Glen Powell: ‘Running Man’ & the Everyman Hero

Are the big Hollywood stars over? With his dazzling smile and his always impeccable hair, Glen Powell, who reprises the role of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the remake of the film “Running Man”, could well prove this preconceived idea wrong.

But this Texan, who left the temple of American cinema that is Los Angeles to return to live in Austin, is not happy about it.

“I don’t consider myself exceptional,” the 37-year-old actor told AFP. “That era of action and movie stars? It’s not really comparable.”

Certainly, in the new “Running Man”, which comes out on Friday in the United States and on November 19 in French-speaking Switzerland, Glen Powell does not give in the testosterone-filled bluster of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and other Mel Gibson, always glorious as soldiers, police officers or martial arts champions.

In the role of Ben Richards, the new darling of Hollywood plays an ordinary man, without particular skills but courageous enough to face the challenges.

With a rather fiery temper, he reluctantly participates in a game show in which the entire world tries to kill him, trying to stay alive long enough to win the prize. The goal is not to get rich, but to buy the medicine her daughter needs to survive.

“I have always identified with the outsiders,” says Glen Powell. “Some of my favorite films feature ordinary people facing extraordinary situations. And you can’t get more ordinary than Ben.”

The protagonist of the film is also beaten up, injured, thrown from a bridge. Director Edgar Wright even makes him come down from the facade of a building wearing a bath towel to escape a gang of thugs.

When Arnold Schwarzenegger saw the film, he said: “That must have hurt!” remembers Glen Powell. “Arnold knows the pain involved in making an action film properly,” he says, rejoicing at having obtained “the approval” of his idol.

More faithful to Stephen King’s original novel than the 1987 version, “Running Man” shows Glen Powell pursued from town to town by professional killers, the producers pulling the strings of the game to increase the audience.

Stephen King’s dystopia ironically takes place in 2025 in a United States that has become a dictatorship, dominated by autocrats sowing violence, and faced with epidemics of fake videos and a real health crisis.

“We really live in this TikTok universe,” notes Glen Powell. “We witness carnage, and at the same time, we remain somewhat detached from it. We no longer feel concerned as human beings.”

A longtime actor, the Texan only rose to fame playing cocky fighter pilot Hangman in 2022’s “Top Gun: Maverick.”

Since then, Glen Powell has fallen in love with Sydney Sweeney in “Everything But You,” fought deadly storms in “Twisters,” but also co-wrote and starred in “Hit Man.”

Like a certain Sylvester Stallone, who wrote the famous script for “Rocky” and insisted on being the lead actor.

“I never wanted to wait for the phone to ring. Because I understood that it would never happen, at least not for the calls we would like to receive,” explains Glen Powell.

His success in Los Angeles, he says, came by “showing initiative.” “Hollywood is the Wild West right now.”

Glen Powell will soon star in a new fantasy film from “Lost” creator JJ Abrams.