Good Afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen, This Is Your Savior Speaking
With Hitman, Glen Powell completes his three-phase progression towards movie stardom.
It’s hard to become a true movie star in this day and age. That’s not to say that we don’t have more famous actors than ever–we do. Or that we’re at a loss for truly great screen presences–we’re not. But becoming an actual “movie star” today, in the Lord’s year 2024, is far less common than it was even two decades ago.
Whether it’s because of Marvel’s focus on holding up their iconic characters over the performers themselves, the dissolution of films made for actual adults, or just the overall decline in movie popularity as a whole, there are fewer and fewer onscreen actors who make the big jump from “hey, it’s that guy/girl” to great performer to “I’d watch them do just about anything.” Which is exactly why Glen Powell is so interesting.
There are very few actors in my life that I remember thinking, “Oh shit, you’re gonna be a movie star” after the first time I saw them, but I did with ol’ Glen. OK, technically it was the second time, but he did a perfectly fine job as a skeezy Wall Street trader who gets his head beaten in by Bane after offering some solid financial advice during our first encounter.
As such, I’ve been holding my Glen stock for some time now, which is why it feels great to finally see him reach Hollywood’s upper echelon a few years later than all of us–along with himself–thought he would. But how did he do it? Of all dudes, why is he the next big male movie star? And what happens next? Let’s take a closer look.
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Phase 1: The Big Grind
Believe it or not, our hero GP started acting professionally more than 20 years ago, beginning with a role in fellow Austinite Robert Rodriguez’s 2003 film Spy Kids 3: Game Over. Now, we’re not gonna go over his entire IMDB, but there are some important stops to call out along his way towards stardom.
For instance, he pops up alongside Paul Dano in Fast Food Nation, the first of four collaborations with Hitman director Richard Linklater (more on their relationship later), does The Great Debaters with Denzel Washington (who also directed the movie and personally cast Powell), did the classic CSI/NCIS/Rizzoli & Isles triumvirate, got his first taste of massive studio moviedom with the aforementioned Dark Knight Rises, played Haley Joel Osment’s bro-y friend in a comedy called Sex Ed (the less said the better), played a character named “Thorn” in The Expendables 3, and also showed up in Ride Along 2. Here’s what we can say about the guy during this first decade-plus of his career: he worked consistently and looked like this in just about every role:
But then in 2016, something amazing happened. He took a role in a movie that would change his life. He took the role that made me realize he was a star. And he took a role where instead of looking like an Abercrombie greeter circa 2005, he looked like this instead:
Yes, I too was in Everybody Wants Some!!
Everybody Wants Some!! (with two exclamation points and don’t you dare fucking forget it) is without a doubt my most recommended movie. It’s an all time favorite, a comfort watch when I just want to hang with some dumb dudes and pretend I still live in Central Texas. And with all due respect to Tyler Hoechlin as the team superstar McReynolds or the protagonist Jake played by Blake Jenner, it’s Powell who steals the movie (honorable mention to Wyatt Russel though, really great stuff).
Each guy on this fictional college baseball team hits a different note–the cocky stars, the overeager freshman, the absolutely deranged transfer–but Powell’s Finn is the coolest guy on the team. He’s funny, welcoming, sly, playful, and more than anything just wants everyone to have a good time. He’s one of the few guys on the team who feels three-dimensional and specific, and maybe the only one who makes you think, “Yeah, I’d watch a prequel or sequel of just this dude doing stuff.”
Similar to Matthew McConaughey in Everybody Wants Some!!’s spiritual predecessor Dazed and Confused 23 years earlier, Powell was chosen from an incredible ensemble to be the next guy up. And while Hollywood seemed to agree pretty quickly, his eventual ascension got delayed by the one thing you never really plan for: a century-altering pandemic.
Phase 2: The Big Moment
While Everybody Wants Some!! has undoubtedly developed a cult following, it certainly didn’t set the box office on fire. And so GP continued doing what he does best: slowly growing his profile through solid work with the occasional opportunity to shine. He built up a loyal following with his recurring role on Scream Queens and got some good praise for his portrayal of John Glenn in Hidden Figures. By the time he reunited with his Everybody Wants Some!! costar Zoey Deutch in Set It Up – a pretty good romcom that really lets Pete Davidson cook – you could just feel that he was about to take that next step. Interesting though is what he didn’t do with his rising stock.
As as an actor with previous experience in action movies, who had worked on a big franchise, and who had clear comic timing, it’s sort of shocking that Powell never popped up in a Marvel movie. 13 such films were released from 2016-2020 and not a’one of them featured Mr. Powell. Now, there’s a chance he wasn’t the right fit for any of the available roles, but I like to think that he followed the famous Leo advice of “no hard drugs and no capes” all the way to the top.
It’s easy to think about other franchises where he could’ve slid right in (and might’ve been considered as a replacement) had the original/reboot not worked out–in particular, I’m looking at you Chris Hemsworth in the Jurassic movies. But instead, Glen let the pterodactyls be and took to the sky in a different way. And when it was announced that he’d be in the long-gestating Top Gun sequel, it was clear Powell had finally arrived.
But then the world went in a different direction. Originally set to be released in June 2020, Top Gun: Maverick stayed on the shelf for two years while the movie industry tried to figure out what the hell to do in response to Covid. And as such, our guy Glen had to wait for his official coming out party. Interestingly enough, Powell supposedly almost passed on the movie after Miles Teller beat him out for the role of Rooster. However, after expressing disinterest in taking the role of Hangman on account of the part being “too small,” Tom Cruise reportedly paid him a visit and told him simply, “the role is as big as you make it.” And as a result, he gets arguably the best line in the movie:
With those 10 words, Glen Powell went from “oh yeah, that guy” to “oh shit, he’s the guy,” and hasn’t really looked back since. But what do you do when you reach the mountain top? Well, if you’re GP, you attempt to revive multiple dormant movie genres, of course.
Phase 3: The Big Test
Top Gun: Maverick’s success didn’t hinge on Glen Powell’s performance by any means. No, we have Tom Cruise doing his best Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly on a boat, and all the fast planes going boom! and vroom to thank for that. But the movie did help him show his range. While Hangman ends up as the savior by the end, we spend almost the entire movie absolutely loathing him, much like his counterpoint in the original, Iceman. But it’s his ability to win us over after stooping so low earlier in the story that makes him so memorable.
Which brings us to 2023/24. Well, OK there was also Devotion, another fighter pilot movie in 2022 starring Powell and Jonathan Majors that will be completely lost to time and which is probably for the best, especially because of reports of Jonathan Majors’ absolutely appalling behavior during this time.
Anyway, we’ve reached the moment where GP has become the leading man and in doing so, tried to show that he can literally do it all. The first part in this was reviving the romantic comedy opposite Sydney Sweeney in Anyone But You, a movie that made $220 million at the box office and became the second highest grossing Shakespeare adaptation ever (it’s very loosely based on Much Ado About Nothing) behind only Shakespeare In Love. Is Anyone But You a good movie? No, not really. Do the two leads have chemistry? I’d say they do not. Is Gator talking to the koala the best part of the film? Probably. But I also accept that Anyone But You is not for me and that young women need movies created for them just as much as I need literally every other movie on Powell’s resume.
The second part of this oddly enough goes back to that whole pandemic thing when GP reached out to his buddy Rick Linklater about a Texas Monthly article about a fake hitman that, coincidentally, Linklater had previously tried to adapt. It was at this moment that Powell went from leading man to leading man/screenwriter/producer and got Hitman off the ground without a studio behind them.
But what is Hitman exactly? It’s a movie made for adults about a fake hitman that somehow works as a romcom, a caper, a screwball comedy, a police procedural, a farce/satire of the cops, and a meditation on a human being’s ability to change their identity over the course of their life. Did I mention it’s also genuinely hot at times? Basically, it’s a Linklater movie, but with the extra juice of Powell going all in on every moment, beat, and scene. Also, holy shit Adria Arjona. Also also, good to see this guy back:
Should it have had a proper theatrical release? Yes. Will 10x as many people see it because it’s on Netflix? Probably also yes. But through Powell’s portrayal of a rogues’ gallery of fake hitmen, combined with the ways in which his main character Gary bends and molds himself throughout the movie, we get to see every version of himself that Powell has in his arsenal and it opens your eyes to sides of him you might not have known existed based on how classically handsome and charming he is: the manic side, the morbid side, and the side that stops you in your tracks just by looking at the camera. It’s this last one that he’s going to really have to deliver on if he wants the third and final part of his third phase to work in next month’s sequel that feels like everything wrong with the modern movie industry all rolled into one: Twisters.
Was anyone asking for this? Did anyone need a continuation of the Twister-verse? Does this seem like the best use of Minari director Lee Isaac Chung’s time? What about Mark L. Smith, who wrote the fucking Revanant’s? We shall see.
In Twisters, our guy plays Tyler Owens, a social media-famous tornado wrangler with the catchphrase, “If you feel it, chase it.” Based on the fact that the rest of the cast is made up of interesting, yet not hugely illustrious actors – Transformers: Rise of the Beasts/Hamilton’s Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea (great work in Nope), Sasha Lane of American Honey, Paul Scheer of 173 different podcasts and The League, TV on the Radio frontman Tunde Adebimpe, Kiernan Shipka (who is apparently extremely famous now), Love Lies Bleeding’s Katy O’Brien, and Daisy Edgar-Jones, who hasn’t quite made the same leap as her Normal People co-star Paul Mescal – a lot of the weight rests on Glen Powell’s chiseled shoulders (and, you know, the tornados themselves). Hopefully audiences are feelin’ it come late July or else Powell could be chasing a storm of his own to round out the year.
Phase 4: The Big Unknown
Glen Powell has reached the summit and you know what? The view is pretty nice from the top. Here’s what he’s currently got coming down the pipe post-scary weather movie:
- Huntington: An A24 film from the writer/director of the very good Emily the Criminal, “A young man hatches a murderous plot to inherit his family's wealth.” GP plays said young man, this sounds like a good move.
- Monsanto: Yes, that Monsanto. This one comes from the writer/director of The Founder (good), The Blindside (lucrative), and Saving Mr. Banks (hmm). “A young attorney takes on a case against Monsanto on behalf of groundskeeper, who used the company's weed killer Roundup and developed cancer.” GP plays said young attorney and every movie star has to play a lawyer at some point, it’s the law. Also, Adam McKay is producing. This sounds like a smart move.
- Chad Powers: Co-written by Glen with Michael Waldron (Loki, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Rick & Morty), this is a series about a disgraced college quarterback who disguises himself and walks onto a struggling southern football team to revive his football career. GP plays the disgraced college quarterback and (almost) every movie star has to play an athlete at some point. This sounds potentially quite funny with the inclusion of Waldron’s rather wacky sense of humor (also, did you know GP is a regular voice actor on Rick & Morty? What a guy).
- The Running Man: We have arrived at the flex. This is a remake of the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie of the same name that came from a story by Stephen King. It takes place in a near-future totalitarian America where the preferred entertainment is a game show where prisoners must run to freedom to avoid a brutal death. It’s being developed and directed by Edgar Wright and if anything feels like a true shot at the throne for Powell, this is it. He pulled a McCaughnahey in Everybody Wants Some!! and Anyone But You, took after Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick, really went full Redford in Hitman, and now GP is attempting to grab the belt from the original modern movie star. Will it work? Who knows. Would I watch Glen Powell and Edgar Wright make literally anything? Yes, yes I would.
Frankly, I’m bummed that GP isn’t playing the lead in the upcoming Project Hail Mary about an astronaut who wakes up on a spaceship where he’s been sent to save the world without any memory of how he got there or why. Instead, the role went to Gosling, which is all fine and good, but in a story about a human being all by themself in the abyss of space for much of it–directed by Lord & Miller of Spiderverse, The Lego Movie, and the Jump Street reboot, and from a book by Andy Weir of The Martian fame–it just felt like the perfect opportunity for GP. Alas, instead we’ll see Powell take on the criminal/athlete/lawyer trifecta before going full totalitarian gladiator, which – coming from a guy who burst into the hearts of many by explaining how “he’s a grower, not a shower”– makes me think he’s arriving right on schedule.
