Glen Powell sat down on the set of his Hollywood Reporter cover shoot to reflect on his "Hollywood Firsts," from his first red carpet experience, the first time he stepped on a movie set and listening to Natasha Bedingfield's song "Unwritten."
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00:00 The first time I heard Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten,"
00:03 I feel like it was like some shampoo commercial.
00:05 "Garnier Fructis," was it?
00:08 That's what I'm talking about, "Garnier Fructis."
00:10 Obviously, I know every word to that song now.
00:13 Hey, "Hollywood Reporter."
00:14 I'm Glenn Powell, and I'm here to share my Hollywood firsts.
00:19 First movie I saw that made me want to make movies
00:23 was "Jurassic Park."
00:24 I did a project on it when I was in second grade,
00:27 and I became obsessed with Spielberg's use of practical effects.
00:30 I studied the initial T-Rex interaction,
00:33 and they're doing it in the rain.
00:34 That was, like, for me, I think, like,
00:36 the true magic trick of movies.
00:38 Like, I felt like I was seeing a dinosaur for the first time.
00:41 First audition I ever went on was for a reality show
00:45 called "Moolah Beach."
00:47 It's like a kid survivor.
00:48 They asked me, "Do you have any special talents?"
00:50 And I froze.
00:51 I didn't have any special talents,
00:52 so I just said, "I can do voices."
00:55 I was not on "Moolah Beach."
00:56 [ Laughs ]
00:58 My first time I stepped on set
01:01 was on "Spy Kids 3D," "Game Over."
01:03 And I will never forget that moment.
01:05 I was 13, I think, and I shot my part,
01:09 and then I hung out behind camera,
01:11 and I was, like, talking to the camera guys,
01:13 and I was talking to the stunt guys,
01:14 and was trying to figure out what the chroma key green did,
01:18 and the entire crew had the most interesting jobs on the planet,
01:21 and you had endless friends on a set.
01:23 I think the "Spy Kids" experience
01:24 was really one of the best days of my whole life.
01:27 Also, "Spy Kids 3D" was arguably art dune.
01:31 [ Laughs ]
01:33 First time I was on a red carpet was for "The Great Debaters."
01:35 "The Great Debaters" was a movie that Denzel Washington directed.
01:38 Great movie about the first African-American debate team
01:41 that went and took on Harvard.
01:43 That was my first Hollywood premiere,
01:44 and to be out with Sidney Poitier,
01:47 Oprah Winfrey, Forest Whitaker, Denzel Washington,
01:50 it was, like, an incredible experience.
01:52 And one of those movies that I felt like
01:54 really mattered.
01:55 Right before that red carpet,
01:57 Denzel and his agent, Ed Lomato,
01:59 convinced me to move out to Los Angeles.
02:01 They said, "You're young, and you should give this a shot.
02:04 You should really take the plunge.
02:05 It's been really worth it."
02:06 My first crazy Hollywood altercation.
02:09 So I did this movie, "Expendables 3."
02:10 It's like Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger,
02:13 Antonio Banderas, Wesley, Snipes, Jace Estatham.
02:16 Somehow, I'm the random guy that snuck in.
02:19 So I'm, like, the only unknown person
02:21 in a cast of, like, legends.
02:23 I'm in Cannes for the festival.
02:25 We're driving tanks down the Quazette.
02:27 They have all these character banners,
02:28 like, that are draped on the Carleton Hotel.
02:30 The funniest part was, I got kicked
02:34 out of the VIP section of the "Expendables 3" party.
02:38 It actually got kind of physical.
02:40 There was a large bouncer that was convinced
02:43 that I shouldn't be in the VIP section.
02:46 So it kind of turned into a physical altercation
02:50 where I got hit in the face.
02:52 At the "Expendables 3" party, 'cause no one recognized me,
02:55 even though there was a banner in the party of my face.
02:58 So, you know, just 'cause you got a banner
02:59 doesn't mean you're getting into the party.
03:02 So the first time I heard Natasha Benningfield's "Unwritten,"
03:05 it would've probably been, like, high school
03:07 for me as my guest.
03:08 I feel like it was a, like, a Garnier-Fruttis commercial
03:13 or something like that.
03:14 I have sisters, I was very aware.
03:17 I feel like I have, it was Garnier-Fruttis.
03:18 That's what they wash their hair with.
03:20 And I feel like Natasha had something to do with that.
03:23 Was it?
03:24 That's what I'm talking about, Garnier-Fruttis.
03:26 ♪ Feel the rain on your skin ♪
03:28 ♪ No one else can be as beautiful as you ♪
03:31 I was like, "We're doing this every scene?"
03:33 And soon enough, the whole crew got into it.
03:35 Everybody loved it, but man, rough start.
03:38 First rom-com I watched?
03:40 I remember seeing "How to Lose a Guy"
03:42 in "10 Days" in the theater.
03:44 Ooh, legally blonde.
03:45 If we consider that a rom-com,
03:46 that's my first rom-com I've ever seen.
03:49 And the most quoted movie in my house growing up.
03:52 "Don't the stump of your last season
03:54 "proud of shoes of me, honey."
03:56 You know, like that.
03:57 The first time I flew by myself
03:59 was a really special experience.
04:01 My parents were in town for my birthday,
04:03 and there's this really great tradition in aviation
04:06 where the instructor rips the shirt
04:09 literally off of your back
04:11 and then writes the runway and signs it.
04:14 When Tom Cruise told me that the first time,
04:16 I thought he was messing with me.
04:17 He's like, "Make sure you wear a shirt
04:18 "that you're okay with getting ripped."
04:19 I'm like, "Why is it someone ripping my shirt off
04:22 "after I fly?"
04:23 But my parents were in town,
04:25 and I got to fly the pattern and land by myself.
04:28 And it was just like a really special experience.
04:29 So they got to be there while my shirt got torn off
04:32 when I taxied back into the hangar.
04:34 And "Top Gun" is a movie that changed my life,
04:36 and aviation is a hobby that's changed my life.
04:39 My first Longhorn experience,
04:42 I mean, it would have been diapers.
04:44 I mean, I was born and raised a Texan Longhorn.
04:47 So my mom and dad went to Texas.
04:50 My grandparents went to Texas.
04:52 My aunts and uncles, my little sister went to Texas.
04:55 So it's like, I was born to be a Longhorn.
04:59 Anyone that knows me knows I wrap more Longhorn gear
05:01 than is healthy.
05:02 When I first moved out to LA,
05:03 I remember they went through my closet,
05:05 and they were like,
05:06 "You have an obscene amount of burnt orange in here."
05:08 And I was like, "I take that as a compliment."
05:10 I did not get rid of my burnt orange
05:11 even though they asked me to.
05:13 Must've been like eight or nine.
05:17 I was driving with my Aunt Taffy,
05:20 and she had a car full of all of the cousins,
05:23 and we were almost a part of the Gerald, Texas tornado.
05:27 And if anybody knows about the Gerald, Texas tornado,
05:29 it's an F5, which is the biggest and largest tornado.
05:33 And we had to take shelter in a,
05:35 I think it was a carpet store or something like that.
05:38 I remember looking at my aunt for guidance on how to feel.
05:43 It's something you don't really forget.
05:44 Obviously, as a Texas boy growing up
05:46 to go on and make "Twisters."
05:47 It's a movie that, as I watched as a kid,
05:50 really had a big impact on me
05:51 'cause it felt like a monster
05:52 that was living in my backyard.
05:53 So to make that, again, with Steven Spielberg,
05:56 who I did my first school project on,
05:58 it was all very full circle.
06:00 For me, movies have always been my love language.
06:03 It's how I talk to my parents.
06:05 It's what we talked about
06:06 around the dinner table growing up.
06:08 It's how I relate to people.
06:10 It's movie quotes.
06:11 So it's like the connection I have with people
06:13 really has so much to do with movies.
06:15 You'll have kids come up and be like,
06:16 "Oh my God, I wanna be an actor.
06:18 "I wanna do that."
06:18 And you're like, "Yeah, that's how it happens."
06:20 You see these seminal movies
06:22 that change the way you think about the theatrical experience
06:26 or change the way you think about what's possible on screen.
06:29 Thanks for watching some of my Hollywood firsts.
06:33 See you soon.
06:34 (upbeat music)
06:36 (upbeat music)