I Wasn’t Expecting The Running Man To Parody The Kardashians. We Asked Edgar Wright About How It Came About

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Based on a Stephen King story, The Running Man is one of the many movies planned for 2025. It’s filled with references to other works by King, but one surprise connection stood out. Director Edgar Wright included a clever nod to popular reality TV within the film’s action and suspense. He recently explained to TopMob how the parody of the Kardashians came to be.

Let’s unpack what happened.

How The Running Man Parodies Reality TV Like The Kardashians

The film The Running Man centers around the fierce competition that Ben Richards, played by Glen Powell, finds himself starring in. This leads to much of the story being presented as if viewed through a television screen. We see commercials – including funny ones for brands like Liquid Death – and learn that people are obsessed with a reality show similar to The Kardashians.

The movie is called The Americanos, and even the actor Ben Richards found himself enjoying it during several scenes. Here are some photos from The Americanos.

You cannot mistake the nods to The Kardashians here. And, the movie really nails the parody.

What Edgar Wright Told Us About The Americanos

Jeff McCobb from TopMob spoke with filmmaker Edgar Wright, who explained the origins of The Americanos. Surprisingly, the creative team from the Hulu series provided significant assistance during the movie’s production, as Wright shared with us:

We actually reached out to the team behind The Kardashians to learn about their filming techniques and equipment. They were really helpful! Micah Bacall and I then came up with the idea for “Americanos,” and I suggested that maybe the characters could be successful coffee business owners.

That’s a clever wordplay – Americanos, just like the coffee drink! It’s cool to learn that the filmmakers did some research and intentionally included this detail in the movie. It really fits with the film’s focus on social issues and how we consume television.

If you’ve seen shows on Hulu, you’ll immediately recognize the tone of The Americanos. It’s not surprising the creators got some help from people who worked on the show, especially since Kim Kardashian, who stars in it, is generally good-natured about being parodied. It’s unusual for a big-budget production to need assistance from a reality show, but it seems Wright was already familiar with the subject matter thanks to his friends.

It was the first day of filming preparations. To be honest, I haven’t really gotten into those reality TV shows. I know a lot of people are really into things like Real Housewives, Vanderpump Rules, and the Kardashians, but I haven’t watched much of it.

Wright himself isn’t a big reality TV fan, but many people in the world of 2025 are, and including it is a playful way to hint at what’s popular on TV in this futuristic setting. The film also playfully acknowledges Arnold Schwarzenegger’s role in the original movie.

While no one is actually facing life-or-death challenges for money in real life, this movie shows how far entertainment will go to create compelling television. And although shows like the Kardashians aren’t competitions, they’re part of the broader discussion about the popularity of reality TV and how much personal life people are willing to share publicly.

I honestly didn’t think I’d ever compare Stephen King and The Kardashians in the same breath, but you never know what will happen in the world of movies.

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2025-11-17 22:11