‘Everything can kill you!’: ‘The Running Man”s Glen Powell on stunts, fitness, and the advice he received from Tom Cruise

“How prophetic, this movie!” enthuses Glen Powell of his new action film The Running Man. Based on the 1979 novel by Stephen King, it’s the kind of blockbuster packed with explosions and high-octane stakes, but one which also explores eerily timely themes of surveillance culture, reality TV obsession, and the commodification of suffering. “King wrote this in the ‘70s, it came out in ‘80s and it’s set in 2025!” he adds. “When you watch the world that Ben Richards is navigating, it’s crazy how it looks a lot like the world we’re living in now.”

Glen’s character, Ben, is an impoverished father forced to enter a ruthless gameshow with a life-changing cash prize to support his family. (The character was previously played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1987 version). The point of the show is literal survival: Ben must last 30 days while being hunted by both deadly professional assassins and a bloodthirsty society at large; Josh Brolin plays Dan, a corrupt producer pulling strings behind the scenes, and Colman Domingo is Bobby, the show’s charismatic host who adds a surreal showbiz sparkle to the bloodshed. 

Here, Glen reflects further on the film’s themes of media manipulation and disinformation, shares insights into his approach to fitness for the role, and chats about his friendship with mentor and Top Gun: Maverick co-star Tom Cruise.

Did you get to speak to Stephen King during the making of this film?

I have not talked to Stephen King directly. […] But I had to get approved by Stephen King before signing on. So, it’s cool – even just the fact that Stephen King knows my name at all!

Do you have a favourite Stephen King book?

It. That was kind of the beginning of my fear of clowns! He’s one of the most prolific writers. Look at the year we’re having right now with King: The Long Walk and The Life of Chuck. He plays in every genre. He’s one of the greats. 

Which stunt made you the most nervous?

It’s never the big stunts that you’ve got to worry about. There are scenes in the movie where I’m jumping from explosions and those are the ones the stunt people are worried about. “OK, we’ve got to time the explosion, the cars are hitting at this certain time.” But they’ve talked it out so much that on the day it almost feels like not even a big deal. It’s the small ones that, actually… Tom Cruise gave me advice. He said, ‘it’s the small ones you’ve got to worry about.’ Where everybody’s like: ‘Oh, you’re just sprinting down an alleyway…’ But it’s 5am, it is cobblestone, it’s full of oil… You take a corner wrong; a car comes out of nowhere – it’s like these small things that you just wouldn’t expect are the most dangerous ones.

I bet you’ve got to be so switched on…

It’s the weirdest thing. I wouldn’t say I’m reckless, but I’m not a guy that thinks about like safety all the time. But on these things – for instance, there’s like this train sequence, where I’m running next to this train. It’s 5am in Bulgaria, freezing temperatures, there’s a car coming, there are bullet hits, there’s a moving train, so you have the time it with the train, and there’s a camera crane that moved. The camera crane went in the wrong direction. So, I’m at full sprint with a car behind me and a train next to me, so there’s no exit, and the camera crane. I duck under the camera crane! [Sometimes] you’re running full sprint, and there’s a piece of metal that could, like, totally end you… It’s those sorts of things you just don’t expect. You’ve just got to be switched on. Everything can kill you!

I read an interview of yours where you said you wanted to get the body like a tank for this role…

It was just training almost like an athlete. As a grown man, I don’t know when the last time you’ve run for your life was. But I would just wake up and sprint. You teach your body how to do that. […] When you’re jumping off something, or rolling down, sliding, your body is not used to it. So, I just trained. When I say, ‘to be a tank’, I trained to absorb and take hits. It’s like an athlete. Sometimes people in these movies get in shape to like, flex. I wasn’t worried about that. I just wanted to survive!

Does Tom like the film?

He loved it. It was so fun to watch it with him last night. He came to the premiere. He lost his mind for it. He just kept saying, “that is a ‘movie’. That is a big movie. That’s why you go. That’s why you go to the theatres.” It really is. It’s so much ‘movie’.

Sometimes, you see a trailer, and you kind of know where it’s going. This is not one you get ahead of. Also, it leaves you thinking because it’s about the time that we’re living in. That’s the most fun part. It’s a big thrill ride, people are on the edge of their seat, but then they leave having these conversations about where we are in the world. Where we’ve put ourselves as humans. All the deep ideas.

I loved seeing a super masculine character who cares about his family and has a moral code. How do you interpret what the film is trying to say about modern masculinity?

I think at the very beginning of this movie, it’s a guy who is put down by a system in which he’s trying to stand up for other people, and he’s punished for it. A good guy who’s trying to show up for his family. Keep his daughter healthy and be a good father. He kind of doesn’t have anywhere to turn. And by signing up for this sort of unwinnable game show, being hunted down by the entire planet, and sort of being made a villain, he finds purpose in himself. He realises his situation is not unique. Looking to the left and the right, everybody is going through that situation. So, for me, the masculine elements of this are not just, doing whatever it takes to show up for your family, but also realising, you know that other people are in this situation and standing up for them. That’s what I resonated with. Sometimes, we are protecting our own, which I think is incredibly valid and important. But in the most inhumane game show, he realises his humanity and the humanity of others, which I love.

Another major film with a theme of the film is media manipulation and disinformation. When you’re exploring these thought-provoking themes on set, does it prompt conversations?

Yeah. It’s the world we’re all living in. The thing that really fascinated me is when we’re on like Instagram and TikTok… Did you ever see like Bo Burnham’s special, Inside? I thought it was brilliant. What was so interesting about it is, the way that we, through TikTok and Instagram and everything, you are just taking in so much different information, so much different storytelling. Sometimes it’s carnage. The worst moments of people’s lives. And how quick we are to label these things. You don’t look at the nuance. It’s there for quick clicks; it’s there for likes and traffic and sales. We’re so quick to judge and engage with it in such a flippant way. What’s so fun for me about this movie is, that’s exactly what you do, you have a guy who’s trying to do his best, but just getting chucked, because that’s what you must do. Just like in a great reality show, you need a villain, and that’s what they needed to make. These topics will resonate with people.

If you could only take 3 action films to a desert island, what would they be?

Do I get to have the have the DVD BTS commentary and everything? I’m going to go Die Hard, Jurassic Park and The Rock. 

The Running Man hits UK cinemas on 12 November.