Michael Cera and Emilia Jones have closed deals to join Glen Powell in Paramount’s adaptation of the Stephen King 'The Running Man', that is being directed by Edgar Wright.

The story is set in 2025 in an America under a totalitarian regime that uses violent game shows to placate the disenfranchised masses. Cera will play a naïve rebel who tries to help the desperate man, Jones will play a privileged woman blind to the oppression.

Edgar Wright is directing The Running Man from a script he co-wrote with Michael Bacall. It’s based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name, which was published in 1982 under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Wright has previously said that The Running Man remake will be closer to the original Stephen King novel than the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. "I like the film but I like the book more, and they didn’t really adapt the book," Wright said. "Even as a teenager when I saw the Schwarzenegger film I was like, ‘Oh, this isn’t like the book at all!’ And I think, ‘Nobody’s done that book.’ So when that came up, I was thinking, and Simon Kinberg says, ‘Do you have any interest in The Running Man?’ I said, ‘You know what? I’ve often thought that that book is something crying out to be adapted.’ Now, that doesn’t mean that it’s easy!"

Michael Cera recently reprised his role of Barry in Sausage Party: Foodtopia, which Prime Video has renewed for a second season. Emilia Jones recently starred in Winner, a darkly comedic biopic based on the true story of Reality Winner, the whistleblower who leaked classified documents confirming Russian interference in American elections.

Source: Press Release