Glen Powell Needed Stephen King’s Approval for THE RUNNING MAN Role

I saw Stephen King in person once at Fenway Park. It was really weird! Like seeing a literal living monolith… in a Red Sox hat. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to actually speak to him. So I definitely have no idea what it must have been like for Glen Powell when he was hoping to star in Edgar Wright’s The Running Man. Powell had to spend a night waiting for Stephen King to watch one of his movies so he could find out if the iconic author approved of his casting in The Running Man.

Paramount Pictures

At a panel during this year’s New York Comic Con (which we first heard about at People), Powell told the story of needing the official okay from King to star in the upcoming adaptation of his 1982 dystopian novel. Powell said he instantly said yes when Wright offered him the lead role in his film. The director called him later that day to say it wasn’t official until King signed off on Powell’s casting. Before King would do that, Wright said the author was going to watch Powell’s Hit Man.

“And so I had to wait overnight for Stephen King to watch Hit Man and hope that I still had the role in the morning,” said Powell. “It’s terrible.” (And, I can only guess, totally surreal!) It was definitely not terrible when King “loved” Hit Man, as Powell said. And as a result he is now playing Ben Richards, The Running Man‘s main character who must survive the story’s deadly reality game.

Powell wasn’t alone in going through the King approval torture chamber, though. Wright said he experienced something similar after sending the author his script. He called it “nerve-wracking to have to hand in our homework.” Fortunately King loved that, too.

Of course, liking Wright’s script and Powell’s performance in Hit Man pales in comparison to what really matters. The real question is what King thinks of the movie they made based on his novel.

I definitely can’t imagine what it’s like waiting to find out if Stephen King likes that.

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Source: Kiat Media