Running Man Revival Director Explains His Arnold Schwarzenegger Gag

The Running Man director explains why the new movie imagines Arnold Schwarzenegger as president and how a different film inspired the nod. The Running Man is back on the big screen with a new dystopian twist. This time around, Edgar Wright’s recent 2025 revival adapts Stephen King’s novel more closely than the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger film, following Ben Richards, a desperate father who enters a deadly televised game show to win money for his sick daughter. Contestants, known as Runners, have to survive thirty days while hunters and even regular citizens chase them for cash rewards, all broadcast as the most popular show in a corporate-ruled future America. The remake also finds a playful way to tip its hat to the star who made the original a cult favorite. Rather than bringing Schwarzenegger back as Ben Richards, the film imagines an alternate 2025 where the rules have changed and foreign-born citizens can run for president. In that timeline, the former governor of California has become President Arnold Schwarzenegger, and his face pops up on a one-hundred-dollar bill during a Running Man prize segment, a quick gag that doubles as a franchise Easter egg. Speaking to CinemaBlend, Wright explained the choice and shouted out another sci-fi classic. Edgar Wright Talks President Schwarzenegger in The Running Man Wright tells the outlet, “We decided that in slightly alternate 2025 is that they change the rules, and people not born in the United States can run for president. So, the governor of California eventually became the president and in our version of events, he’s Arnold. He’s not Ben Richards, he’s Arnold Schwarzenegger, the president.” He later added, “I have to give credit to Daniel Waters, the great writer who wrote Demolition Man because he made that joke first in Demolition Man. They make a brief mention of President Schwarzenegger. So, I wanted to continue that joke.” Front and center this time is Glen Powell as Ben Richards, joined by an ensemble that includes Josh Brolin as ruthless producer Dan Killian, Colman Domingo as slick host Bobby Thompson, Lee Pace as masked hunter Evan McCone, Michael Cera, Emilia Jones, Daniel Ezra, Jayme Lawson, and William H Macy. The Running Man premiered in early November and opened in United States theaters on November 14, where it is currently playing exclusively on the big screen before an eventual move to digital and Paramount+.
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