Later this year, Edgar Wright’s The Running Man will hit theaters with Glen Powell front and center, sprinting for his life in one of the most anticipated Stephen King adaptations in years. But according to Powell, his performance isn’t just the result of long hours in the gym or Wright’s direction — it’s also thanks to Tom Cruise. Powell said in a new interview that stepping into the role of Ben Richards required more than just acting chops.

“I knew that based on the Stephen King book, Ben Richards was a tank. I was like, Okay, I got to be a bit of a weapon. And so that’s why I trained the way I trained on this. I put on a lot of muscle. A lot of it was functional. A lot of it was so I could absorb hits. But a lot of it was also authentically for an audience.”

That mindset, he admitted, came from working with Cruise on Top Gun: Maverick. “It was Tom who taught me to think about the job of acting as an inherently physical one. I went from going, ‘Oh, I’m an actor on a movie,’ to ‘I’m a high-performance athlete.’ And I’m just very lucky that I have someone like Tom who I could literally go, ‘Hey, what do I do to survive something?’”

Producer Simon Kinberg echoed the sentiment, calling Powell’s work ethic a direct product of “the Tom Cruise school of doing your stunts.” Kinberg said in a separate interview that Powell carried the film’s weight with relentless energy: “It’s a really great cast, but it rests on Glen. He is the Running Man. He is in almost every scene of the movie. It’s a cool new gear for Glen.”

What’s ‘The Running Man’ About?

Unlike the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger cult classic, Wright’s take leans much closer to King’s original novel. Richards isn’t a musclebound action hero but a desperate man trying to win money for his sick daughter by entering a brutal, televised blood sport. The trailer teases a grim, high-energy survival story — one that Powell seems to endure as much as perform.

“Glen is such a relatable, charming actor, and it’s fun to put him through the mill and see him spend the movie literally on the run,” Wright said in Collider’s exclusive preview. “The whole film is more exciting with Glen being your everyman at the heart of the action. You see him sweat, you see him think, you keep him on his back foot for the whole adventure. I’m so thrilled with Glen’s performance in the lead.”

Powell is joined by William H. Macy, Lee Pace, Emilia Jones, Michael Cera, Daniel Ezra, Jayme Lawson, Colman Domingo, and Josh Brolin. Wright co-wrote the script with Michael Bacall and produces alongside Kinberg.

The Running Man storms into theaters November 14.

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