Lee Pace Talks ‘The Running Man’ and of ‘Halt and Catch Fire’ in 2025

A mask and minimal dialogue were never going to deter Lee Pace from working with Edgar Wright on The Running Man. 

Within the film’s deadly reality series of the same name, Pace plays Evan McCone, the chief Hunter who’s tasked with eliminating Glen Powell’s Runner character, Ben Richards. McCone and the game show’s executive producer, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), prey on the desperation of innocent people like Richards, all while manipulating their audience through disinformation and deepfake technology to believe that the Network and its Hunters are only ridding the country of criminals and ne’er-do-wells. McCone and his Hunters then benefit from their manufactured lies when misled civilians step up to aid their murderous efforts. 

There may be some commonalities between the dystopian world of The Running Man and the real world right now, but Pace is more optimistic when comparing our present day to the satire Stephen King published in 1982.

“[The Running Man] was Stephen King’s, as Richard Bachman, interpretation of what 2025 might look like when he was writing back in 1981,” Pace tells The Hollywood Reporter. “He was sensitive to a growing hostility in this country, but the good news is we don’t live in a world where The Running Man is possible. I still hope the audience finds it thought-provoking, including what it says about media, power and violence.”

The fictional Running Man series’ ability to manipulate through the guise of populist entertainment also has Pace contemplating his own lifelong devotion to entertaining people, albeit in a much more responsible way.

“There have been many times where I have felt like a deeply unserious person by pursuing this with my life,” Pace says. “But the older I get and the more opportunities I get to do it, I now feel like the ability to entertain people is such a worthy thing to do with your life.”

The Running Man illustrates all the terrifying ways that our evolving technology can be used against us, and so Pace can’t help but wonder how his Halt and Catch Fire character, Joe MacMillan, would engage with today’s breakthroughs in fields such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality. MacMillan could be described as one of the earliest “tech bros,” as his fictional work in the ‘80s and ‘90s arguably helped put us on this current path. MacMillan may have ended the AMC series by exiting the tech industry in favor of being a humanities teacher, but Pace is of the mind that Big Tech hasn’t heard the last of him.

“I don’t think Joe McMillan ever retires. I can’t imagine what he would do with his time if he wasn’t looking forward and trying to see which way the wind blows,” Pace says. “So I think that his story continues in an interesting way, and I would be fascinated to see what [Halt co-creators] Chris Rogers and Chris Cantwell would imagine Joe MacMillan to be doing in this time.”

Below, during a conversation with THR, Pace also discusses his primary motivation on the Running Man set, as well as how Halt and Catch Fire lasted for four seasons despite being one of the lowest-rated cable series on television.

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When Edgar Wright offered you the chance to play a masked man named McCone, how did that conversation go?

First, to get a call from Edgar Wright, saying, “I want you to be a part of my film,” it was such a pinch-me moment. I’m such a fan of his. He described what he wanted to make and what he wanted out of this character, and I was like, “Yeah, this sounds like great fun.” And I have to say, from that first conversation and the script that I read to the movie that I saw, it’s exactly the same. He made exactly the movie that he had in mind before we started filming.

McCone’s got a secret. Did that third-act reveal tip the scales as far as your commitment? 

Yeah, he’s a complicated character. He’s mysterious, and he withholds a lot throughout most of the movie. I like a mysterious character. Then the complexity of him emerges towards the end, and I also like a complicated character. I still had a good time trying to make McCone be as relaxed and unbothered as possible throughout his pursuit of Ben Richards. So it was definitely great fun playing the character.

You had to find ways to express your character without the use of your face. Did you offer up a number of alts on the day such as the kiss he blows?

My motivation on many of these days was trying to make Edgar laugh. McCone is a nasty character, but I actually think he’s kind of funny. The mask is kind of funny. The nonchalance is kind of funny. So that’s what I was trying to do most days. I love giving options. I’m like, “I’ll do as many takes as you want to do and as you’ll let me do.” I’m always begging for another one just to try something new. We’ve only got the cameras set up once, so let’s see what there is.

There’s a great deal of thematic relevance to The Running Man. Strangely enough, Stephen King’s source material (as Richard Bachman) happened to be set in 2025. When you’re considering a role, it’s understandable why you’d prioritize your character and collaborators, but how influential is theme in your decision-making?

Well, director is first. That’s the reason you do or don’t do the movie. This was Stephen King’s, as Richard Bachman, interpretation of what 2025 might look like when he was writing back in 1981, so it was a very, very long time ago. He was sensitive to a growing hostility in this country, but the good news is we don’t live in a world where The Running Man is possible. The theme is thought-provoking, but like I said, it’s not reality. 

Inside the movie, there’s a sharp difference between the reality show and reality. In the movie, I play a Hunter, a murderer, who’s trying to hunt down Ben Richards. But inside the show, Ben Richards is supposed to be the bad guy, and McCone is portrayed as the good guy. He’s one of the brave people who’s trying to rid the streets of bad guys like Ben Richards, which is not true. So this movie is satire, and it’s fun and thrilling.

Glen Powell, at the center of it, brings a strength of character to Ben Richards, so that when he gets himself into the mess of this game show, you believe in him. You believe that he has a chance of figuring out how to solve it and how to take care of himself inside of it. So even though the world is hostile and pretty bleak, you’re following a guy who can find a way through it. 

I still hope the audience finds it thought-provoking, including what it says about media, power and violence. I hope they find all of that thought-provoking. But I mainly hope people have a good time.

You’ve played a wide variety of characters, but you’ve certainly played your fair share of villains in your career. When you were starting out, did you assume that your physical stature (at 6’5”) would bring a lot of them to your doorstep? 

I had no idea what was going to come my way when I started out. When I say I had no idea, I had no idea. In the early 2000s, you’d go to a few auditions a day, and you’d try this and try that. My career has been shaped not by my mind and goals, but by the directors who have chosen to work with me, especially in those days before I had really done much. Tarsem’s [Singh] The Fall was one of my first movies, as was Soldier’s Girl, from [writer] Frank Pierson and [director] Ron Nyswaner. Never in my wildest dreams did I think these roles would come my way, but they did, and I’m proud of the work I did in them. 

So, yeah, I am big, and while I play a lot of bad guys, bad guys are really fun to play. There’s interesting characters, and then there’s fun characters. So a lot of the bad guys I’ve gotten to play have just been a blast. You get the chance to show up on set and behave in a way that you aren’t able to in real life.

The story centers on how desperate Ben Richards is to make a living and support his family. Do you have a semi-comparable moment in your career where your back was against the wall and you needed an opportunity? 

Yeah, I think everyone has a moment in life where they feel like the game is rigged and they don’t see a path forward. There’s a riddle in front of them that they can’t solve. They can’t square it. So that’s a very relatable part of this story. Being an actor is such an odd profession. I almost feel silly calling it a profession, but it is one, and I feel so lucky to be able to entertain people. 

There have been many times where I have felt like a deeply unserious person by pursuing this with my life. (Laughs.) But the older I get and the more opportunities I get to do it, I now feel like the ability to entertain people is such a worthy thing to do with your life, actually. So now that I’m older, I look back on those times when my back was against the wall, and they’re part of what forms you because you do figure it out.

Whenever someone performs the same job in the same setting for a long time, it’s very easy to become complacent and maneuver on auto-pilot. But your job is constantly changing in terms of the character, story, location and collaborators. Does complacency exist in your line of work? 

I hope not. I feel very lucky to have been able to play all the different characters that I’ve played, but I mostly feel lucky to have worked with the people I’ve had the chance to work with. On The Hobbit, I had scenes with Ian McKellan and Billy Connolly. I’ve had the chance to work with such interesting people, and that opportunity has always kept it surprising. It’s taken me to places that I never thought I could go, and I’ve found pieces of myself inside characters that I didn’t even know were there. Even if I play a character that is so far from myself and I have to completely transform, I’ll watch it back and I’ll just see me. I really do. I see me falling in love or me hunting down Glen Powell. What a dream. So that’s what’s always surprising, and I hope it stays that way.

We’ve reached the Joe MacMillan portion of the interview. He’s probably long retired by now, but have you ever stopped to consider what he’d think of today’s tech industry? Would he be tempted by things like AI? Or would he be frightened by it?

I don’t think Joe McMillan ever retires. I can’t imagine what he would do with his time if he wasn’t looking forward and trying to see which way the wind blows. I love how [Halt and Catch Fire] ended for him: “I’m just going to look towards youth and try to guide them [as a teacher] and see what happens next.” So I think that his story continues in an interesting way, and I would be fascinated to see what [Halt co-creators] Chris Rogers and Chris Cantwell would imagine Joe MacMillan to be doing in this time. AI, satellites, avatar technology, it’s endless. The things that people are working on right now will certainly shape the rest of our years.

Your Halt co-star Mackenzie Davis once asked me why AMC kept renewing the show, and I credited critical acclaim. And then she said that it’s not always enough. I later realized that it was critical acclaim at the right time. Breaking Bad had just gone off the air, and Mad Men was winding down, so they needed another critical darling in their stable.

But we really weren’t critical darlings …

Weren’t you as of season two? I always saw that season as the turning point.

Well, the season two people were like, “Oh, there’s something here. I can see what they’re trying to sniff out.” And then season three was when we really hit our stride. So I would say that AMC believed in the group of people that they had assembled. The writers were trying to figure it out and focus it, as were the actors. Every episode, we met to read through the script and work on the characters and challenge each other. So we got to know each other very well as actors, as we developed that show over the years. So I think that AMC figured out a way to make the finances of it work because they really believed in the show. 

The critical success of it was very nice. But at that point, we were doing it for the sake of doing it, because we liked it. We were all very interested in it. I was still shocked every season when we got picked up again, but I was happy because I loved working with those people. I loved working on that character, and I really loved working for AMC at that time. What a smart, interesting group of people.

There’s not a lot of case studies like it.

But I would say we really earned it. We didn’t have that stamp of approval early on. We had to find it. We had to grow into what the DNA of that evolving story was, and it continued to evolve until the very last episode, really.

Last year, I covered a movie in which Mackenzie and Scoot McNairy played a married couple, and it was very strange for Halt fans considering their sibling-like relationship on that show. It was also awkward for them at first. One of your Halt producers actually suggested that you and Kerry Bishé should find a project now.

I love Kerry. Looking back on it, I think she was the real MVP of Halt and Catch Fire. The performance that she turned in episode after episode after episode was so considered and so heartfelt. She did extraordinary work on that show, and I would jump at the chance to work with her again.

***The Running Man is now playing in movie theaters.