Actor Glen Powell is advocating for Hollywood to create more films for Middle America.
“Having grown up in and around Texas, I’m aware there are vast parts of America that have been underserved in terms of movies that they want to see,” he said.
“You sort of have New York and Los Angeles making the decisions about what gets made, but there’s a whole lot more audience out there you need to think about,” Mr. Powell added.
Powell also starred in the romantic comedy film “Anyone But You” (2023), which helped him realize the opportunities to serve audiences that Hollywood tends to disregard.
“One of the things that I’ve realized recently is that when studios say a genre is dead, all it means is that there’s a huge opportunity, because a market is not being served,” he said.
“The business stopped making romantic comedies, apparently, because romantic comedies weren’t making any money in theaters. But my belief is there’s no problem facing Hollywood that can’t be solved by a really good movie,” he added.
The rom-com, also starring Sydney Sweeney, took home over $220 million at the global box office, making back 10 times its budget in cinemas.
Powell will star in the action thriller film “Twisters,” the sequel to “Twister” (1996), premiering July 19. In his interview, he said the upcoming movie will not be about delivering a climate-change narrative.
“First and foremost, because if you’re telling people what to think, you’re not allowing them to feel. You can’t put people into that heightened state if they’re thinking, ‘Hmm, do I or do I not agree with this message?’” he said.
“Of course, you might want to have conversations about those other things later,” Mr. Powell added, “but that’s not what our movie is about. It’s man and woman versus nature; finding out who we really are in the face of the storm.”
After residing in Los Angeles for 15 years, Powell recently moved back to his native Texas to be closer to his family and complete his college degree.
“He’s like, ‘Hollywood is the Matrix, man. You plug in and it’s all fake world,’ ” says Mr. Powell of Mr. McConaughey.
Rise to Fame
Mr. Powell moved to Los Angeles from Austin to pursue his dream of a successful acting career. He made his film debut in “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over” (2003), followed by Denzel Washington’s “The Great Debaters” (2007).After connecting with Mr. Washington’s agent, Ed Limato, who signed Mr. Powell as a client, the “Anyone But You” star moved to Hollywood after his first year of college. The 35-year-old went on to appear in films such as “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012), “Hidden Figures” (2016), and “Top Gun: Maverick” (2022).
Mr. Powell originally auditioned for Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw in “Top Gun: Maverick,” but Miles Teller ultimately received the role. To Mr. Powell, losing the role was a “big blow,” as he yearned to play Rooster.
It was Tom Cruise, executive producer of the 2022 action movie, who insisted Powell take on his ultimate role of Lt. Jake “Hangman” Seresin. After production the film took two years to release due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’d never made any significant amount of money on a movie ... and I was depleting a bank account to a point where my accountant was like, ‘This pandemic cannot last much longer,’” Powell told The Hollywood Reporter. “But Tom was already Tom; I was waiting for my life to change.”
“Top Gun: Maverick” was released in 2022 to tremendous success at the box office. The film was followed by “Anyone But You,” which also became a box-office hit and launched Mr. Powell’s career to new heights.
However, Mr. Powell believes the true benefit of “getting to this point in Hollywood is that I can now leave Hollywood,” he says.
“It’s like I’ve earned the ability to go back to my family,” he added.
