It is yet again the year of Glen Powell. The Twisters star had a banner of a year in 2024 and the end of 2025 is shaping up to be just as great. With Chad Powers hitting Hulu this September and The Running Man releasing in November, he’s the talk of the town.
The Texas born actor is one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. After the success of Top Gun: Maverick and Anyone But You, the man who once played Chad Radwell on Scream Queens was everywhere. But what makes him one of the best around working today is his stance on life. And in a new interview with GQ, Powell shared his thoughts on Hollywood, masculinity, and more.
During the interview, Powell talked about when a “jerk” ends up becoming more of a well-rounded character and he does have experience with that. Chad Radwell, Hangman, even Tyler Owens from Twisters. He has played the “jerk” stereotype. “I’m fascinated by the malleability of humans, our ability to change, our ability to become better,” Powell said.
He went on to talk about how Hollywood is hard for struggling actors, saying “You’re human and you’re sensitive, and life comes at you hard. I think it’s really important, when you get hit in the face and you’re bleeding and your nose may be broken, you’ve got to take stock and say, ‘Okay, let’s reassess. How do I get my hands up next time?’”
Glen Powell is right about masculinity
During the conversation, Powell shared his own love of combat (which his characters often deal with). But he isn’t about the fight but rather what happens after. “That’s where I feel like vulnerability is the greatest sense of masculinity,” he said. “Not acting like nothing hurts and not trying to act like that journey is painless.”
But he went on to say “I just find that it’s cool and tough to be open and vulnerable, and maybe that’s just where it comes from with my family, but my family’s all on the table and no one ever judges you for it.” And that’s why he is one of my favorite actors working today. You can tell he believes in what he’s doing, he’s open, honest, and isn’t pushing a phony narrative for the public.
Often, we get the “fake” version of our favorite stars and you can tell that it isn’t genuine. But actors like Glen Powell are honest with themselves and the public and that is what makes them so relatable. He also shared that people in the past have told him to play it cool. “I, like, bought a leather jacket at one point, and the deep V,” Powell said, “but it just didn’t work out. It was short-lived.”
One of the things that I really loved about this interview was Powell talking about being genuine. “If you’re in Hollywood, I always find it to be very disingenuous when people are driving across town to the Valley in the heat of summer, memorizing two lines, practicing them a thousand times and then acting like they don’t care,” Powell said. “The amount of work that it takes, I always find that people that downplay it, which—it’s fine to downplay it, but I’ve never been a guy that can play it cool. I’ll tell you exactly how I’m feeling with all of it. I don’t know any other way to do it.”
You can see Powell in both Chad Powers and The Running Man this fall.
(featured image: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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