Daniel Ezra is stepping into one of his boldest roles yet with Edgar Wright’s The Running Man. The All American star plays Bradley — a rebel, a believer, and a man caught between conviction and survival — in this high-octane reimagining of Stephen King’s 1982 novel. Starring alongside Glen Powell, Colman Domingo, and Jayme Lawson, Ezra brings a grounded intensity to the story’s dystopian chaos.
In our conversation, Ezra opens up about how protest music — from Kendrick Lamar’s “The Blacker the Berry” to Gil Scott-Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” — helped him tap into Bradley’s spirit and internal tension. He reflects on the eerie relevance of King’s vision, originally set in 2025, and what it reveals about today’s culture of spectacle and desensitization.
With The Running Man now in theaters, Ezra shares why this film is both thrilling and terrifying — a story that forces audiences to confront how easily entertainment can blur into exploitation.