Glen Powell is about to have a very busy fall. On September 30, his new sports comedy series, Chad Powers, drops on Hulu. It’s based on a 2022 prank that Eli Manning pulled for an episode of his docuseries, Eli’s Places. Manning put on a disguise and tried out as a walk-on quarterback for Penn State under the pseudonym, “Chad Powers.” Then, in November, Glen stars in the remake of The Running Man, which was originally based on the Stephen King novel. It’s going to be a Very Glen Powell Fall.
To kick it all off, Glen is on the cover of the October issue of GQ. You may have seen some of the pictures of him in the crazy-exaggerated muscle suits. He covers a lot in the profile, including being typecast early on in his career, pretending to be cool, and even the drama surrounding his breakup with Gigi Paris two years ago. It’s a long profile, but here are some of the highlights:
On being typecast before he broke out in his career
“Robert Pattinson was probably the prototype… The jock or the fraternity guy or the very vanilla next-door-neighbor vibes. You get cast into these very broad things.”“I remember when Chris Pratt broke out in Guardians of the Galaxy… There’s no doubt it really helped—not being brooding or dark. Like, I’m not Christian Bale. Christian Bale has a gravitas and a weight, and Pattinson had his thing. And when Pratt kind of appeared on the scene where he was doing things that were a little more silly and buoyant, that’s where I feel most at home. And that’s where I feel like I had a gear that is a necessary flavor in terms of Hollywood, and not a gear that a lot of guys can play.”
He’s not Hollywood cool but he’s good at pretending
“Anybody that you’ll meet that knows me from elementary school, middle school, like high school, I was not Mr. Cool… I’ve never been Mr. Cool. And what’s funny is you start getting cast in certain things—like Hangman is not me, right? I’m not that guy.”“That’s the funny part about Hollywood. You can’t really choose it. People have to cast you in these movies. And I think what I started realizing is that people got enjoyment out of watching me be really cocky and confident.”
“If somebody goes, Hey, you want to come meet me at this place? I’m like, yeah, sure. And I’ll literally just go and join. If somebody’s like, Hey, you want to come on this trip? I’m like, Hell yeah, let’s do it.”
“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.”
“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. 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.”
He loves acting and being in movies
“This is cool. I have wanted to do this since I was a kid, and it’s awesome.”“I think it’s really cool when people I like and respect are really hitting the Pause button, and being like: This is amazing. I just want you to take that in. When a movie star [like Josh Brolin] does that—when somebody of that level presses Pause and says: Hey, this is awesome. Just remember: This is awesome.”
On his ex Gigi Paris saying he chose his career over their relationship
“I will always have nothing but love for her and respect for her. Everybody’s always going to have their own narrative on things and all that. And she’s welcome to it. Relationships are really hard. And when two people break up, they each go to their own brunch and they will each tell their own narrative.”
Obviously, the juiciest part of Glen’s profile is what he had to say about his break-up with Gigi Paris. That was so much public drama at the time. It’s completely logical because yes, there are always two sides to any story. I’m sure that Glen has his own version of what happened and that that version involves the studio ordering him to flirt with his hot coworker. I love me some celeb gossip, and this is just the kind of low-stakes drama that I love hearing about. If Glen wants to give us some more soundbites about that era, I’m all ears.
What I find the most fascinating about Glen’s interview is just how much he wanted to avoid certain typecasting before ultimately realizing that he had to lean in to how people perceived him based upon his looks. I also find it interesting that he idolized what Chris Pratt did in Guardians of the Galaxy in terms of being a sillier action hero. Finally, I like this quote: ”I just find that it’s cool and tough to be open and vulnerable.” That is an A+ answer right there, especially from someone who looks like he embodies that cool, Chad energy.
Photos credit: Jennifer Graylock-Graylock.com/Avalon, mpi099/MediaPunch/INSTARimages, Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon and via Instagram/GQ
I like Glenn Powell but his answers regarding the break up stuff are terrible and make him look horrible.
Agreed. He could have just said, “breakups are hard for everyone.” His response is a word-salady way of implying that she’s lying to others and/or herself while also trying to make himself seem like the bigger person.
I mean I don’t disagree with him that there are 2 sides to every breakup and all, but he made a conscious choice to do what the studio asked him to do. Therefore, there are consequences for that. “Good for his career” or not, he’s still going to have to be the one to reckon with it and what it says about his own heart. If he chooses it, and can reconcile it within himself, then that’s fine for him, but other people are still definitely going to have opinions on it. The same way people are having opinions about Jeremy Allen White and his ex-partner too.
I’m not saying he is a bad guy. However, two of his ex, Nina Dobrev and Renee Bargh, lead what seem very happy life. There are of course two sides to a break up story, but some side speak louder than words.
Agree with the others, this answer didn’t make him look good and this whole story in a dent in his all american nice guy image.