Seven Days, One Novel: Stephen King Wrote The Running Man At Breakneck Speed

Edgar Wright finally let his version of The Running Man loose in theaters, and Stephen King just casually reminded everyone that he wrote the original novel in a single week, snowed in and bored. Not bad for a book that basically predicted our current media diet, just with more assassins.

Quick catch-up

Four years ago, Wright signed on to do a new take on The Running Man, the 1982 novel King published as Richard Bachman. If your brain goes straight to the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie: yes, that exists, and no, it barely resembles the book. Wright’s version kicked off production last year with Glen Powell as Ben Richards, wrapped filming early this year, and is now on the big screen.

King wrote it in a week. Seriously.

Simon & Schuster posted a short video of King looking back at how the book came together, and the headline is simple: he cranked out the entire thing in about seven days while stuck inside during a snowstorm. The man has range and, apparently, blizzard-fueled speed. His son Joe Hill has a running joke that King can blow his nose and a full manuscript falls out of the Kleenex. When you bang out a 219-page original in a week, the joke starts to feel like reporting.

The book’s setup

King’s story is set in 2025, in a nightmare version of America where reality TV has turned lethal and people literally gamble their lives for a shot at a fortune. Ben Richards is broke and desperate to pay for his daughter’s medical care, so he signs up for a show called The Running Man. The rules are brutal: survive a full month on the run while professional Hunters try to kill you, and try not to get sold out by the entire viewing public, who will happily turn you in for a reward. Fun family programming.

What Wright’s movie is doing

The new film holds onto the big idea and the 30-day clock. In a near-future where The Running Man is the top-rated series on TV, contestants (they’re called Runners) are hunted by pros while every move is broadcast, and the payout climbs each day you stay alive. Glen Powell plays working-class Ben Richards, who signs on as a last-ditch move to save his sick daughter. The show’s smiling shark of a producer, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), makes the pitch. Then Ben refuses to die on cue. That stubborn streak turns him into a surprise fan favorite and a threat to the whole machine. Ratings go up, the danger spikes, and suddenly he’s not just dodging Hunters — he’s dodging a country hooked on watching him fall.

Who made it and who’s in it

• Director: Edgar Wright, from a script he co-wrote with Michael Bacall
• Producers: Edgar Wright, Nira Park, Simon Kinberg
• Glen Powell as Ben Richards
• Josh Brolin (Outer Range) as Dan Killian, a TV executive and the main villain
• Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding, reunited with Powell after Twisters) as a contestant
• Lee Pace (Halt and Catch Fire) as a ruthless Hunter
• Michael Cera (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) as a "naive rebel who tries to help the desperate man"
• Emilia Jones (CODA) as a "privileged woman blind to the oppression of the government"
• Daniel Ezra (played Spencer James across 106 episodes of the CW’s All American)
• Colman Domingo (Fear the Walking Dead) as the show’s host
• David Zayas (Dexter) as Richard Manuel
• Chi Lewis-Parry (6-foot-8, former MMA fighter; 28 Years Later) as a Runner
• Jayme Lawson (Sinners) in an undisclosed role
• William H. Macy (Fargo, Boogie Nights) in an undisclosed role

Early reaction

For what it’s worth, JoBlo’s Chris Bumbray landed at a 6/10 on the movie — not a kill shot, not a win by knockout.

So, are you Team Book (written in a blizzard sprint), Team Wright (now playing), or both? If you’ve read the novel, I’m curious how you think this version stacks up — especially given how far the 1987 movie strayed from King’s blueprint.