Glen Powell had to hold his breath before officially landing his next big role The running manand the reason was none other than Stephen King himself.
During a panel at New York Comic Con, the Twisters actor said that although director Edgar Wright had offered him the lead role in the upcoming Paramount Pictures film adaptation, it was not a done deal until the author who wrote the original 1982 novel gave his approval.
“Edgar offered me this film and I thought, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Let’s go…’ And then, later that night [Edgar says]“By the way, you have to be approved by Stephen King. He goes to look Touch man tonight,” Powell recalled according to PEOPLE.
That made for a long, anxious night for the actor.
“And so I had to wait overnight for Stephen King to watch Touch man and I hope I still have the roll tomorrow morning. It’s terrible,” he said.
Luckily for Powell, King gave his 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 ailing daughter.
The deadly game show follows contestants who are hunted by professional hitmen, 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 is the most famous English teacher in history,” Wright said.
“I was like, ‘This is so nerve-wracking to turn in our homework on.’ [him]. But he loved the screenplay, so it was great. ”
The Baby driver filmmaker added that his opinion was over The running man will serve as a “tribute” to both King’s novel and the 1987 film adaptation starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
However, Wright clarified that his version will be “more faithful to the book” than the earlier film.
Originally scheduled for release on November 7, The running man will now arrive in theaters a week later to take advantage of Imax screens, a fitting upgrade for a story that promises action, suspense and a modern twist on a dystopian classic.
