Paramount's THE RUNNING MAN from Edgar Wright (TBD) 1 1

[Bosco685]

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Paramount Pictures is making a deal with Edgar Wright to develop to direct a new adaptation of The Running Man, the futuristic novel by Stephen King that the author first published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. This won’t be a remake of the 1987 film that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger; the Baby Driver writer-director will co-write the story with Michael Bacall, and they will be much more faithful to King’s bestselling novel. Bacall will write the --script.

Simon Kinberg will produce through Kinberg’s Genre Films banner, alongside Nira Park from Wright’s Complete Fiction banner, and Genre Films’ Audrey Chon. Kinberg brought the idea to Emma Watts, based on their long relationship, and then Kinberg courted Wright. While the filmmaker is very selective, the prospect of a new The Running Man is one that has intrigued him; to the point that when asked if he could remake any film, he would choose that one. This was back in 2017. Now it has become real.

 

This becomes a top priority pic for Paramount, and a novel, which King published as a paperback back in 1982, a dystopian thriller that still feels prescient in the current collision between pop culture and politics, this before social media ratcheted up the stakes. Alex Jackson is shepherding it at Paramount.

 

Edited February 20, 2021 by Bosco685

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It’s about time! As much as I love Arnold, The Running Man movie was garbage. It wasn’t even close to the novel. And that ending was one of the most powerful endings I’ve ever read right up to the very last sentence. I was completely blown away. Wide eyed and smiling on the last page. 

[Comicopolis]

Yes, I hope they stick to the novel.

Edited February 22, 2021 by Comicopolis

[Bosco685]

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/FILM: That's awesome. So I know I've got to let you go in a second. I've got two quick questions I'd like to get to if you don't mind. First off, Edgar Wright is one of my favorite directors working today. You are working on "The Running Man" with him. What's going on with that? Can you tell me anything about that?

 

 

SIMON KINBERG: Yeah, he's one of my favorite directors of all time and one of my favorite people, just a super great guy. Obviously a cinephile. We are working on it actively. He's actively working on the script with Michael Bacall. And our hope would be that it is a movie that, again, all fingers crossed and luck and everything else go our way, that Edgar could maybe direct next year. That's one that's ripe for a remake. Well, what's cool is that Edgar, completely separately, before myself and Paramount started down the journey of figuring out how to get the remake rights, which was complicated, he had tweeted, just on his own — and I follow him obviously on every possible platform — he had tweeted that if there was one movie he would remake ever, it was "Running Man."

 

[NewEnglandGothic]

On 2/22/2021 at 1:04 PM, Comicopolis said:

Yes, I hope they stick to the novel.

Maybe not the best ending to do cinematically for mainstream audiences.