Glenn Powell tilts his hat to Chris Pratt, who indirectly helped him. That’s because Powell sees Pratt’s breakout role in Marvel’s “Galaxy Guardian” as a turning point more open to the main men who are “a little more stupid and buoyant.”
“Guardians of the Galaxy” opened in 2014. In the same year, Powell played a small supportive role in the action film The Expendables 3. Powell had been trying to hit Hollywood for years at that point. He told GQ Magazine in a new cover story that industry preferences for “brooding or dark” types like Christian Bale and “Twilight” left him out when it ended up casting a big role. But Pratt changed things.
“I remember when Chris Pratt broke out in ‘Galaxy Guardians’,” Powell said. “It definitely helped – not brooding or dark. I’m not Christian Bale. Christian Bale had gravity and weight, and Pattinson had his. Play.”
Powell is currently one of Hollywood’s hottest major men. He’s notched box office gross for “Anyone You” and “Twisters,” and he headlines Edgar Wright’s “The Running Man” and his first action movie star vehicle at the theater on November 14th from Paramount. When he was placed in Action Star Mode, Powell was able to call his mentor and “Top Gun: Maverick” co-star Tom Cruise for guidance. Cruz told him to approach the gig as a physical job.
“I knew (my character) Ben Richards was a tank based on Stephen King’s book,” Powell said. “I was like, ‘Okay, I’ve become a bit of a weapon.’ And I trained a lot of muscles on this. And I literally say, “Hey, what do you do to survive something?”
Cruises also help to restrain Powell. The actor told GQ that “Cruise gave me shit” on the “Top Gun” set when he showed up with a mushroom-infused coffee drink.
“You put Ashwagandha, Reishi and Cody Chaps all that you put in your coffee,” Powell said. “So I blended it, mixed it, put it in a mason jar and brought it as a set. I’m skipping that day. But it’s all these zero mushrooms. I’m like, “Okay, I’ve gone too far with this.”
Visit the GQ Magazine website to read Powell’s entire cover story.
