Before taking on his latest role, Glen Powell got the thumb’s-up from someone experienced with the material.
The Golden Globe nominee, who leads Edgar Wright‘s upcoming adaptation of Stephen King‘s Running Man, revealed his casting got a “full blessing” from Arnold Schwarzenegger, who starred in the 1987 Paul Michael Glaser-helmed version.
“Arnold gave us his blessing,” he told People. “[His son] Patrick Schwarzenegger is a great friend of mine and I asked Patrick if I could talk to Arnold and I hadn’t seen Arnold since we shot Expendables in Bulgaria.”
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Powell added, “Arnold gave us his full blessing and we get to give Arnold a very specific fun gift from the movie in a couple of weeks here. So I’m very excited to see him.”
Based on King’s 1982 novel, penned under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, The Running Man follows government-scapegoated prisoner Ben Richards in a dystopian future as he seeks freedom by outrunning trained killers on the titular reality show.
Powell previously appeared at CinemaCon, where he was awarded Star of the Year, teasing the film along with Wright and co-stars Josh Brolin and Colman Domingo. Ahead of its Nov. 7 premiere, the group debuted the first footage from the remake.
“I knew we were going to be shooting a lot of practical stunts on this movie, and I definitely got in what I call bulletproof shape, just knowing I was going to have to take some hits. But I don’t think I fully prepped myself for what we tackled on this one,” Powell told the CinemaCon crowd.
“But it really, it really works for the audience,” he added. “Because you know when you’re falling and you’re hitting the ground and you’re really doing it, the audience feels that. You know, when the explosions are real and you’re jumping through it, it’s a different sort of experience. The audience invests more.”
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