Owen Wilson To Star With ‘Reacher’s Alan Ritchson In Scott Waugh-Directed ‘Runner’

EXCLUSIVE: Owen Wilson is set to star opposite Alan Ritchson (Reacher) in Runner, an action drama helmed by Scott Waugh (Need for Speed, Expendables 4) and getting underway in Australia. The  Black List script is written by Tommy White and Miles Hubley.

Runner follows Hank Malone (Ritchson), a high-end courier who has three hours to transport an organ to save a seven-year-old girl in need of an immediate transplant. The seemingly simple mission turns deadly when the leader of a notorious crime syndicate becomes hell-bent on claiming the organ.

Wilson will play Ben, the medical courier that Ritchson is begrudgingly forced to transport and protect. The film will begin shooting in the Australian state of Queensland this March. WME Independent is co-repping domestic with A Higher Standard, who is exclusively handling foreign.

“This pairing is something I believe audiences have been hungry for, and we strive to achieve the unexpected from the page-turner script that Miles and Tommy delivered,” Waugh said.

Runner is being produced by Todd Garner (Broken Road Productions), Alan Ritchson (AllyCat Entertainment), Dan Spilo (Industry Entertainment), Mark Fasano (Nickel City Pictures), Jeffrey Greenstein (A Higher Standard) and Deborah Glover (G2 Dispatch). Lauren Gennawey of Broken Road Productions to act as Executive Producer. The film marks the fourth collaboration between Nickel City Pictures and A Higher Standard, after wrapping Playdate and Solo Mio in 2024 and the Russell Crowe crime-thriller, Bear Country, which is currently shooting.

“The story’s grounded nature and emotional through-line is one-of-a-kind,” said A Higher Standard’s Greenstein.

Ritchson just wrapped War Machine for Netflix, and is currently in production on his leading role opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Adam Shankman-directed holiday comedy The Man with the Bag, where he also serves as a producer.  Wilson has an Untitled Apple TV series coming soon in 2025 and is currently shooting Live Nation’s Rolling Loud, directed by Jeremy Garelick. 

Ritchson is represented by WME, Industry Entertainment, and Hansen, Jacobson. Wilson is repped by UTA and Bob Wallerstein at Hirsch, Wallerstein, Hayum, Matlof and Fishman. Waugh is repped by UTA and Stuart Rosenthal at Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher.

The production is supported by the City of Gold Coast and by the Australian Government through the Location Offset and Screen Queensland.