Trivia for
The Running Man (1987) More at IMDbPro »

• Game show host Damon Killian is played by Richard Dawson, long-time host of the American game show "Family Feud" (1976).
  
  
• Actor Trademark: [Arnold Schwarzenegger] "I'll be back!"
  
  
• Prior to Paul Michael Glaser being hired as director, executive producer Rob Cohen had hired four other directors in his attempts to make the movie. The first was George P. Cosmatos, who had impressed Cohen with his work on Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985). However, when Cosmatos announced that he wanted to relocate the entire film to a shopping mall, Cohen let him go, feeling that Cosmatos was taking the script in an unacceptable direction. Cohen next offered the project to German director Carl Schenkel, having been impressed with Abwärts (1984), but Schenkel turned him down as he didn't feel comfortable taking on such a large project. Next, Cohen hired Ferdinand Fairfax, based upon his work on Nate and Hayes (1983). Like Cosmatos however, Fairfax began to take the screenplay in a direction which Cohen disliked, so once again, he let him go. Cohen then turned to Andrew Davis, having enjoyed Davis' movie Code of Silence (1985). Davis actually got the project off the ground and into production, but only eight days into the shoot, he was already $8 million over budget and four days behind schedule. As such Cohen let Davis go, and ultimately hired Glaser, whom he had worked with on the first season of "Miami Vice" (1984).
  
  
• This film is loosely based on a novel written by Stephen King that he penned under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. He wrote the story in 72 hours.
  
  
• Features two actors who went on to be US State Governors. In November 1998, Jesse Ventura was elected Governor of Minnesota; in October 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected Governor of California.
  
  
• The film was initially to star either Dolph Lundgren or Christopher Reeve, but it never got started. Patrick Swayze had also been considered.
  
  
• The code to deactivate the Sonic Deadline (the explosive neck collars) is "653-9X".
  
  
• When Killian is sending Fireball into the game, he says, "There he goes, the leading rusher." Fireball was played by Jim Brown, the NFL's all-time leader in rushing yards until the mid-'80s.
  
  
• The headquarters of the ICS television network is actually the Filmland Corporate Center, which was the home of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at the time of the film's making, 1987. A matte painting was used to represent the tower. Sony purchased MGM's old studio lot in 1992 and moved into the Filmand Building that same year. Ironically, they also purchased Tri-Star Pictures as well - the distributor of The Running Man (1987) in 1987. The building was renamed Sony Pictures Plaza.
  
  
• In Killian's office there is a poster for a fake TV show called "Hate Boat." In real life, Richard Dawson had a role in the TV series _ "Love Boat, The" (1977)(TV series)_.
  
  
• The ICS armed security guards all wear baseball batting helmets.
  
  
• The satellite up-link code is 18-24-61-B 17-17-4.
  
  
• The big dance number at the start of The Running Man show was choreographed by Paula Abdul.
  
  
• When Rob Cohen purchased the rights to the Richard Bachman novella 'The Running Man', he had no idea that Bachman was actually a pseudonym for 'Stephen King'.
  
  
• 'The Running Man' gameshow seen in the film was based upon an early 1980's Japanese gameshow called 'Trans American Ultra Quiz', in which contestants were tortured in various ways. The prize went to whichever contestant could stand the pain/humiliation the longest.
  
  
• The footage of the attacking helicopters is from King Kong (1976).
  
  
• Maria Conchita Alonso and Arnold Schwarzenegger have both starred (and survived) in the Predator movies. Jesse Ventura starred in the first Predator film, but didn't survive.
  
  
• Alex Cox has stated in interviews with The A.V. Club that he regrets not directing this film as he liked the story, but he was busy making Walker (1987) at the time.
  
  
• Dweezil Zappa, son of legendary American composer Frank Zappa, has only one line in the movie: "Don't touch that dial!", that being one of his father's most famous lyrics from the song "I am the Slime" (from the album "Over-nite Sensation", 1973).
  
  
• Four actors from the Predator franchise appear in this film. Arnold Schwarzenegger Jesse Ventura and Sven-Ole Thorsen all appear in Predator (1987), while Maria Conchita Alonso appear in Predator 2 (1990).
  
  
• The character "Mick," the leader of the underground, is played by drummer Mick Fleetwood of the super group Fleetwood Mac. His compatriot in the movie, a character named "Stevie" and played by Dweezil Zappa, is an obvious homage to Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac.
  
  
• Erland van Lidth's last film.
  
  
• As with most other readers at the time, the filmmakers had no idea that Richard Bachman, the writer on whose novel the film is loosely based, was none other than Stephen King.
  
  
• Director George P. Cosmatos wanted to relocate the entire film to a shopping mall. This may be the influence for a level in the game Manhunt (2003) (VG), a game based on a similar premise in which a former death row inmate must fight for his life against several different street gangs in a complex snuff film he's been forcibly enlisted in. One of these levels, called "View of Innocence," takes place in an abandoned shopping mall.
  
  

• SPOILERS: This film is based VERY loosely on the novel of the same name. Specific differences include: The novel takes place in the year 2025. This film takes place in 2019, according to the DVD cover, two years after the collapse of world economy in 2017 advertised following the film title sequence. While this film takes place in California, the novel takes place on the Northeastern Coast of the United States, tracing Richards from Co-Op City, New York to Boston, Massachusetts; from Boston to Manchester, New Hampshire; and from Manchester to Portland and Derry, Maine (the former being Stephen King's hometown, the latter being the fictional primary setting for King's novels It (1990) (TV), Dreamcatcher (2003), "Insomnia," and "Bag of Bones"); then from Derry back to New York. Richards enters the game willingly as opposed to being forced to, in order to acquire money for his ailing infant daughter. He is deemed an enemy of the state and receives a hundred dollars for every hour he stays alive over a period of thirty days, an additional hundred for every law enforcement officer or "Hunter" (not "Stalker") he kills, and one billion in "New Dollars" (worth far more than original American dollars). As opposed to being confined to the site of an earthquake in California in the film, Richards can travel anywhere in the world to evade the Hunters, but must videotape two messages per day and courier them to the Games Network or forfeit his money. Richards, a Caucasian male, shows signs of racism early on in the novel, but is taken in by the Throckmortons, an African American family in Boston, and after he is told of the situations the government forces them to live in, decides to help them. Laughlin is a Caucasian, and enters the tournament willingly as does Richards. Laughlin eventually meets his end in Topeka, Kansas, where police burn the shed he hides in. Dan Killian (called Damon Killian in the film) is an African American. Killian is also the producer of "The Running Man," not the host. Unlike in the film, the only Hunter mentioned by name in the novel is Evan McCone, the chief Hunter, who is eventually shot dead by Richards. While in Boston, Richards escapes his pursuers by setting fire to a YMCA he is hiding in and narrowly escapes through a sewer pipe. The resulting fire kills five police officers. The ending is far more dire in the novel than in the film. In Derry, Maine, Richards carjacks a woman named Amelia Williams and makes his way to Derry's airport, hijacking a plane, where he also takes McCone hostage. As with in the film, Richards is given the chance to become leader Hunter (much to McCone's chagrin) by Killian, though unlike in the film, he accepts. He is later given the terrible news that both his wife and daughter had been killed even before he had even first appeared on "The Running Man," giving him time to ponder the offer more. Feeling he has nothing left to lose, Richards overpowers the flight crew and kills McCone, but is mortally wounded in the process. Setting Williams free via a parachute, Richards makes a suicide run on the Games Building in New York, killing Killian and everybody inside.
  
  

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