Glen Powell attends Paramount's "The Running Man" New York Premiere at AMC Lincoln Square Theater on November 09, 2025 in New York City. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text Glen Powell continues to put the counsel of Tom Cruise to optimal use. Powell, who returns to the big screen this weekend in Edgar Wright's The Running Man, knew that his mentor would be especially helpful in the lead-up to his new action thriller involving lots of running and changing of disguises. After all, that's been Cruise's bread and butter for the last 30 years. But he specifically made sure to prepare his Top Gun: Maverick co-star for the ups and downs of shooting action sequences at night, something Running Man has in spades. Related Stories Movies Josh Brolin Talks the Kiss That Led to 'The Running Man' and the Interminable Wait for 'Sicario 3' Movies 'The Running Man' Review: Glen Powell Sprints, Sweats and Bleeds, but Edgar Wright's Dystopian Thriller Seldom Gets the Pulse Racing "Most of the advice I got [from Cruise] was really just about how not to die on this movie," Powell tells The Hollywood Report in support of The Running Man's Nov. 14 theatrical release. "The reality is there's probably only one person on the planet that can give this type of advice, and it's him. So the fact that he's one call away and he's always willing to pick up, it's unbelievable." Compared to Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1987 film, Wright's The Running Man is a more faithful adaptation of Stephen King's (as Richard Bachman) dystopian novel of the same name. Powell's Ben Richards, who's desperate to provide for his wife and ailing child, reluctantly joins a deadly competition series called The Running Man. If Ben, as a "Runner," can survive countless threats from "Hunters" for a duration of 30 days, then he can win as much as $1 billion. King's source material may have been published in 1982, but it remains remarkably prescient. "When you really look at Stephen King's original book, it's set in 2025. So I don't know if there's any title that has more relevance than The Running Man today," Powell says. "When you watch this movie, every single part of it that was in Stephen King's book is so eerily familiar. It's crazy. There's everything from how we consume news and how we see our heroes-villains to how we orient with power and how the haves and the have-nots have never been more separate." Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Powell also discusses where Hollywood tends to go wrong with remakes, before addressing the status of his upcoming A24 film with Emily the Criminal filmmaker, John Patton Ford. *** Glen Powell stars as Ben Richards in Edgar Wright's The Running Man. Paramount Pictures I gotta be honest, Glen, I was hoping to see a tracksuit today. If there was ever a movie to keep that theme going, this is it. (Powell recently hosted a tracksuits-and-tequila party for his 37th birthday.) (Laughs.) I got my agent, Alex Mebed, a wrap gift on The Running Man. I had the costume department make him an actual Running Man suit, and he wore it to my tracksuits-and-tequila party, which made me very happy. But, yeah, the tracksuits were definitely a hit of a theme. They're the best costume for dancing, that's for sure. You've told the story about Stephen King having to approve your Running Man casting. Does he have this deal on all his adaptations? Or were you a special case? I actually have no idea. All I know was the experience that I went through, which was Edgar telling me that I was his choice to play Ben Richards. I then celebrated until I realized there was one more step to go. Director Edgar Wright and Glen Powell on the set of The Running Man. Paramount Pictures The original 1987 movie has its cult fans, but it's nowhere near the level of Arnold Schwarzenegger's more signature films. Even Kindergarten Cop made five times the box office that The Running Man did. Thus, would you have steered clear of this if the original was a smash hit and cast too big a shadow? The reality is that we really aren't remaking the Arnold movie. We're really putting Stephen King's book on screen for the first time. Arnold's film took a lot of creative liberties with the core concept. They isolated the story to a studio with a studio audience and the Hunters. But we took this story out into the real world where everyone can hunt you. So it becomes a much more world-hopping manhunt than what the original movie is. Anytime you're treading on a title that has any sort of legacy, I don't know if it's really about box office. It's really not even about how people feel about it. It's the why. Why make this movie now? And when you really look at Stephen King's original book, it's set in 2025. So I don't know if there's any title that has