Colman Domingo Used Jerry Springer to Build His ‘Running Man’ Villain

The upcoming Running Man remake is set in a United States where people watch contestants try to survive being hunted. Watch any game show (or reality TV in general), and the host is as important as the players themselves, and that’s where Colman Domingo comes in.

He plays Bobby Thompson in the film, who hosts the titular blood sport that’s the talk of the country. We got a little bit of the character in the trailer, and according to Domingo, playing a guy like that is like “[being] in a whole different film than anyone else.” Like he told Entertainment Weekly, Thompson’s only seen through the context of his show, where he’s “operating, manipulating, charming, not only the studio audience, but the guests as well.”

Despite not having any backstory to lean on, Domingo revealed two inspirations for Bobby: his old theater days of “being able to hold an audience” and Jerry Springer, whose reality show used to be a big deal in the mid-2000s and became a reliable time-killer for schoolkids during snow days. Domingo watched the two-part documentary on the late TV show host the night before filming his scenes and recognized Springer’s skill in “inciting and letting people…do what they need to do on a platform and really let them engage in the worst behavior and still feel like he had nothing to do with it. He’s just there moving the show along. I felt like, what an interesting strategic way to abstain from any responsibility of what happens on that set.”

Bobby’s need to keep the masses entertained also extends to his look, which Domingo said comes courtesy of writer/director Edgar Wright and costume designers keeping him looking “impeccable in every way. Maybe it made sense for Edgar to cast me because I think he knew I could possibly pull it off.” Style has always been a hallmark of Wright’s movies, and Running Man looks to keep that trend going—which, to Domingo, is a great incentive to see the film in theaters on November 14. The holidays are no stranger to event films, and he’s positive “this one is going to be a massive event in our cinemas.”

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