Wright, who is directing and co-writing the screenplay with Michael Bacall, revealed that King also reviewed their first draft before production began.
“Stephen King read the screenplay before we started filming, and you know, Stephen King, he’s like the most famous English teacher in history,” Wright said.
“I was like, ‘This is so nerve-wracking to have to hand in our homework to [him]. But he loved the screenplay, and so it was great.’”
The Baby Driver filmmaker added that his take on The Running Man will serve as an “homage” to both King’s novel and the 1987 movie adaptation starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
However, Wright clarified that his version will be “more faithful to the book” than the earlier film.
Originally slated for a November 7 release, The Running Man will now hit theaters a week later to make use of Imax screens, a fitting upgrade for a story that promises action, suspense, and a modern twist on a dystopian classic.
