Glen Powell Says Tom Cruise Taught Him “How Not to Die” on ‘The Running Man’

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Glen Powell continues to put the counsel of Tom Cruise to optimal use.

Powell, who returns to the big screen this weekend in Edgar Wright’s The Running Manknew that his mentor would be especially helpful in the lead-up to his new action thriller involving lots of running and changing of disguises. After all, that’s been Cruise’s bread and butter for the last 30 years. But he specifically made sure to prepare his Top Gun: Maverick co-star for the ups and downs of shooting action sequences at night, something Running Man has in spades.

“Most of the advice I got [from Cruise] was really just about how not to die on this movie,” Powell tells The Hollywood Report in support of The Running Man‘s Nov. 14 theatrical release. “The reality is there’s probably only one person on the planet that can give this type of advice, and it’s him. So the fact that he’s one call away and he’s always willing to pick up, it’s unbelievable.”

Compared to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1987 film, Wright’s The Running Man is a more faithful adaptation of Stephen King’s (as Richard Bachman) dystopian novel of the same name. Powell’s Ben Richards, who’s desperate to provide for his wife and ailing child, reluctantly joins a deadly competition series called The Running Man. If Ben, as a “Runner,” can survive countless threats from “Hunters” for a duration of 30 days, then he can win as much as $1 billion.

King’s source material may have been published in 1982, but it remains remarkably prescient.

“When you really look at Stephen King’s original book, it’s set in 2025. So I don’t know if there’s any title that has more relevance than The Running Man today,” Powell says. “When you watch this movie, every single part of it that was in Stephen King’s book is so eerily familiar. It’s crazy. There’s everything from how we consume news and how we see our heroes-villains to how we orient with power and how the haves and the have-nots have never been more separate.”

Below, during a recent conversation with THRPowell also discusses where Hollywood tends to go wrong with remakes, before addressing the status of his upcoming A24 film with Emily the Criminal filmmaker, John Patton Ford.

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I gotta be honest, Glen, I was hoping to see a tracksuit today. If there was ever a movie to keep that theme going, this is it. (Powell recently hosted a tracksuits-and-tequila party for his 37th birthday.)

(Laughs.) I got my agent, Alex Mebed, a wrapped gift on The Running Man. I had the costume department make him an actual Running Man suit, and he wore it to my tracksuits-and-tequila party, which made me very happy. But, yeah, the tracksuits were definitely a hit of a theme. They’re the best costume for dancing, that’s for sure.

You’ve told the story about Stephen King having to approve your Running Man casting. Does he have this deal on all his adaptations? Or were you a special case?

I actually have no idea. All I know was the experience that I went through, which was Edgar telling me that I was his choice to play Ben Richards. I then celebrated until I realized there was one more step to go.

The original 1987 movie has its cult fans, but it’s nowhere near the level of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s more signature films. Even Kindergarten Cop made five times the box office that The Running Man did Thus, would you have steered clear of this if the original was a smash hit and cast too big a shadow?

The reality is that we really aren’t remaking the Arnold movie. We’re really putting Stephen King’s book on the screen for the first time. Arnold’s film took a lot of creative liberties with the core concept. They isolated the story to a studio with a studio audience and the Hunters. But we took this story out into the real world where everyone can hunt you. So it becomes a much more world-hopping manhunt than what the original movie is.

Anytime you’re treading on a title that has any sort of legacy, I don’t know if it’s really about box office. It’s really not even about how people feel about it. It’s the why. Why make this movie now? And when you really look at Stephen King’s original book, it’s set in 2025. So I don’t know if there’s any title that has more relevance than The Running Man today. When you watch this movie, every single part of it that was in Stephen King’s book is so eerily familiar. It’s crazy.

There’s everything from how we consume news and how we see our heroes-villains to how we orient with power and how the haves and the have-nots have never been more separate. There’s a lot going on in it. But the thing that sometimes gets Hollywood into trouble is when they look at a title and say, “We should just remake that, right?” That is said instead of why. “Why does this move audiences? What’s the reason we can get people to the theaters? Why now?” So I think The Running Man has the best answer for that.

So even if someone brought you a True Lies remake, you’d at least listen to the why of that conversation?

I have to say True Lies is one of the great movies. Jamie Lee Curtis is one of my favorite people on the planet. It has a really top tier performance from Arnold, so that movie is actually one of my all-time favorites. Jim Cameron was operating in a genre and tone that he doesn’t usually do. But the reality is I’m not looking for [more remakes]. A lot of the movies I have coming up are original movies, and that’s what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to put out my own legacy of pictures for people to maybe retread years down the line.

The chips are down for Ben Richards. He can’t support his family, and he has to risk everything to provide for them. It’s certainly not a one-to-one comparison, but was the aftermath of not landing the Friday Night Lights series your career’s ultimate back-against-the-wall moment?

It’s always a bit of a pinch-me moment when I get to talk to something like The Hollywood Reporter. When I first moved out to LA — just to be on the radar of you guys was really cool. You never know how far this journey is going to take you. It’s a crazy ride, and there’s a lot of struggle on the way up. It’s taken me a really, really long time, and I’ve missed out on a lot of roles. I’ve probably auditioned for more things and not gotten them than anyone else in town. So the fact that I get to be a part of an Edgar Wright movie that’s based on an iconic book by an iconic writer, it’s not lost on me. I’m pinching myself, and I’m taking in every moment.

This is the part where we force the other running man in your life into the conversation. Did Tom Cruise share any trade secrets with you?

He was just always telling me, “Don’t do some of these stunts late at night when you’re tired.” He was asking me questions about what the movie was like and what it looked like and how it spanned. And I was like, “Yeah, a lot of it is at night.” And he was like, “That’s going to be a problem. Your body is extremely tired at night. People get hurt more often when shooting at five in the morning [because] you’re rushing to make it before sunrise.” So most of the advice I got was really just about how not to die on this movie. That was most of it.

But I feel so grateful that I can call him for advice. The reality is there’s probably only one person on the planet who can give this type of advice, and it’s him. So the fact that he’s one call away and he’s always willing to pick up, it’s unbelievable.

Your bridge leap did remind me a bit of the first one Mission: Impossible when the helicopter exploded projects Ethan Hunt back onto the train.

Oh, that’s cool. The fun part about talking to Edgar about these things is that almost every single shot has a cinematic inspiration. I haven’t talked to him about what the inspiration was for the bridge shot, but when you get a guy like Edgar who designs every shot, there’s no hosing down for coverage. Every shot is designed to make it as thrilling as possible for the audience. Just look at how we covered that deadly game of chicken that ends in this crazy explosion and a jump off the bridge. That was a hard thing to pull off, practically and correctly, rather than just going, “Hey, we’re going to long lens it. Shoot it from here, shoot it from here and put [a camera] here.” Edgar knows the edit before he shoots, and while it makes it way more difficult to shoot, it leads to a highly kinetic cinematic adventure. So doing things the right way instead of the easy way is just a different experience for the audience.

It’s time to reach a little bit. Rebecca Ferguson once told the story of her first Mission: Impossible stunt with Cruise. They used a rope to rappel down a building Rogue Nation. She, understandably, was terrified the entire time, and once they finished the stunt, Cruise apparently turned to her and said, “Welcome to Mission.” Well, Running Man has a very similar moment where you, as Ben, say, “Welcome to The Running Man,” after a crazy sequence with Emilia Jones’ character. Given how close Edgar is with Team Missiondo you know if he took inspiration from this story?

(Laughs.) Well, I don’t think so. I don’t think that’s how Edgar works. I don’t think he watches Jimmy Fallon for inspiration on those things.[[Writer’s Note: I followed up with Wright, and Powell’s informed speculation is correct.]

But that was always in the script, if I’m not mistaken. I don’t contain cool quips like Cruise. Cruise does cool action movie things in real life all the time. He always seems to have the perfect line, but I just don’t operate like that. So even if I did something cool and rappelled down with Emilia Jones, I wouldn’t say, “Welcome to The Running Man.” I don’t have it in me.

A few weeks after Edgar cast you in Running Manhe went into development with Sydney Sweeney on Barbarella. Did you ever ask him if he had a profound experience while watching Anyone But You?

(Laughs.) I don’t think Edgar and I have ever talked about Anyone But You. But I do know that they’re developing Barbarella. I haven’t gotten an y updates on it, but that’s a good pairing.

Over a month ago, an Arizona Cardinals running back broke free for 70 yards, and he mistakenly dropped the ball right before the goal line. Did the Chad Powers group text explode when this happened?

The craziest part is that this is not something that’s isolated to a moment. I was even talking about [former Boston Red Sox first baseman] Bill Buckner last night at the World Series. It’s one of the reasons [Michael] Waldron and I wrote Chad. Sports stories are filled with these moments where you are being defined, and whether you show up or you drop the ball before the end zone, people don’t let you forget. So we just thought that’s a high-pressure situation, and you rarely ever follow those characters when they go home and have to live with that failure.

But you’re right. Even this season, there’s been several drops right before the end zone. I don’t know why people do it, but it’s a thing. So the Chad Powers group text is always, always going, and just like how Running Man is as relevant as it’s ever been, Chad Powers is the same. Every single Saturday and Sunday, you see art imitating life.

Running Man is your first movie with Paramount since you saved Pete Mitchell’s life in Top Gun: Maverick. There’s been development of another film, but everybody is a lot busier now. If you were a betting man, do you think the odds of it happening are pretty good?

I’d say the odds are great, but you’re talking to a low man on the totem pole. There are definitely people who control the destiny of Top Gun 3and I’m not one of them.

Your recent run-in with an autograph hound named Danny Ramirez is one of the funniest things I’ve seen recently. Perhaps The Running Man has me questioning the validity of everything I’ve watched lately, but did that encounter really happen organically?

That actually happened organically. I was bringing a bunch of my buddies down to the Texas-Oklahoma game. The Red River Rivalry is one of my favorite days of the entire year, and this past year was amazing.[[Powell’s Longhorns beat Oklahoma 23-6.]It’s just one of the great rivalries in sports, so I brought in about 20 people to watch that game.

Danny Ramirez is also one of my best buddies since Top Gunand he’s a Miami Hurricanes fan, so he was arriving at the airport at the same time I was. I then started signing autographs for people and saying hi and taking pictures. So Danny just found his way in there, and I didn’t see him at all. (Laughs.) It definitely took me by surprise.

Earlier, you referenced your upcoming original movies, and I’ve been tracking one called Huntington for a while. (It’s John Patton Ford’s Emily the Criminal follow-up.) I know release schedules are their own thing, but what’s the latest there?

Yeah, the thing with release schedules is that there’s a time and a place for a movie to come out. I’ve seen the movie, and it’s fantastic. I do know that you’ll be seeing it this coming year, but it’s not going to be called Huntington. There’s going to be a new title that we will probably be debuting here in the next few weeks. But the movie is fantastic, and John Patton Ford is a great filmmaker. I can’t wait for people to see it.

Decades from now, when you reminisce about your Running Man experience, what day will you likely recall first?

That’s a great question. God, I would say sizing up with Brolin. Josh Brolin has been one of my favorite actors for a really long time. He’s one of the greats, and what he’s doing in this movie is really extraordinary. He’s a great, big bad, and it’s also not the type of character you see on screen very much. Bringing Josh Brolin and Colman Domingo onto the Running Man set with all these fire effects and cheerleaders and background crowds in the stands — it was an electrifying feeling. It didn’t feel like we were shooting a movie; it felt like I was about to sign up for a game show with a hundred percent mortality rate.

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The Running Man opens in theaters on Nov. 14.