It sounds like The Running Man star Glen Powell made the filming experience “thrilling,” even for his co-star, Lee Pace, who was highly complimentary of the Top Gun: Maverick star.
Speaking to ClutchPoints at the junket for Edgar Wright's adaptation of Stephen King's iconic novel, Pace recalled shooting his fight scenes with Powell. In the movie, Pace plays Evan McCone, the lead hunter going after Powell's Ben Richards.
Their race culminates in an epic fight on a private jet. Readers of King's novel will remember this. Throughout the hunt, they have several close-quarters encounters. Luckily, they had months to rehearse, making for a seamless transition to filming for Powell and Pace.
“You run the choreography of the fight a thousand times before you actually get on the set,” he explained, “'cause you want the choreography to be in your body in such a way that you don't have to think about it when you're on set and you can just play the scene, play the character, play the aggression.”
He acknowledged that “when you take a hit, you [have to] let it really hurt.” Having a guy like Powell as his dancing partner was greatly helpful in getting “swept up” in the performance.
Working with Glen Powell on The Running Man is an “extreme situation”
“ Working with someone like Glen Powell who brings a thousand percent to a fight like that, it's like you get swept up in it,” said Pace. “It makes your job thrilling. No one is watching a fight scene for the choreography, right? What you're watching for is to watch these characters somehow survive; you wanna watch that battle play out. You wanna see them hurt — you wanna see them win because you understand their point of view. You wanna feel something. That's one of the things that we tried to achieve with this fight. You want to know these characters, and you want to see them fight their corner.
“It's an extreme situation, ” he concluded.
Luckily, the end result was a success. Powell and Pace hit the right notes in their fights. They feel personal, and yet impersonal at the same time. That's just a testament to Powell, Pace, and the rest of the Running Man crew.
The Running Man will be released on Nov. 14.
