Tag: Stephen King

'The Running Man': Josh Brolin Playing Villaneous Game Show Puppetmaster In Edgar Wright's Sci-Fi Remake
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‘The Running Man’: Josh Brolin Playing Villainous Game Show Puppetmaster In Edgar Wright’s Sci-Fi Remake

During a New York Comic-Con Panel hosted by Collider, actor Josh Brolin revealed he’s joined the cast of Edgar Wright‘s “The Running Man.” The film is based on the Stephen King novel that was previously adapted into the Arnold Schwarzenegger-led sci-fi thriller from 1987 and focused on a man wrongfully convicted of a massacre. Forced to compete in a to-the-death game show, where average men have to face down veteran “slayers” who were outfitted with various deadly weapons and colorful costumes.

Trade reports are claiming that Brolin will be playing a villain in the film, potentially the architect or host of the game show. Making him the main antagonist of this new incarnation.

Glen Powell (“Top Gun: Maverick”) had been previously announced as the new Ben Richards, taking up the role from Schwarzenegger, and the new film is said to be closer to the original novel. The King novel differs a bit from the feature film as Richards willingly volunteers to compete on the show to afford medicine for his sickly daughter and aims to potentially sacrifice himself in order to help her.

Brolin isn’t a stranger to genre projects, having played Thanos in multiple MCU movies, a baddie in Robert Rodriguez’s zombie flick “Planet Terror,” Cable in “Deadpool 2,” and has a supporting role in Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” trilogy.

Wright’s remake is set to be released on November 21, 2025, by Paramount Pictures.

SOURCE: COLLIDER

'The Running Man': Paramount & Edgar Wright Remake Casts Glen Powell In Lead Role
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‘The Running Man’: Paramount & Director Edgar Wright Tap Glen Powell To Star In Sci-Fi Action Remake

Another interesting bit of news coming out of the Paramount Pictures panel today at CinemaCon 2024 is that Edgar Wright‘s remake of the sci-fi actioner “The Running Man” has tapped rising star Glen Powell (“Top Gun: Maverick”) to play the lead role of Ben Richards that previously was portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1980s feature adaptation of the Stephen King novel.

The remake from Wright is said to be closer to the original novel that saw Richards being lured into participating in the deadly game show known as The Running Man to get money to help his sickly daughter get medicine/medical care. Elements from the King novel that were sort of pushed aside to make Schwarzenegger’s involvement a little more believable in an action-focused incarnation.

Powell was most recently seen in “Anyone But You” opposite Sydney Sweeney; there have been rumblings online that Wright could end up directing her in Sony’s feature remake of the classic French comic book film “Barbarella,” which starred Jane Fonda in the 1960s.

Wright, of course, is best known for his Cornetto Trilogy (“Shaun of The Dead,” “Hot Fuzz,” “The World’s End”) alongside things like “Baby Driver” and the thriller “Last Night In Soho.”

SOURCE: PARAMOUNT PICTURES VIA CINEMACON 2024

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‘Salem’s Lot’: James Wan-Produced Vampire Pic Taps ‘Top Gun: Maverick’s Lewis Pullman As Lead Of The Stephen King Adaptation

New Line Cinema, producer James Wan, and writer/director Gary Dauberman are teaming up for a new feature film adaption of the Stephen King novel Salem’s Lot, which features vampires in a small town.

Salem’s Lot is a small New England town with white clapboard houses, tree-lined streets, and solid church steeples. A stranger had also come to the Lot, a stranger with a secret as old as evil, a secret that would wreak irreparable harm on those he touched and in turn on those they loved. Author Ben Mears returns to Salem’s Lot to write a book about a house that has haunted him since childhood only to find his isolated hometown infested with vampires. While the vampires claim more victims, Mears convinces a small group of believers to combat the undead.

There is finally some casting news to share on the project.

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that the horror film’s protagonist, Ben Mears, will be played by Lewis Pullman (son of Bill Pullman), who is likely best known from Bad Times At The El Royale and will be seen in Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick.

Filming on Salem’s Lot begins next month in Boston, according to the report.

It’ll be interesting if they’ll end up hiring bigger names or seasoned actors to surround Pullman in the supporting cast.

You might remember that Gary Dauberman previously wrote the scripts for Andy Muschietti’s It and It: Chapter Two for director, another Stephen King adaptation. He’s also wrote stuff such as the Swamp Thing series, The Nun, Annabelle Comes Homes, Annabelle: Creation, and Annabelle.

The Ronin previously confirmed that cinematographer Michael Burgess would be the film’s director of photography. With extensive horror credits such as Annabelle Comes Home, The Nun, The Conjuring 2, The Curse of La Llorona, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and James Wan’s upcoming horror pic Malignant.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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‘Salem’s Lot’: James Wan-Produced Vampire Flick Adds ‘Malignant’ Cinematographer Michael Burgess

New Line Cinema, producer James Wan, and writer/director Gary Dauberman are re-teaming for a feature film adaptation of the Stephen King vampire novel Salem’s Lot.

Salem’s Lot is a small New England town with white clapboard houses, tree-lined streets, and solid church steeples. A stranger had also come to the Lot, a stranger with a secret as old as evil, a secret that would wreak irreparable harm on those he touched and in turn on those they loved. Author Ben Mears returns to Salem’s Lot to write a book about a house that has haunted him since childhood only to find his isolated hometown infested with vampires. While the vampires claim more victims, Mears convinces a small group of believers to combat the undead.

Dauberman has some strong horror credits as he previously wrote the scripts for It and It: Chapter Two for director Andy Muschietti, another Stephen King adaptation. Other projects he’s written include the Swamp Thing series, The Nun, Annabelle Comes Homes, Annabelle: Creation, and Annabelle.

Things are finally coming together on Salem’s Lot as they’re assembling their production team.

The Ronin can confirm that cinematographer Michael Burgess will reunite with director Gary Dauberman, after previously working with him on Annabelle Comes Home. Burgess has worked on other horror films such as The Nun, The Conjuring 2, The Curse of La Llorona, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and James Wan’s upcoming horror pic Malignant.

We’re still waiting on official news concerning casting for Salem’s Lot.

James Wan is currently shooting Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Watford, England with Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, and Patrick Wilson reprising their roles.

His next pic Malignant will hit theaters and HBO Max on September 10.

Madison is paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders, and her torment worsens as she discovers that these waking dreams are in fact terrifying realities.

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Edgar Wright To Direct New Faithful Version of Stephen King’s ‘The Running Man’ For Paramount

Deadline is reporting that Edgar Wright is set to direct a new/faithful version of Stephen King’s The Running Man for Paramount Pictures, taking more cues from the original King story than the 1987 film that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film took liberties with the source material to make it conform into a Schwarzenegger action pic.

Wright will co-write the story with Scott Pilgrim collaborator Michael Becall, who will ultimately write the script. The novel published under the faux name Richard Bachman had elements that weren’t used in the film including Ben’s sick daughter and how he signs up for the game show to pay her medical bills.

The Running Man is set within a dystopian future in which the poor are seen more by the government as worrisome rodents than actual human beings. The protagonist of The Running Man, Ben Richards, is quick to realize this as he watches his daughter, Cathy, grow more sick by the day and tread closer and closer to death. Desperate for money to pay Cathy’s medical bills, Ben enlists himself in a true reality style game show where the objective is to merely stay alive.

Given how well Wright handles action I’m sure it will be a substantial modern upgrade.

The original film version became a bit of a cult hit and one of the better Arnold flicks that aged reasonably well given it’s rocky production and a few problematic scenes.

THE RUNNING MAN – In the year 2019, America is a totalitarian state where the favorite television program is “The Running Man” — a game show in which prisoners must run to freedom to avoid a brutal death. Having been made a scapegoat by the government, an imprisoned Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has the opportunity to make it back to the outside again by being a contestant on the deadly show, although the twisted host, Damon Killian (Richard Dawson), has no intention of letting him escape.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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Zac Efron’s New Dad Bod Lands Him Dad Role In ‘Firestarter’ Remake – Based On Stephen King Novel

Collider is reporting that Zac Efron has landed the role of Andy McGee in Blumhouse’s remake of the sci-fi action thriller Firestarter based on the Stephen King novel. Andy is the father of Charlie a young girl with telekinesis powers that include the ability to create fire out of thin air. Keith Thomas will direct a script penned by Halloween Kills screenwriter Scott Teems.

Zac Efron’s Netflix series Down To Earth turned heads when the actor revealed his “dad bod” which has led to him now playing dad roles.

The original 1984 film starred Drew Barrymore as Charlie.

Firestarter was a huge influence on the Netflix series Stranger Things.

Universal Pictures hasn’t given the film a release date.

FIRESTARTER – As youths, Andy McGee (David Keith) and his future wife, Vicky (Heather Locklear), participated in secret experiments, allowing themselves to be subjected to mysterious medical tests. Years later, the couple’s daughter, Charlie (Drew Barrymore), begins to exhibit the ability of setting fires solely with her mind. This volatile talent makes the youngster extremely dangerous and soon she becomes a target for the enigmatic agency known as “The Shop.”

SOURCE: COLLIDER