Stephen King Was an Early Supporter of ‘Shaun of the Dead’

This weekend sees the release of The Running Man, the Edgar Wright-directed remake of the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger flick. Both movies are about a dystopian future game show in which contestants are hunted for sport. Although, to be honest, the show within the movie may not seem quite as dystopian as it used to in today’s post-MILF Manor world.

The Running Man is based on the 1982 novel by Richard Bachman, who as we now know, was the nom de plume used by Stephen King until fans and journalists spoiled his fun in 1985. 

Even though his secret was out, King still insisted that the fake Bachman get credit for the Schwarzenegger movie. The author famously wasn’t a big fan of the project. In the introduction to his collection The Bachman Books, King wrote that The Running Man’s “scrawny, pre-tubercular” protagonist was “about as far from the Arnold Schwarzenegger character in the movie as you can get.”

While the jacked Glenn Powell doesn’t exactly scream “tuberculosis” either, King has been a big supporter of this new movie, even allowing his name, not Bachman’s, to appear in the credits. One reason why King is so enthusiastic about Wright’s take is because he was a fan of the director’s breakout movie, Shaun of the Dead. 

“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,” Wright recently told The Hollywood Reporter. 

In addition to film critics, one Shaun of the Dead poster featured quotes from “horror masters” including George A. Romero, Sam Raimi, Guillermo del Toro and King, who raved “it’s a 10 on the fun meter and destined to be a cult classic!” 

Wright also revealed that, following King’s Shaun of the Dead support, the two stayed in touch. “I’ve then had this email correspondence with him over the years where he’d always be generous about my movies,” Wright said. “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.”

After becoming digital pen pals, Wright sent King his script for The Running Man, which, Wright told Seth Meyers, felt like “sending your homework in” for the “world’s most famous English teacher” to judge. 

After all, no one would want to risk offending the guy from the Maximum Overdrive trailer.