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First published under the pseudonym King Richard Bachman, the novel has already inspired a 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Director Edgar Wright is planning his next project, an adaptation of Stephen King’s dystopian sci-fi novel “The Running Man” for Paramount Pictures. Deadline first broke the news that Wright will team up with “Scott Pilgrim Against the World” screenwriter Michael Bacall on an adaptation that promises to be true to the source material, a 1982 book by King originally released under his pseudonym of Richard Bachman. Wright and Bacall will write the story together, with Bacall writing the screenplay.
The novel, set in the United States in 2025, previously inspired a 1987 sci-fi film, also called “The Running Man,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and directed by Paul Michael Glaser. King’s novel is set in a totalitarian, violent and economically depressed world where the protagonists participate in a game show called “The Running Man”. Competitors are allowed to go anywhere in the world, but are pursued by hunters tasked with killing them. Although published as Bachman in 1982, King reissued it under his own name in an omnibus titled “The Bachman Books”, which also included “Rage”, “The Long Walk” and “Roadwork” in 1985.
“X-Men” film producer Simon Kinberg will be producing with Audrey Chon through his Genre Films banner, alongside Nira Park in Wright’s own outfit.
Back in 2017 on Twitter, Edgar Wright told fans that if he was going to remake a movie it would be “The Running Man.” The original 1987 film received mixed reviews, although it was praised for accurately predicting elements of 21st century life that did indeed occur.
Wright just received excellent reviews at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year for his musical documentary “The Sparks Brothers”. The film centers on Ron and Russell Mael, the duo behind the popular pop and rock group Sparks.
Meanwhile, the world is still waiting for their next thriller “Last Night in Soho”, which takes place on the London fashion scene and starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, Matt Smith, Diana Rigg and Terence Stamp. The film was first scheduled by distributor Focus Features for a September 25 release before being pushed back to April 23 of this year, and then finally to October 22, 2021. Co-written by Krysty Wilson-Cairns (nominated screenwriter Oscars for “1917”), “Last Night in Soho” centers on a young girl who mysteriously enters the 1960s, where all is not what it seems.
IndieWire has reached out to Paramount Pictures for comment.
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