We Can't Stop Staring At Glen Powell's Transformation
It might seem like Glen Powell came out of nowhere a few years ago, but the actor of "Top Gun: Maverick" and "Anyone But You" fame has been grinding since he was a teenager. Here's a look at his career from "Spy Kids" to "Twisters."
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00:00It might seem like Glenn Powell came out of nowhere a few years ago, but the actor of
00:04Top Gun, Maverick, and Anyone But You fame has been grinding since he was a teenager.
00:09Here's a look at his career from Spy Kids to Twisters.
00:13If you grew up watching the Spy Kids movies, you saw Glenn Powell in action without even
00:17realizing it.
00:18In 2003, Spy Kids 3D Game Over featured the future star in his debut role as the oddly-named
00:24Long-Fingered Boy.
00:26As protagonist Junie searches the virtual world for his sister, he finds himself forced
00:30into mech suit combat when he wanders into the Arena of Misfortune.
00:34Thankfully, he has the Long-Fingered Boy to walk him through the process.
00:37Don't get too trashed and I win bonus points.
00:40The fight is long and tough, but Junie wins in the end.
00:44When he does, the Long-Fingered Boy sticks out his long finger and flings the hero onto
00:48the next level.
00:49Robert Rodriguez, the director of the Spy Kids movies, shared with IndieWire in 2024
00:54that Powell was sure of his career as an actor from the very beginning.
00:57As he put it,
00:58He already had that quality at 14 and clarity of vision that that's what he was supposed
01:02to be.
01:03I just love that."
01:04Powell was in good company.
01:05Spy Kids 3D was also the first film appearance of Selena Gomez.
01:09While promoting Hitman, Powell reflected on his time with Spy Kids, saying to The Hollywood
01:13Reporter,
01:14I will never forget that moment.
01:15I think the Spy Kids experience was one of the best days of my whole life."
01:19After his debut in Spy Kids 3D, Powell kept busy with more relatively small parts.
01:25In 2006, he had a small role in Richard Linklater's Fast Food Nation, the first of several appearances
01:31in the acclaimed director's films.
01:32At the same time, Powell was also making his way onto TV screens, as he appeared in the
01:37pilot episode of Jack and Bobby and an episode of the miniseries Into the West.
01:42Powell also appeared in popular crime shows, with guest roles in CSI Miami and Without
01:46a Trace.
01:47And like almost everybody in Hollywood, he played a character on NCIS.
01:51Powell's career also gained traction thanks to roles in popular films.
01:55He can be seen as a stockbroker in The Dark Knight Rises, who gets his head slammed into
01:59a computer desk by Bane at the Gotham City Stock Exchange.
02:03Powell also appeared in minor roles in The Expendables 3 and Ride Along 2, but it wouldn't
02:07be long before he'd start taking the lead.
02:10It wasn't until 2015 that Glenn Powell finally reached leading man status, at least on television.
02:16Powell starred as Chad Radwell in the Ryan Murphy project Scream Queens, which aimed
02:20to combine the frights of American Horror Story with the laughs of Glee.
02:24The series lasted two seasons on Fox, and featured plenty of alumni from Murphy's other
02:29shows.
02:30Chad Radwell is Chanel Oberlin's boyfriend, who's turned on by death, initially leaving
02:34her at the start of the series because of her sorority's new recruits.
02:37The two are on and off throughout the first season of the show.
02:40In the second season, Chad is a medical student who faces an untimely death of his own, but
02:45shows back up as a ghost.
02:46Decider labeled Chad a horror himbo, and argued that he's still Powell's best role to date.
02:51Chad Radwell is a narcissist who mostly makes everything worse, and honestly, we can't help
02:56but love him for that.
02:58We're just trying to have a nice day hitting golf balls at hippies."
03:01John Glenn was the very first American to orbit the Earth in a spacecraft, but even
03:05though he showed up in Hidden Figures, played by Glenn Powell, that movie focuses on three
03:09people who spend their lives on Earth helping him get there.
03:12The Oscar-nominated film is based on the story of Katherine Goebel Johnson, Dorothy
03:16Vaughn, and Mary Jackson, three black women who played vital roles at NASA during the
03:21space race.
03:22Even though Powell only has a small role in the movie, he revealed in 2024 that he thought
03:27he might have ruined the project when he first saw the initial edit.
03:30While speaking on Therapist with Jake Shane, the actor shared that he puked in the bushes
03:34after watching it for the first time, elaborating,
03:37"...I was like, all these women put in these great performances, and it's like the legacy
03:41of these women.
03:42I was like, I literally ruined this movie."
03:44When Powell saw the first cut of the film on the Fox lot, he thought he did a terrible
03:49job portraying the famous astronaut, but felt better about his performance after the movie
03:53was completed.
03:55The reviews disagree with Powell's initial self-assessment.
03:57Mike Ryan wrote for Uproxx,
03:59"...Glenn Powell seems to have a real knack for showing up in every movie and being cool."
04:04During both 2016 and 2018, Glenn Powell appeared in a comedy film alongside fellow actor Zooey
04:10Deutsch.
04:11First was Richard Linklater's college sports flick Everybody Wants Some, which was then
04:15followed by the Netflix rom-com Set It Up.
04:17Everybody Wants Some takes place in Powell's home state of Texas, where a college freshman
04:21gets into shenanigans with his new baseball team.
04:24The movie was marketed as the spiritual sequel to Linklater's Dazed and Confused, featuring
04:29Powell as an upperclassman and Deutsch as the main love interest.
04:32It got good reviews, but bombed at the box office.
04:35When Powell and Deutsch reunited for Set It Up two years later, they found themselves
04:39as the romantic leads.
04:40Powell is an overworked and underpaid assistant to a venture capitalist who works with another
04:45assistant, played by Deutsch, to set their bosses up to give them free time and normal
04:49work hours.
04:50But, of course, the assistants fall in love in the process.
04:53Set It Up received favorable reviews, with critics pointing out the excellent chemistry
04:57between the leads.
04:58Jake Greenberg wrote for The Guardian,
05:00Watching Deutsch and Powell is rather exhilarating, the type of filmic experience after which
05:05you shut your laptop, wondering when you can see them next.
05:09Top Gun Maverick is credited with reviving the post-COVID box office, but it's also the
05:13project that propelled Glenn Powell into mainstream success.
05:16Powell appears as Jake Hangman Saracen, whose brash opposition to Maverick and Rooster makes
05:21him an updated version of Iceman from the original.
05:24Powell originally auditioned to play Rooster, a role that went to Miles Teller, but Tom
05:28Cruise and director Joseph Kosinski wanted him to play Hangman instead.
05:32Powell wasn't interested in the character as he was originally written, but after discussing
05:36his thoughts with Cruise, the character was changed, and Powell signed on.
05:40He gained a mentor in Cruise, who had Powell watch a six-hour movie he made to share everything
05:44he knows about filmmaking.
05:46Powell told Men's Health,
05:47I pay close attention to how he treats people, listens to people, and how he runs his career.
05:52Tom Cruise film school has been very good for me."
05:55What happened?"
05:56Well, I flew as fast as I could, kind of like my ass depended on it."
06:00In preparation for the role, Powell took flight lessons and stayed at a Navy base.
06:04To honor his work in Top Gun Maverick, Apollo 10½, A Space Age Childhood, and Devotion,
06:09the Austin Film Critics Association gave Powell, an Austin native, a special honorary award.
06:15Like many other actors of his caliber, Glenn Powell has gotten into a recording booth to
06:19voice characters in animated projects for both children and adults.
06:24Fans of Madagascar and all of the franchise's spinoff series might know him as Trent the
06:28Dolphin from the show All Hail King Julian.
06:32The actor's voice is also in Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous, the animated Netflix series
06:37that follows a group of teenagers who end up stranded at Jurassic World after things
06:41go wrong at an exclusive camp.
06:44Powell plays Dave, the head counselor who shows up in both the first and fifth seasons.
06:49Animated series aren't just for kids, though, and Powell knows that well.
06:52He lent his voice to an episode of Robot Chicken in 2020 and Rick and Morty in 2023.
06:58While Top Gun Maverick made Glenn Powell a household name with Tom Cruise's help, the
07:02romantic comedy Anyone But You proved that he doesn't need one of the world's richest
07:06actors to help him succeed, just Sidney Sweeney.
07:09The modern retelling of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing stars Powell as Ben and Sweeney
07:14as Bee, who have instant chemistry during a coffee shop meet-cute before a slew of miscommunications
07:20causes them to blame each other for their date ending poorly.
07:23When they end up as members of the same wedding party still disliking each other, the rest
07:27of the characters plot to get them together by the end of the wedding, so they decide
07:31to pretend that it's working for their own selfish reasons.
07:34"...Oh my God."
07:35"...Come on!"
07:36"...This is so cringe."
07:37"...So is saying cringe, old man."
07:39While critics gave Anyone But You mixed reviews, audiences loved it.
07:43The movie shattered expectations, bringing in over $200 million at the box office despite
07:48a relatively small $25 million budget.
07:51Sony capitalized on this success, releasing an extended version in theaters for Valentine's
07:55Day 2024.
07:57Powell also established a friendship with Sweeney, even appearing with her on Saturday
08:01Night Live.
08:02But the star has dispelled rumors that the two have been together for real.
08:06Since the early days of his career, Glenn Powell has written his own projects.
08:09While living with a roommate in Los Angeles, he turned the living room into a writer's
08:13room.
08:14In Powell's 2023 film Hitman, he used his writing abilities and longtime relationship
08:19with Richard Linklater to craft a romantic comedy about a fake hitman who falls in love
08:23with a client.
08:25Powell plays Gary Johnson, a psychology professor who works with the police to arrest people
08:29who try to solicit contract killings.
08:31Naturally, though, everything goes sideways when he develops feelings for a woman who
08:35hired him to kill her husband.
08:37Hitman received rave reviews, with audiences and critics alike praising Powell's performance.
08:42His character's disguises, from a Patrick Bateman-inspired professional to a mysterious
08:46British mercenary, were often cited as highlights.
08:49Chicago Sun-Times reviewer Richard Roper wrote,
08:52"[Glenn Powell solidifies his bona fide movie star standing and delivers some of his best
08:57work yet.]
08:58"'Seize' the identity you want for yourself."
09:03Powell and Linklater screened the film at Venice International Film Festival and the
09:07Toronto International Film Festival in 2023.
09:10Will Netflix bind the distribution rights soon after?
09:14Even though he makes his living in Hollywood, Glenn Powell's heart will always be in Texas.
09:18He was born and raised there, and now he's finally returned.
09:21While promoting Hitman, Powell shared with The Hollywood Reporter that he is moving back
09:25to Texas, making his home state his new permanent residence.
09:28The actor originally moved to Los Angeles after his freshman year at the University
09:32of Texas.
09:33But even though he left the school, he's always been a massive fan of their football team,
09:37the Longhorns.
09:38Living in Texas, not only will Powell be a half-hour drive away from his parents, but
09:42he'll also finally be able to complete his requirements and get his degree.
09:47As his career grew, Powell realized he wanted to live at a different speed than the Los
09:50Angeles lifestyle typically calls for, saying,
09:53"'For me, especially as my parents get older and my niece and nephew are growing up, I
09:58want a separation of those worlds.'"
10:00In addition to moving back to his home state, the actor was inducted in the Austin Film
10:04Society's Hall of Fame.
10:06Richard Linklater is the artistic director and founder of the society, so it's no surprise
10:11that he made the cut.
10:13As his career continues to grow, Glenn Powell shows no signs of slowing down.
10:17The actor secured the lead role of celebrity storm chaser Tyler Owens in the Legacy sequel
10:21Twisters, alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones.
10:24Powell has said, though, that Twisters is different from Top Gun Maverick.
10:27It's neither a reboot nor a sequel, just a standalone story that pays homage to a 90s
10:32classic.
10:33Powell is continuing to write his own projects as well.
10:36He's working on a new version of Captain Planet and is writing a comedy series for Hulu.
10:40He's also connected to a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid project as an executive producer,
10:46which he's also expected to star in alongside Regé-Jean Page.
10:50He's also continuing to work with Netflix, which purchased his upcoming project Monsanto
10:55about the multi-billion dollar company and the destruction they caused.