Glen Powell lands next lead movie role in action remake
Glen Powell has found his next lead role in Edgar Wright's The Running Man.
One of the hottest names in Hollywood right now, Powell's recent work includes Top Gun: Maverick, rom-com Anyone But You and this summer's disaster sequel Twisters, but now he's taking his biggest swing yet by remaking a beloved Arnold Schwarzenegger actioner.
Variety reports that his casting was officially announced in a Paramount Pictures presentation at this week's CinemaCon.
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Stephen King penned the original novel under his pseudonym Richard Bachman in 1982, with Schwarzenegger and director Paul Michael Glaser's adaptation arriving five years later.
The story takes us to the year 2025 in a dystopian United States, where the nation's economy is in tatters and violence threatens to overrun the world. A protagonist named Ben Richards participates in the bloodthirsty reality show The Running Man, in which contestants attempt to win a cash prize by escaping a team of assassins.
Following the pulse-pounding energy of Hot Fuzz, Baby Driver and Last Night in Soho, Wright seems a deft choice to take this remake forward.
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Meanwhile, Powell's acclaimed action-comedy Hit Man will premiere on Netflix this June.
Holding a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes, it's directed by Richard Linklater of School of Rock fame and finds the actor playing a college professor moonlighting as an undercover policeman who entraps those wishing to hire a killer.
"The film has a screwball zing to the pacing that seems grounded, like so many of Linklater's movies, in a depthless affection for actors. The performances are framed so lovingly, from the leads right down to every petty criminal and background artist, that the craftsmanship becomes barely noticeable — just a delivery vehicle for a cracking tall(ish) tale," read a review from The Hollywood Reporter.
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