It’s no easy feat to get horror maestro Stephen King to approve a casting choice for a movie based on one of his works — or is it? According to Glen Powell, who stars in the upcoming adaptation of The Running Man, it might be easy, but it’s agonizing nonetheless.
“[Director] Edgar [Wright} offered me this movie, and I was like, ‘Yes,’” the actor revealed at New York Comic Con recently. “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.'”
Needless to say, that notion would flare up anyone’s anxiety. “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,” Powell explained. “It’s terrible.” However, despite the intensity of the moment, he was ultimately approved by King to play the role of Ben Richards, the central character of the horror writer’s beloved 1982 novel on which the movie is based — and King reportedly “loved” Hit Man, just FYI.
The novel was originally published under Richard Bachman and follows Richards as he ends up part of a nationalized game show in a near dystopian future in which contestants are hunted for one month by trained killers all over the nation. The competition affords whoever stays alive the entire month $1 billion.
Wright directs from a screenplay penned by himself and Michael Bacall. The movie has a star-studded cast alongside Powell, including Colman Domingo, William H. Macy, Lee Pace, Emilia Jones, Michael Cera, Josh Brolin, Daniel Ezra, and Jayme Lawson.
This is the second adaptation of the story, with the first coming just five years after the book was published. The 1987 film starred Arnold Schwarzenegger in the role of Ben Richards.
The Running Man will sprint into theaters on November 14, 2025. Stephen King, meanwhile, recently revealed his top 10 favorite movies, while keeping adaptations of his own works out of the mix.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
