It was Jamie Lee Curtis who warned him that he would be a “big, big movie star.” But for nearly two decades, Glen Powell was denied the chance to try to become one. So cruel and unforgiving was the film industry toward him that his first agency preferred to stop representing him, assuring him that “he would be lucky to get to play a corpse in a crime series.” They were wrong. In just half a year, that dead man has breathed new life into the romantic comedy genre with Anyone but youhas taken the top spot globally on Netflix playing an unlikely hitman in Hit Man. Killer by chance and now he is preparing to make the ultimate blockbuster with Twisterssequel to the thriller The 90s blockbuster that hits theaters on July 19 is sure to sweep the summer box office charts with critical acclaim already in its pocket. After years of tireless searching by the major studios to crown the great male face of the new Hollywood, perhaps the answer was right under their noses.
“He’s talented, he’s handsome, he’s smart and he’s worked like no one else,” says filmmaker Richard Linklater, who has directed Powell twice (We all want something and Hit Man)the keys to the current success of this charismatic 35-year-old Texan with a million-dollar smile and abs of steel. Another of his professional godfathers, Tom Cruise, made a surprise appearance at the premiere Londoner from Twisters a few days ago to support —and promote on their own Instagram account— who has become his favorite pupil on and off the big screen. After sharing scenes in Top Gun: MaverickCruise sent Powell to a Los Angeles movie theater to show him an educational video, reserved “for close friends only,” in which the actor breaks down directly to the camera all the knowledge accumulated about the seventh art during six hours. “To make Top Gun together changed everything. Tom is the best. He is a great friend and mentor and has become a very special part of my life,” ratifies Powell.
Although she made her film debut at just 13 years old, with a small role in the children’s film Spy Kids 3-DIt wasn’t until he was 19 that Powell decided to leave his native Austin and his university studies to conquer the hills of Los Angeles. He was taken in by the legendary manager Ed Limato, who had previously shaped other stars such as Denzel Washington, Kevin Costner and Mel Gibson. It was he who showed him the path he had to follow if he wanted to emulate his 90s role models: “Ed always told me, over and over again, that the definition of a movie star is someone that guys want to go out for a beer with – someone fun, not threatening – and that women want to go on a date with and take home to introduce to their parents,” he confessed in The New York Times.
But Limato’s early death left him an orphan in the profession and he had to earn his living as a script reader for the famous producer Lynda Obst (Interstellar, Something to remember). Powell has admitted that he would sit every day reading on the terrace of the cafeteria at Sony studios, waiting, as if it were a movie, for some bigwig to accidentally stumble upon him and give him the opportunity he longed for.
He didn’t get it. He spent more than a decade juggling small roles in film and television with failed casting opportunities that had the potential to radically change his life, with Captain America and Han Solo as glaring examples. His first lead role, in the Netflix romantic comedy How to get rid of your bosshe arrived only because he had acted as a supporting actor for Emilia Clarke’s castings and, when the actress known for giving life to Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thronesthey decided to give the meritorious a chance before the entire project had to be cancelled.
The success of the film made him bet on the revival of a genre that seemed to be dead, but he refused to let it Anyone but youstarring alongside star of Euphoria Sidney Sweeney, will premiere exclusively on a streaming platform streaming. In words to The Hollywood ReporterPowell admits They had offers from all the companies, “with payrolls and budgets that were noticeably higher,” but they preferred to bet on the “cultural impact” that only movie theaters offer. They had it. After opening with a disappointing box office take on its first weekend, word of mouth and the strategy of marketing followed by Powell and Sweeney—who faked a possible romance between them—turned Anyone but you an unexpected box office hit, grossing over 200 million euros worldwide.
“If you want the definition of a movie star, that’s Glen,” says actor Jon Hamm (Don Draper in Mad Men), “the smile, the hair, the tan, the muscles… and he wants it, he loves it and he is good at it.” In recent years we have become accustomed to young stars who appear tormented, nihilistic and lacking appetite for everything related to fame and glamour, eager for the Cronenberg of the moment to look at them with festival eyes and drive away the alienating blockbusters In her journey, Powell’s case resonates because she is unequivocally happy and proud of wanting very much to be a star like those of the past: popular, beloved, commercial and powerful. Of putting, at least for the moment, the complicity of the spectators and the exhibitors before that of the critics and academics. “To have a lasting success in Hollywood you have to make people make money with you,” reflect the actor. “I find it unfortunate when actors say, ‘I just want to act in the movie. I don’t want to promote it. ’ If you want this career, part of your job, a big part, is to do everything you can to help sell your movies. Advertising matters. You have to give people a reason to care.”
He strives to be that reason. He has turned his dog Brisket is one more actor on his promotional tours and an Instagram icon, his parents paraded down the red carpet with posters that They prayed “Stop trying to make Glen Powell succeed” and he even dares to viral dances TikTok. His schedule is so hectic — he also writes and produces — that he says he is unable to pay attention to his love life after breaking up with model Gigi Paris more than a year ago.
Despite being at the top of her career, she has just built a house in Austin to protect herself and her parents and two sisters from the noise of Hollywood. What’s more, she plans to enroll in the four classes she needed to complete her degree. It will depend on whether Twistersin which he gives life to a kind of cowboy which chases tornadoes for his YouTube channel, allows him to have time to hit the books or, on the contrary, confirms Jamie Lee Curtis’s prediction by finally elevating him as the star of the summer cinema.
