This week on BEHIND THE LENS, I’ve got an interesting and fun interview for you as I talk with director KEVIN MACDONALD about his new film, the psychological thriller THE RUNNER. Plus, it will tease you a bit before THE RUNNER releases on September 2nd on Prime Video!
But before I get started, how many of you hit the theatre this weekend to see BUDDY? If you haven’t, run, don’t walk to the nearest theatre for this sick, twisted, hilariously funny, unexpectedly thoughtful, and gleefully drenched in blood film. BUDDY is one of those increasingly rare genre concoctions that feels genuinely fresh and I think the majority of you will have a lot of fun with it.
Now, as for today. THE RUNNER and director KEVIN MACDONALD.
Directed by Kevin Macdonald, who you probably best know for The Last King of Scotland or How I Live Now (I also love his work with The Mauritanian and Black Sea), and written by Mark Gibson who has previously brought us the oh-so-fun Snow Dogs and the animated film The Wild, together they bring us THE RUNNER.
Now don’t get confused. This is THE RUNNER. On September 11th we then get RUNNER from my pal Scott Waugh. You’ll be hearing more from me about RUNNER after Labor Day. So let’s keep them straight. Ironically I interviewed Kevin immediately followed by Scott on Thursday, so they had me really running.
THE RUNNER stars Gal Gadot as Maia Marten, a sharp, resourceful high-powered lawyer at the pinnacle of London’s legal world. She is also a single mother.
During her routine morning run, a single phone call shatters her world: her son has been taken. The instructions to get him back are simple and merciless — keep moving, follow every command, and tell no one. Stop, and he dies. Forced to sprint through the city and obey a series of sinister commands, Maia must confront an impossible question: how far will she go to bring her son home?
A pulse-pounding psychological thriller set against the backdrop of London’s hyper-connected streets, THE RUNNER is a visceral, high-stakes race where every second counts, every choice carries a price, and a mother’s unstoppable love becomes the most dangerous weapon of all.
My review on THE RUNNER is embargoed until 9pm PT tomorrow, September 1st, so I have to be a bit cagey in talking about this film. But, just so you know, the review is already finished and is on the website scheduled to go live at 9pm PT on Tuesday night. So, make sure to hop on behindthelensonline.net Tuesday night or anytime after that for my actual full review of THE RUNNER.
The first word that came to my mind watching THE RUNNER is gripping. Followed by a perfect marriage of sight and sound, and that’s exactly the focus of my interview with KEVIN MACDONALD – Anthony Dod Mantle’s incredible cinematography, an impeccably mixed and layered soundscape courtesy of Glenn Freemantle and his amazing team, Sam Rice-Edwards’ editing (and it’s hard to believe this is his first feature narrative film edit although he has edited documentaries with Kevin before), and Tom Hodge’s score married with some very telling needledrops.
As you’ll hear in this interview, we dig into Anthony Dod Mantle’s lensing and his some amazing camera work. You already know of his talents thanks to films like “The Last King of Scotland” which he did with Kevin, “Slumdog Millionaire” and “127 Hours” with Danny Boyle, and most recently, the utterly charming “My Penguin Friend”, so what you see unfold on screen with THE RUNNER should not come as a surprise. Anthony has a very keen eye and will pick up on the smallest details and slide them into frame. What really amazed me about this shoot, however, is that much of it was shot on the streets of London. They couldn’t close streets or sidewalks in many areas so they ended shooting among regular crowds and traffic with Gal Gadot running…and an ambitious roller skating camera operator named Myron in the middle of it all capturing the kinetic energy. And although Anthony likes to operate the camera himself, for those scenes he let Myron skate and shoot while he shot with a long lens camera.
And then there’s Sam Rice-Edwards editing which can only described as whipsmart and rapier, paced and modulated with Maia’s running pace so we feel like we’re running in her shoes and sweating just as much as she is. But what he also does is incrementally parse out visual information about the Caller very sparingly. A fingernail here. Curling toes there. A profile of just an eye. A sliver of a computer monitor. And as the film progresses, the glimpses get a bit bigger so that we can slowly start to put the puzzle together in our minds and visually, but it keeps us on tenterhooks from beginning to end. Rounding things out is Tom Hodge’s score meshed with some incredible needledrops, bookending the film with Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” and “Hanging on the Telephone.”
The one element we didn’t get to address in this very brief, but rapid-fire interview, was Gal Gadot. But let me just say this. I cannot think of anyone who could play this role but for Gal Gadot. “Wonder Woman” and all that image entails and brings to Gadot’s pedigree is on full display in THE RUNNER.
THE RUNNER releases globally on Prime Video on September 2, 2026.
Another film to put on your radar for this Friday, September 4th when it releses in theatres and digitally is THE GIRL IN THE RIVER from first time feature director and writer, Brando Benetton. A terrific interview and another tension building film for you. The interview is already out and it’s a very thoughtful and interesting one as Brando really dives into the community of Canton, Mississippi where the film was shot and discusses how key Canton was to making this film and crafting the visual tonal bandwidth. That’s not something that too many directors think about and embrace. And you will love the cast – Maggie Grace, Devon Sawa, Tiffany Haddish (who is fantastic in this dramatic role), Ralph Macchio, and Andrew Stevens.
Next week is Labor Day so I may not have a show for you until the following week when you will hear my interview with Scott Waugh talking about his action comedy RUNNER starring Owen Wilson, Alan Ritchson, and Rodrigo Santoro.
