Director Edgar Wright joined actors Glen Powell and Lee Pace at The Running Man panel at New York Comic Con Friday morning with multiple commercial promos for the titular TV game show within the world of the film. Attendees also saw three exclusive clips throughout the event.
The first clip showed several sequences fleshing out the struggles that drive Ben Richards’ (Powell) decision to audition for the extreme reality competition show followed by scenes showing the physical and psychological testing to determine his suitability for the show.
Another clip screened for Comic Con attendees begins with Richards interacting with the shows’ Producer, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin) backstage before being brought out onto the show before a live studio audience as host Bobby T (Colman Domingo) smears Richards to rile up the crowd. Then, Richards enters a pod that shoots him down a tube as he begins his 30-day run for his life.
Lastly, the Comic Con crowd got a lengthy look at the apartment building action sequence that begins with a half naked Glen Powell clad only in a towel evading the capture of various pursuers including masked hunter Evan McCone (Lee Pace) and ends with the grenade in the elevator gag teased in the first trailer.
”Ben Richards is the ultimate underdog,” Powell said. “He’s a noble guy, you know, who is facing off against the most powerful, oppressive system there is. So there’s no greater stakes.”
“Ben Richards in the book is very much a— He’s very frustrated with the system. He’s been pushed down. He’s trying to provide for his family, and every single option has been taken away from him in order to do that. So thus is a man who’s just trying to provide for his family in a place that doesn’t allow him to do that. So there’s a growing frustration and an anger there.”
“The book was written in 1982, and it’s set in 2025,” Edgar Wright said. “And the jacket of the 1982 book said this: ‘In the year 2025, the best men don’t run for president; they run for their lives.’ It’s crazy. The fact that this film is coming out in 2025 is wild.”
This version, according to Wright doesn’t identify the year, but there is at least one nod to the earlier 1987 film iteration. Arnold Schwarzenegger appears on the $100 bill.
“The other movie is obviously very much of the ’80s,” Powell said. “It stays within the confines of the studio. The coolest part about this one that I’m just really excited about is Edgar decided to take this thing — loyal to book — out into the real world. So it’s like the entire world is after this guy. Normal citizens can record, report you. They can take you out. So it’s like this ever-present feeling of tension around the entire movie; it’s relentless.”
“You’re simultaneously watching a guy in danger for his life but also laughing at the circumstances. Here’s this fun, bright, colorful world of this reality show around a guy who is struggling for his life. For me, what’s really funny about Colman Domingo’s character and Josh Brolin’s character, and I’m a guy who, this shit is real for me, life or death.”
