Glen Powell is no stranger to stunts. In the last few years, he's battled both natural disasters in Twisters and a love interest's abusive ex-husband in Hit Man. However, it was Top Gun: Maverick that best prepared him to take on the role of Ben Richards, a contestant in a deadly reality show, in Edgar Wright's new adaptation of Stephen King's The Running Man.
"I think I did learn on Top Gun what it takes to deliver something specific for the audience. Like, riding in the back of those planes a couple times a day, you are exhausted, but what you do is you put your head down and you focus for this finite amount of time, because you know it'll last on film forever," Powell tells GamesRadar+.
He plays pilot Lieutenant Jake "Hangman" Seresin opposite Tom Cruise in the Top Gun sequel, which hit theaters in 2022. Training for that role was intense, and Powell spent enough time in the cockpit that he actually got his pilot's license not long after filming wrapped.
"Even though you're getting these little pieces, what you see is in the greater whole of the movie, what the impact is when an audience feels that the person they're rooting for is going through a traumatic, intense thing, it translates it," he continues.
"I kept that in the back of my head, you know, the 'film is forever' feeling, which is, 'do what you have to do' – don't take any shortcuts, so you give the audience that full experience. I think I've taken these last few years since Top Gun [and] I've had the best film education I can even imagine, which is I get to work with some of the top filmmakers in the world and I'm really trying to learn and treating it like my film school."
In The Running Man, Powell is on the run from a group of elite Hunters while America watches on at home. If his character Ben can outrun the TV network's goons for 30 days, he'll win a life-changing amount of money and be able to help his sick daughter – but no one has ever made it that far. What follows is an intense, action-packed cross-country journey, involving explosions, fight scenes, and high-stakes chases.
The Running Man arrives in UK cinemas on November 12 and US theaters on November 14. For more, check out our guide to the other biggest upcoming movies on the way in 2025 and beyond.
