{"id":166750,"date":"2025-11-06T21:50:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T21:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/166750\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T21:50:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T21:50:10","slug":"edgar-wright-shot-glen-powell-naked-in-most-expensive-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/166750\/","title":{"rendered":"Edgar Wright Shot Glen Powell Naked in Most Expensive Film"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tGlen Powell<\/a>, naked except for a towel, dangles from a rope eight stories in the air in below-freezing Bulgaria as director Edgar Wright<\/a> watches from the ground in a parka, sipping an espresso.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s February, and they\u2019re sprinting toward the end of production on \u201cThe Running Man<\/a>,\u201d the longest, most expensive and by far coldest shoot of Wright\u2019s career. Days earlier, a blizzard hit the country, blanketing it in snow. Powell, who stars as a game-show contestant in a race to stay alive in Wright\u2019s adaptation of Stephen King\u2019s dystopian novel, had been tracking the frigid weather closely, all too aware of this upcoming scene. In it, his character evades deadly hunters by jumping out a hotel window and then rappelling down the side of a building while wearing barely a stitch.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s always temporary pain for eternal cinematic glory,\u201d Powell jokes.<\/p>\n

\n\tWright, who built a cult following with quirky, genre-bending films \u2014 like \u201cHot Fuzz\u201d and \u201cBaby Driver\u201d \u2014 that play like Tarantino on laughing gas, is meticulous about choreographing action sequences and obsessive about getting the perfect shot. His lens is tight on Powell, who hangs by a harness for 30 minutes while the camera resets. Wright, 51, wants to pay homage to the endurance tests Bruce Willis suffered through in \u201cDie Hard\u201d by taking John McClane\u2019s barefoot skyscraper antics to the next level \u2014 and with fewer clothes.<\/p>\n

\n\tIf Bulgaria sounds arctic, it was nothing compared with Scotland, where \u201cThe Running Man\u201d also shot. \u201cI think I lost circulation in my leg,\u201d Wright says. \u201cI had so many layers on, but it was the insidious cold of Glasgow. I wasn\u2019t sure I\u2019d ever get warm again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEight months later, Wright is relaxing in New York City on an unseasonably warm fall day. It\u2019s five weeks before Paramount-distributed \u201cThe Running Man\u201d opens on Nov. 14. Wright has just finished signing autographs and taking selfies with hundreds of New York Comic-Con fans who rushed the stage at the end of a panel about the movie. Comic-Con is pure costumed chaos, packed with cosplayers resembling the throngs of zombies in Wright\u2019s \u201cShaun of the Dead.\u201d That\u2019s taking place upstairs. Wright is secluded from the mayhem in a quiet dressing room that can only be accessed via a labyrinth of tunnels \u2014 it\u2019s fortified with enough pastries and bottled water to survive this nerd-pocalypse.<\/p>\n

\n\tKing wrote the 1982 action-adventure long before social media took over the world and, in an ironic twist, set his send-up of reality culture and totalitarianism in 2025. What once seemed like a dark and distant fantasy now has eerie parallels with our tumultuous present. For Wright, the film is a chance to put his distinctive spin on a story that was adapted into a testosterone-soaked 1987 thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger at the height of his He-Man era.<\/p>\n

\n\tWright\u2019s version is set in a hellscape where the most popular show in America is \u201cThe Running Man,\u201d a competition that offers $1 billion to any contestant who can survive a 30-day countrywide manhunt. There\u2019s no prize for second place \u2014 only a grisly death. It\u2019s a nightmarish premise that Wright grounds in humanity while still delivering his bravura action set-pieces. Part of the change comes from how the protagonist, Ben Richards, is portrayed. Instead of Schwarzenegger\u2019s steroidal killing machine, Powell\u2019s character is a hardscrabble father, so desperate to earn money for his sick kid that he risks his own life.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe were shooting in the elements all night,\u201d Powell says. \u201cEdgar wanted it to feel brutal.\u201d Before signing up for the project, Powell assured Wright that he was ready for anything the filmmaker threw at him. \u201cI said, \u2018There\u2019s not going to be an actor who works as hard for you as I will,\u2019\u201d Powell recalls. \u201c\u2018I\u2019ll put my body on the line to make sure you get the movie you want to get.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRoss Ferguson<\/p>\n

\n\tWright, who grew up in southern England, the son of two artists, first read King in his teens, sharing paperback copies of \u201cNight Shift,\u201d \u201cSalem\u2019s Lot\u201d and \u201cIt\u201d with his brother, Oscar. To this day, he\u2019s held on to his King collection, with its cracked spines and dog-eared pages.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was a formative experience reading King, because it was my first time reading grown-up material,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s more than horror; there\u2019s attitude, world-building and humor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2017, Wright tweeted that if he could remake any movie, it would be \u201cThe Running Man.\u201d Eight years later, he got his chance, but he doesn\u2019t view his version as a remake of Paul Michael Glaser\u2019s film; it hews closer to King\u2019s dark novel.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat movie is its own thing,\u201d Wright explains. \u201cThis is a new adaptation. \u2018A Fistful of Dollars\u2019 is an amazing reinterpretation of \u2018Yojimbo.\u2019 David Cronenberg\u2019s \u2018The Fly\u2019 is a wildly different take on the \u201950s film. It\u2019s a fun thing because there\u2019s two movies from the same source that are wildly different.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWildly different\u201d describes a lot of Wright\u2019s work since he burst on the scene with 2004\u2019s \u201cShaun of the Dead,\u201d a buddy comedy set during a George Romero-esque zombie outbreak. Stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost became two of Wright\u2019s closest friends, and the three went on to make two more cult favorites together \u2014 \u201cHot Fuzz\u201d and \u201cThe World\u2019s End.\u201d Those movies sent up buddy-cop films and alien-invasion flicks by way of a distinctly British perspective (there were plenty of droll asides to go along with the action scenes). Wright quickly developed a fan base among a group of American pop culture-obsessed auteurs. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPeter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino and Sam Raimi saw themselves in Edgar,\u201d Pegg says. \u201cHe was encyclopedic about film. That appealed to their own heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Wright\u2019s stature rose, he became entrusted with bigger budgets from major studios. But his unorthodox sensibility didn\u2019t always align with that of the entertainment industry. \u201cScott Pilgrim vs. the World,\u201d an ambitious video game-inspired romantic comedy, earned raves, but its special effects-heavy sequences sent its price tag soaring to nearly $90 million. Audiences failed to show up, and the film grossed a measly $51.7 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut Wright suffered an even more devastating setback, spending eight years developing an \u201cAnt-Man\u201d movie for Marvel, only to see the project collapse after his bespoke vision failed to jibe with Disney\u2019s cookie-cutter superhero approach. He wanted to do something outrageous, but after \u201cThe Avengers\u201d became a box office juggernaut, the studio opted to play it safe.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe idea of doing it at the time excited me, because you want to put your own spin on it,\u201d he says. \u201cBut between pitching the idea and doing it, the whole franchise had blown up. There was a house style. The thing that attracted me about it had gone away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBaby Driver,\u201d a 2017 sleeper hit about a socially awkward getaway driver, helped Wright regain his stride. The Sony Pictures release earned $227 million and proved Wright could retain his style while operating within a studio\u2019s constraints. But he stumbled with \u201cLast Night in Soho,\u201d an homage to Swinging London and Polanski-esque horror films that had the misfortune of debuting in 2021, during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was a bummer promoting that movie because it was all Zoom,\u201d Wright says. \u201cThe pandemic was not a good time for anybody at all, and no good for cinemas either.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Running Man\u201d marks Wright\u2019s grand return to theaters with his most crowd-pleasing movie in years. Still, though King is a brand unto himself and Powell\u2019s star is on the rise, with its $110 million budget \u201cThe Running Man\u201d isn\u2019t a sure thing. It arrives as many R-rated actionheavy movies aimed at adults \u2014 even those with big stars like Leonardo DiCaprio (\u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d) or Robert Pattinson (\u201cMickey 17\u201d) \u2014 are floundering at the box office. Not to mention that the film depicts fractured politics. Will audiences buy tickets for a movie set in a dystopia that mirrors their own?<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re as close as can be to \u2018Running Man\u2019 without people actually dying,\u201d Wright says. \u201cI don\u2019t even want to predict when things will take a darker turn. I hope never.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tMuch of Hollywood is freaking out that AI is coming for their jobs. It\u2019s a subject that is front and center in \u201cThe Running Man,\u201d which examines how the technology can be used to manipulate public opinion. Days before Wright took the stage at Comic-Con, the industry erupted over news that Tilly Norwood, an AI \u201cactress,\u201d had agents wanting her as a client. Her creators envision her as the next Scarlett Johansson.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cObviously, AI is here to stay,\u201d Wright says. \u201cThere\u2019s no putting the toothpaste back in the tube. But when you see that Tilly Norwood thing, who\u2019s gonna get excited about an actress that doesn\u2019t exist?\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRoss Ferguson<\/p>\n

\n\tBouncing his leg excitedly as he talks, Wright still hasn\u2019t come down from the high of his \u201cRunning Man\u201d panel and is full of energy despite having recently deplaned from a London red-eye. Being in New York has made him think back to his firstever Comic-Con in 2004, when he was promoting \u201cShaun of the Dead\u201d with Pegg. \u201cWe could walk around with nobody having any idea who we were,\u201d Wright says.<\/p>\n

\n\tNow, Wright has just headlined a panel packed with 3,000 fans. He\u2019s clearly an icon to his fellow film geeks. The secret to Wright\u2019s success is that deep down he\u2019s still just a fan. That morning, Wright reached out to King and, in the most \u201cpolite and British\u201d way, made sure he could tell the crowd that the author liked his take on \u201cThe Running Man.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLike it? I love it!\u201d King emailed back. \u201cIt\u2019s faithful enough to the book to keep the fans happy, but different enough to make it exciting for me.\u201d And as Wright reads the message, a grin breaks across his face. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019ll take that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Glen Powell, naked except for a towel, dangles from a rope eight stories in the air in below-freezing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[268],"tags":[434,72964,18,117,11664,19,17,72965],"class_list":{"0":"post-166750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-edgar-wright","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-glen-powell","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-the-running-man"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115504967081599266","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}