It’s a warm, early fall evening in New Orleans, and the cast and crew of Hitman, a forthcoming Richard Linklater-directed movie starring (and written and produced by) the actor Glen Powell, are just gearing up for a night that will stretch until 4:00 AM. To keep everyone fueled into the morning, Powell and his co-star Adria Arjona have paid for a visit from an espresso truck. After approaching the bright red truck and ordering a coffee through the window, Powell, dressed in the dark clothing he’s wearing for that night’s scenes, heads back towards the set. As he walks away, the barista, a wave of familiarity washing across her, poses a question to those still in line. “What was the name of that guy? The good-looking one in the shirt? I recognize his face.” A few moments later, it will dawn on her: “That was the friggin’ hottie from Top Gun!”

This seems to be happening to Powell more frequently, since donning a jumpsuit as Jake “Hangman” Seresin in Top Gun: Maverick. Not just getting recognized, which happens two or three times a day now, Powell says. But being almost recognized, which suggests something a little more interesting: that Powell is the sort of actor who is right on the cusp of being absolutely everywhere. (An Austin native and lifelong University of Texas fan, Powell recently approached UT legend and former NFL quarterback Vince Young to tell the QB that he was a fan, only to have Young give him a quizzical, confused look. Later, Powell opened up Instagram to find a DM from Young: “Dude, sorry, I realized you were the guy from Top Gun while we were talking.”)

If you were one of those who knew of Powell before he was friggin’ hot in Top Gun, it’s likely from one of the many well-played supporting roles he’s had in recent years: as one half of the enduringly likeable couple in the Netflix rom-com Set It Up; as a witty, cerebral 1970’s college baseball player in Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some; as John Glenn in the Best Picture-nominated Hidden Figures. But it was playing “Hangman,” an arrogant hot shot you’re not supposed to like but who’s so square-jawed and charming you can’t help but root for anyway, that subjected his Hollywood ascent to increased G-forces. [More at Source]

Glen Powell is a straight shooter. A Texas boy in fact, Austin. Just talking to him and hearing his voice speak from the heart, I can tell he’s not the type of person to make things up. Not possible. But I have to say I’m the lucky one here because I know Powell is going to break millions of hearts when he finally ties the knot.

But for now, we’ll concentrate on his latest project, Top Gun: Maverick, the sequel to the 1986 Tom Cruise megafilm, Top Gun. Powell will star alongside Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, and Val Kilmer. For Powell, it’s personal. The release date has been set for May 27th, 2022.

“Top Gun has been one of three seminal movies that made me want to be an actor. And Tom Cruise is the guy that I looked at as that’s who I want to be. And so knowing that Top Gun was coming down the pipeline, I was preparing and over-preparing. I went and lived with a bunch of pilots, I went to Edwards Air Force Base. I went to Miramar. I was like a full fighter pilot by the time I auditioned for Tom Cruise and did the test with them. And the test was to play Bradley Bradshaw, who is Goose’s son [Goose was played by Anthony Edwards in the original film]. And it was me, and it was Miles Teller, and it was Nicholas Hoult. And essentially I auditioned and we really laid it all on the field and I felt so good after it. I got calls from the casting director saying it looks like it’s going in my direction.”

Then he got the call he didn’t get it. Went to Miles Teller. “I love this job and I understand it’s just a business and when you get a role it just happens. It’s not personal and nobody’s trying to hurt you. But this one felt like a drum roll my entire life, this is the movie I wanted to make since I was a kid. Since I saw it when I was 10 years old. And so and that’s when I became an actor literally. I saw this movie when I was 10. And I became an actor and I wanted to be in acting classes when I was 10. So this one felt particularly personal and my favorite holiday is basically July 4. I’m very a patriotic dude. I come from a patriotic family and I basically spent that July 4 in a fetal position. And I’ll never forget it, I couldn’t even muster myself up off the ground. And that’s never happened to me before.”

As soon as he made peace with it, Powell started tweeting, saying that he was going to “take down all the Tom Cruise posters off my walls. Maybe I’ll just keep a couple. Fine, the posters are staying.” A lot of people thought that was really funny and a week later he got a call while at a friend’s wedding in Napa, an unknown number, and it was Tom Cruise.

“He’s like, ‘Hey man it’s Tom, are you around? I just wanna talk to you about what you did in the room. It was unbelievable. It was such a hard decision to make. You are fantastic and I want to find something to do together. Find something to build together.’ He’s just such a good guy for making this call. No one does that. It’s what makes Tom Cruise so special as a person.” [More at Source]

Whether piloting jets or landing on the moon, Glen Powell is unabashedly soaring to new heights. Continuing his supersonic streak, Powell gears up for his long-awaited blockbuster—Top Gun: Maverick. “It’s the greatest version of icing the kicker… ever,” jokes actor Glen Powell reflecting on the twice-delayed debut of the highly anticipated Top Gun: Maverick. Having completed filming in 2019, the release of the epic undertaking from Paramount Pictures was put on hold due to the pandemic. Without batting an eye, Powell promises that the film, which is now set to hit theaters May 27, will be well worth the wait. “This movie delivers on every level. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen. It’s a true testament to why movies are made.”

Originally from Austin, the charismatic Powell studied at the University of Texas at Austin at the Department of Radio, Television and Film. Cultivating his craft from an early age, Powell first sank his teeth in the biz with smaller roles on television and in films. It wasn’t long, however, before he started making a name for himself on the scene. He secured a part in the Denzel Washington-directed movie The Great Debaters, which Powell credits as the role that gave him the confidence to know his childhood dream would in fact turn into a tangible career path. From there, it was game on.

Spanning from The Expendables 3 to Hidden Figures, Powell has shared the spotlight with some of the most iconic names in the industry—Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Octavia Spencer, Kevin Costner—need we say more? He has certainly found himself on the ride of a lifetime. When asked what has really struck a chord throughout his experience thus far, the charmer notes, “Kevin Costner really took me under his wing while we were filming Hidden Figures, where he shared something that has stuck with me. He [said], ‘As an actor, you have a beautiful responsibility for putting stories out in the world.’” From that point on, I started to look at and read scripts differently, making sure I would be proud of the ideas that these films represent. I just try and be really deliberate about my choices.” [More at Source]