Lee Pace has offered new details about his role as the coolly violent antagonist Evan McCone in Edgar Wright’s upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s The Running Man. The film stars Glen Powell as Ben Richards, a man who enters a deadly, globally televised game show where he must survive being hunted for 30 days to win a billion-dollar prize for his family.
In a recent interview, Pace admitted initial hesitation about playing a character whose face remains masked for the entire film. However, his uncertainty vanished during the costume design process with Wright and the production team. “That’s this guy,” Pace recalled thinking upon seeing his fully costumed reflection for the first time.
This realization helped him unlock the core of the character. “It led me towards this cool nonchalance,” Pace explained. “He’s relaxed, he’s unbothered by all the violence that he’s surrounded by. And I thought that was kind of funny, actually. This man would kill on Tumblr.”
Pace noted that the mask is central to McCone’s identity as a celebrity killer who has a catchphrase and poses for promotional posters. The mask allows the public to project their own fantasies onto him while granting McCone anonymity in his private life. “But that’s a mask, you’re hidden,” Pace stated. “McCone wants to go out on Sunday and walk his dog and hang out at the mall with his friends and not be bothered. So, he has to wear the mask on The Running Man.”
The character’s development is part of Wright’s effort to create a more faithful adaptation of King’s novel than the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger version. As the game show’s lead Hunter, McCone is not only a primary antagonist but also a key element in the story’s satire of society’s obsession with violent entertainment. The film aims to balance insightful social commentary with the spectacle of a blockbuster, leaving audiences to wonder if there are deeper layers to its masked villain.
