With the latest Stephen King screen adaptation, The Running Man, coming out over the weekend, there’s been plenty of discourse about it. Of course, critics have weighed in on the movie, along with our own Running Man review of the present day version, but that isn’t all. Among the headlines attached to the 2025 movie schedule entry is an unexpected twist fit for both of the involved creatives. Surprisingly, the new film’s director, Edgar Wright, and King are pen pals and have been for a while.
Ahead of the release, Wright spoke with THR about the modern Glen Powell-led flick. Highlights included, beyond the unexpected Kardashians nod, just how deep his friendship and fandom for Stephen King is, including their special correspondence. Wright wound the clock back just over two decades to reveal his first interaction with the prolific author was related to his A+ blurb of Shaun of the Dead. The film director shared of the even more shocking bit:
21 years ago, Stephen King gave us a press quote for Shaun of the Dead, and it was mind-blowing to me at the time that we got a rave from Stephen King on our poster.
The backstory on this surprise Hollywood bingo card moment of the year runs much deeper than I anticipated! While Stephen King's influence on Wright's movies has been no secret, I’m so pleased to learn about their bond. I can only imagine what a surreal moment it was back then to have such an icon’s blessing on one of his first projects. But that’s only just the beginning of the fun.
Edgar Wright went on to say that the first contact parlayed itself into an electronic snail mail friendship. Over the years, they’d chat about their projects, with Stephen King being complimentary of each new flick post-Shaun of the Dead. But as Wright shared, it was more of a personal line of connection, saying:
I’ve then had this email correspondence with him over the years where he’d always be generous about my movies. But we would mostly email about music. I’d sometimes send him vinyl on his birthday — bands like King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and Sunflower Bean.
I’m so thrilled to have gotten this BTS nugget dropped out of thin air. Thinking about Wright and King wishing each other happy birthday and talking about bands like King Gizzard is just really sweet to me. Oh, to be a fly on that electronic thread! It certainly makes me wonder if the 51-year-old’s asking for King's approval of a new ending happened that way.
If you couldn’t guess, I’ll continue to muse about all that’s been chatted about between the two writers. Are there other adaptations or collaborations even between them? There really is so much material. Still, at the end of the day, I’m really so amused to know that Edgar Wright and Stephen King have been the pen pals I didn’t know I needed.
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