Sometimes, we want a blockbuster that gives us an extraordinary hero – a super man or fantastic family to rally behind, going up against impossible
Sometimes, we want a blockbuster that gives us an extraordinary hero – a super man or fantastic family to rally behind, going up against impossible intergalactic odds. But on the flip-side, it’s demanding not to root for stories about the everyman (or woman) – someone not destined for hero-dom, but thrust into circumstances where they’ll have to dig deep to survive. The Running Man is firmly in the latter mould, a fresh adaptation of the Stephen King novel from director Edgar Wright, with Glen Powell as Ben Richards – a man who enters a deadly televised game to win the money he desperately needs to save his family.
He couldn’t be more of the everyman hero. “I just don’t identify with people with superpowers for the most part,” Powell tells Empire, of why Richards appealed to him so much. “I like the ordinary guy against extraordinary odds. The entire world is hunting this man, trying to kill him. Can he survive? Can he save his family? That’s a great, simple story.”
It proved a better fit for the actor than a role he opted to turn down on this summer’s epic dino blockbuster Jurassic World Rebirth. “Sometimes you’ve got to close your eyes and put yourself in that movie, and you’re like, ‘No, I would not be good in this movie,’” he explains of sinking the part. “‘There’s somebody better that’s gonna breathe more life into this, or can do a better job than I can.’ And you just have to be realistic about that. Sometimes you put yourself out of a job, but that’s okay.” Even if it isn’t away from dinosaurs, Glen Powell is ready to run.
Read Empire’s full The Running Man story in the Avatar: Fire And Ash issue – on sale Thursday 31 July. Pre-order a copy online here. The Running Man comes to UK cinemas from 7 November.
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