Glen Powell is preparing to enter the spotlight once again with the release of his next project. Edgar Wright’s The Running Man will see the young star playing one of Stephen King‘s most action-oriented characters — a reality television contestant whose odds are not in his favor. Richards must battle against all sorts of villains in order to survive the most dangerous competition of the future: The Running Man. And while Powell’s no stranger to the action genre, he admits that his role in the dystopian thriller has been his most demanding to date. The reason? He’s performing most of the stunts himself.
Powell spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the upcoming release of The Running Man, which is due to sprint into theaters on November 14. In the interview, he admits to performing the white-knuckle stunts and how he wanted to prove to the audience that it was him all along. The actor had to come to an agreement with Wright in order to show viewers that he was willing to take a few punches for entertainment purposes:
“There’s a difference in the investment of an audience when they know it’s you. You can always kind of tell when there’s a double, the way they’re cheating it, the way they’re framing it is trying to hide the face. There were times where Edgar would be shooting something, and I’m getting rocked. Like, I’m getting thrown over, like off of roofs, and over walls, and taking real punches to the gut. I’m like, ‘Edgar, that looks like you’re shooting it like there’s a double. If I’m going to be taking a shot to the face, please, please let them know it’s me, that I’m putting my body on the line to entertain them.’
That’s the kind of entertainers I like, people that don’t compromise on that, that they want to do it right. You leave with a couple bruises, you leave with some scars, but at the end of the day, that’s what this job’s about. You don’t want to half-ass it.”
Glen Powell Followed Some Sage Advice From Tom Cruise: “That’s My Coach”
Glen Powell’s credits in the genre are now enough to start calling him one of the most exciting new action stars, and Top Gun: Maverick is arguably his most important action film to date. Not only because it shot him into stardom, but because it allowed him to connect with Hollywood legend Tom Cruise. It is a relationship that has stayed strong throughout the years since, with Powell constantly referring to Cruise as a mentor.
When talking about the stunts, his friendship with Cruise quickly becomes part of the conversation. “That’s my coach,” Powell says about the Mission: Impossible icon, who is famous for performing extremely dangerous stunts and putting his life on the line in the name of cinema. When he got the Running Man part, Powell instantly knew the one call he had to make:
“My first call was to Tom. Cruise is obviously one of the great actors of all time, but maybe the greatest stunt performer ever. And so, I just said, ‘Hey, what do I need to know?’ I have a breakdown of how he goes into every movie and the prep that you need to do. He’s like, ‘Hey, if it’s called The Running Man, you better show up ready to run.'”