15 years after Michael Cera and Edgar Wright delivered the most inventive graphic novel adaptation of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, the actor-director duo has reunited for an unforgettable sequence in The Running Man. Although the big-budget remake of the classic Arnold Schwarzenegger movie largely fails to get the pulse racing as fast as Ben Richards’ sprint through a deadly gauntlet, Cera’s extended cameo remains one of the film’s most amusing moments.
Cera’s most recent role is so hilariously entertaining that it’s obvious Wright wrote the part for his longtime friend and creative partner and gave him one of the most memorable parts in the entire film. As such, it deserves a closer look.
Who Does Michael Cera Play in ‘The Running Man’?
Based on Stephen King’s 1982 novel of the same name, The Running Man is a sci-fi action thriller set in a dystopian future America. The United States has become a controlled surveillance state where mega media corporations oppress the population, deny healthcare, and distract the poor with kitschy reality TV shows and immersive video games. The story revolves around Ben Richards (Glen Powell), an impoverished worker in Co-Op City, who is desperate to raise money to pay for his daughter Cathy’s treatment for influenza.
Looking for fast cash, Ben enters The Running Man competition, a reality-TV series in which contestants must survive being stalked and hunted by everyday citizens for 30 days. If Ben survives, he will win $1 billion. The deadly games are conducted by Evan McCone (Lee Pace), a mysterious masked man who is revealed to be running a revenge mission against the TV show.
Halfway through his run, Ben encounters the rebellious activist Elton Parrakis, hilariously played by Michael Cera. Elton claims to be an underground activist and staunch anarchist who lives with his elderly mother, Victoria (Sandra Dickinson). Elton booby traps his house and lures the villains in like he was Kevin McCallister to fend off the deadly pursuers chasing Ben, as he firmly believes that Ben’s 30-day survival will launch a much-needed revolution against the destructive FreeVee network. Watching Cera dart around a trap house with a Super Soaker water gun is sheer lunacy at its most fun.
Once Ben arrives at Elton’s home, he gives Ben a map to an underground bunker that Elton’s father built years before. Just before going to the bunker, Victoria tips off the Hunters, and Elton’s home is bombarded, prompting Ben and Elton to flee in an off-road buggy. Things don’t go so well for Elton after that, but for anyone who loved Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Cera’s wildly amusing cameo makes for a must-see reunion.
How ‘The Running Man’ Mirrors Scott Pilgrim’s Playfulness
While watching Michael Cera’s role in The Running Man, it’s impossible not to think about how much fun he and Edgar Wright had making Scott Pilgrim vs. the World 15 years ago. Adapted from the popular Brian Lee O’Malley graphic novel, Scott Pilgrim is an incredibly stylish romantic coming-of-age tale in which Scott (Cera) must defeat the seven evil ex-boyfriends of his new girlfriend, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Scott is also a member of the rock band Sex Bob-Omb, which enters a Battle of the Bands competition to win a record deal.
Laced with catchy tunes and a brilliantly inventive video game tableau and sound design, few movies replicate the immersive and deeply engaging sensation of gaming like Scott Pilgrim. With each evil ex he defeats, Scott gains more self-confidence, earning traditional video game points and coin rewards that are visually and aurally represented. The artful, colorful, exhilarating fusion of video game, comic book, and graphic novel formats transcends any single movie genre to become one of the most playful and original media adaptations.
Given their history on Scott Pilgrim, the role of Elton Parrakis in The Running Man feels tailor-made for Cera. Just as Cera endured all sorts of physical punishment for laughs in Scott Pilgrim, he’s also the subject of hyper-violent ridicule in The Running Man. Elton thinks he’s a revolutionary behind a worthy cause, but ends up a foolhardy caricature who builds death traps, is put through the wringer, and brutally harmed for his efforts. It feels like Elton is ripped right out of a video game, like Scott Pilgrim was plunged into in 2010, albeit facing a different kind of existential battle.
Despite appearing in just one sequence, viewers can tell that Cera is having a ball in The Running Man, just as he and Wright had an absolute blast making Scott Pilgrim 15 years ago. There’s a waggish dynamic between the two that audiences can sense was born from a genuine friendship built over the past decade and a half, something that both Cera and Wright have recently spoken about.
What Edgar Wright and Michael Said About Their 15-Year Reunion
Speaking with Nerd Reactor to promote The Running Man, Edgar Wright beamed about his reunion with Michael Cera. When asked what was different this time around, Wright stated:
“It was really like a great reunion because when I shot Michael in Scott Pilgrim, it was like 2009. And he turned 21 on the set. And so to reunite with him like 15 years later, you know, he’s a father of two. You know, and we’ve been friends this entire time…and it was actually nice after 15 years to say, ‘I have a part for you.’ And it was great to have him on set. A lot of people on the film worked on Scott Pilgrim as well, so it was a really great reunion in a number of ways.”
The Running Man also reunites Edgar Wright with Scott Pilgrim screenwriter Michael Bacall, editor Paul Machliss, producer Nira Park, production designer Marcus Rowland, and more. For as much as a family affair The Running Man is, Wright continued to praise the chemistry between Cera and Powell, adding, “And also just him [Cera] and Glen together make such an unlikely sort of fun duo for the time they have on screen.”
Far from a one-sided sentiment, Michael Cera also spoke fondly about working with Wright again after 15 years, telling Take a Look:
“I would just always be excited to be part of anything that Edgar does because he’s just, you know, there’s nobody like him. You see all these images that were not in your brain when you read the script, and you go, ‘Wow, this is everything that he brings to a script like this.’ It’s incredible.”
When speaking about the most exciting part of the moviemaking experience, Cera added:
“Just the non-stop…just the chaos, just the barreling forward feeling of the whole thing. It’s just something that I can’t wait to see with an audience and with people, and just see for myself.”
Expanding on the unique imagery that helped define Scott Pilgrim, Cera also noted a similar energy in The Running Man, saying:
“You can always kind of credit the energy of a big movie or of a set to, you know, it kind of trickles down ultimately from the director and the lead actor. And there’s just such a good energy coming from both Edgar and Glen on this.
Working with Edgar, or any great director that you feel lucky to be part of their work, I think one of the best things about that as an actor is just feel really safe. You have total confidence that you’re going to be part of something that is going to turn out to be worth watching.”
The Running Man is now playing in theaters.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
