Glen Powell was recently a Hollywood Reporter cover story, where they basically went all-in on the idea that Glen is the next big thing. I disagree, but I will say this – that man has been hustling for years, taking smaller roles and saying yes to every job he was offered, so I don’t really begrudge Glen his newfound success. I just don’t think he’s really got “it” and I think that’s why his attempts to become a movie star fell flat for so many years. But here we are! Glen covered a recent issue of GQ Hype, all to promote Hit Man and Twisters (a sort of revival of the ‘90s classic). Glen is genuinely enjoying his new fame but he still has scar tissue over just how many roles he never got. Some highlights:
On Batman: “I was always a Batman guy. I would have a wild take on Batman. It definitely would not be like a Matt Reeves tone – it’d probably be closer to Keaton. Oh, sick!” Although he hasn’t played Batman, he has been pretty close. “I get my head smashed in by Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.”
He’s not a nepo baby: “When you have no one championing you, you feel like you’re adrift.” He would wake up every day and look at casting breakdowns, film unsolicited auditions, find out casting directors’ contact information and get a friend of his who worked in sales to call them on his behalf. “I was like, this town’s gonna kick me out regardless. You might as well kick down every door you possibly can.”
The roles he never got: He missed out on what would become Josh Hartnett’s role in Oppenheimer by a slim margin, he says, but he’s still in touch with Christopher Nolan, and has faith that they’ll get to do something together soon. Throughout his early-to-mid twenties, Powell, who is now 35, found himself auditioning for – and ultimately losing out on – parts that went on to turbocharge the careers of his peers. In his eyes, he screwed up his audition to play Captain America. He came extremely, agonisingly close to playing Han Solo in Solo (Disney went with Alden Ehrenreich). “I can joke about it now,” he says, “[but] I blew that final audition.” Each time, it felt like he had missed his big chance.
He blew the audition for 2015’s The Longest Ride to Scott Eastwood. “I remember Marty Bowen, who was the producer, just looking at me like, ‘Yeah, this is not going well.’”
He came across as too needy: “He was like, ‘Hey man, you gotta be less punctual, like a little more cool actor-y.’ There’s definitely a bit of a game [to the whole thing]. It was clear to me very early on that it’s not a meritocracy, and I still believe that. I still believe that the best guy doesn’t necessarily get the job. You can’t just be good – you also have to be very lucky. All these guys who didn’t give a sh-t and just phoned it in were working.”
Glen also talks about how various “types” come into vogue and suddenly every script references that type – a Robert Pattinson brooding-type, a delicate Timothee Chalamet-type, etc. Which I think is true, and it also sort of explains why Glen is sort of out of sync with his “Hollywood generation.” Hollywood isn’t really looking for forgetably-attractive beefcake movie stars right now? Anyway, I’ll give him a chance because I appreciate the fact that he’s not a nepo baby and that he hustled his ass off to get here. But I’m still mad about it!
Photos courtesy of Cover Images. Cover courtesy of British GQ.