Long before Edgar Wright’s The Running Man hits theaters this week, the director of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz had been thinking about making it. He read the original 1982 novel by Stephen King (under his pseudonym Richard Bachman) as a boy and excitedly went to theaters in 1987 to see the film version, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Wright enjoyed the adaptation but was a little let down by just how different it was from the novel.
Years later, after he’d become a successful filmmaker, he looked into acquiring the rights to remake it, but they were unavailable. A few years after that, when asked on Twitter about a movie he’d love to remake, he answered “The Running Man.” Later still, producer Simon Kinberg, who’d recently gotten hold of the rights, remembered that and reached out to Wright. It was a literal dream come true.
On November 14, Wright’s much more faithful, expansive adaptation of King’s story is in theaters. io9 spoke to the director in Los Angeles about that journey, and many other things. We talked about the film’s pace, about Lee Pace, paying homage to the original, as well as his interactions with King, which included gifting him a very special item from the set. We also spoke about the recent 20th anniversary of Wright’s iconic film Shaun of the Dead and why, years later, he now finally understands why the 1987 Running Man made the changes it made.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Germain Lussier, io9: So you famously tweeted that you would love to remake The Running Man, Simon Kinberg saw that and made it happen. What was it like when you got that email or call from him to say like, “Hey, remember that thing you said? I think I can make it a reality.”
Edgar Wright: I mean, it very rarely happens. I can’t really think of another time in my career where somebody’s actually sent me a property that I’m already aware of and want to do. So, yeah. A once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.
io9: And I read somewhere that you kind of had ideas in your head already. How much of the movie did you have made in your head at that point?
Wright: Well, I read the book when I was a teenager, and I read the book before I’d actually seen the 1987 version. So, I’m sure you do the same thing when you read the book, you start to visualize it. So, even before I knew I wanted to be a film director, I’d sort of seen a version of it in my head. But then, maybe because when I saw the other adaptation I was aware of the book, I also knew that there was a different movie that could be adapted for that material. And in fact, even before that tweet, maybe about 15 years ago, I’d actually looked into the rights of The Running Man, which at that time was sort of complicated and unavailable.
So, I think that’s probably not the first time I’d answered that question because it’s one of those questions that comes up in interviews, like, “What film would you like to remake?” But, the irony is I don’t really think that this a remake of that film. It is a new adaptation of the same source material.
io9: Which is, yeah, what’s so interesting about it, that movie stands on its own, the book stands on its own, and your movie stands on its own. Even though you’re so faithful, though, anything from that movie, besides Arnold’s little cameo, that you wanted to bring in?
Wright: I think the only things where we nod to the 1987 movie are the great man himself, Mr. Schwarzenegger, and I’d say probably the cheerleaders. [Laughs] Which is not in the book, but I did sort of in tribute to Paula Abdul’s choreography from the 1987 film. And it was actually in the script, initially. I said, “We should have the dancers. We should do that.” So, yeah, that was the other nod.
io9: Did you ever think about making the Hunters a little more flamboyant, like they were in the original?
Wright: No, I think that’s very much the 1987 film.
io9: Okay.
Wright: I thought you were going to say, would you make a film about the cheerleaders?
io9: [Laughs] Yeah, that’s the sequel. We’ll get that spin-off as a point. The movie’s so well-paced. It’s so fast. And I’m wondering, how does that work across all phases? Like, do you feel it in pre-production? It’s something you’re thinking about on set, editing, tell me a little about, sort of, how you worked that into the movie?
Wright: I think you’re doing that all the way through. I mean, obviously, in the writing process, in storyboarding, making the movie, and then, especially in the editing. And I think, as you may or may not know, we started shooting a year ago today [Note: This interview was conducted on October 30.]
The Running Man is out November 14.
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