Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Glen Powell on Co-Writing and Starring in 'Hit Man'

Episode Date: May 19, 2024

Willie gets together with Glen Powell to talk about his recent run of movies that have made him one of Hollywood's most in-demand stars, from "Top Gun: Maverick", to the blockbuster romantic comedy "Anyone but You", and the new movie "Hit Man", which he co-wrote and stars in.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks, as always, for clicking and listening along. Very excited to bring you my conversation today with Glenn Powell, one of the brightest stars in Hollywood. He's starring in a new Richard Linklater film that he also co-wrote with Linklater, co-produced with Linklater, and stars in called Hitman. If you don't know Richard Linklater, he is the acclaimed director behind Dazed and Confused Boyhood, the Trilist. of before movies, just truly one of the most respected guys in Hollywood and a fellow Texan. Glenn Powell is from Texas, has always looked up to Richard Link later, has acted in a couple

of his other movies from a young age. So if you don't know a lot about Glenn Powell, I think you're going to really enjoy this conversation. Maybe you just met him when he played Hangman in Top Gun Maverick two years ago. That was kind of his breakout performance, his coming out party, even though he'd been in Hollywood in supporting roles for many years before that. Then he did the romantic comedy, Anyone But You, where he co-starred with Sidney Sweeney, which blew the doors off the place, made like $220 million at the box office last year for a romantic comedy unheard of these days. And now he's got

this project that he's really invested in as the writer and the producer and the star called Hitman. So I'll let him explain all of that to you. You'll get some of his backstory. If you did just meet him in Top Gun, There's a lot more there about his long road. There's a lesson in here about hanging in there and sticking with it and believing in yourself and taking all the wisdom from the people around you and making it add up to something because he most definitely is having a moment right now. A well-deserved one too. A great guy too, enjoyed being around him. He brought his dog Brisket with him, a rescue dog. I guess a guy from Texas is going to have a dog named Brisket.

So I think really you're going to enjoy as much as I did spending. time with Glenn Powell right now on the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Glenn, great to see you, man. Thanks for doing this. I'm pumped to be here. So should we start with SEC football and just work through every team, strength, and weaknesses and make our picks for the end of the season, or should we do that some other time?

I feel like we've sort of already covered a lot of it. We just did like a pre-game interview, a full breakdown of the 2024 season, but I'm happy to, you know, count. We did leave a lot in the locker room there, didn't we? Yeah. Maybe we'll keep it there for now. No, I knew I was going to like you, but our love of college football really was solidified everything here. Well, welcome to the SEC to the Longhorns.

Thank you. That's what I can say. We're happy to be here. It's a tough gauntlet. I'm very excited about this schedule. You know, it's also fun, you know, I mean, college football at its best is great entertainment and those great matchups. And like, instead of, you know, having a couple, you know, for a Texas football season, like, you know, every game is going to be a show. Yes.

Which I'm excited about it. Yeah. And I think the league feels that way about Texas. Yeah. Every game's an event, whoever they're playing. Yeah. Should be fun. Yeah.

Come down to Nashville. Come down to Nashville. Benny may cover, so be careful. Oh. I don't know what the line's going to be. I mean, the Vandy guy, really. Yeah, I like that. I look, I've always wanted to go and hang out at Vandy and go see a game.

So if, look, I don't know what the spread on that game is. I'm really hoping that Texas shows up for Vandy, but, you know, we'll see. Look at the humility. I'm enjoying Nashville anyway. It'll be great. You're getting cocky about the schedule. You're right. Actually, we're here to talk about your amazing new movie, Hitman.

Congratulations. Thank you. Different than anything you've done before because, man, your fingerprints are all over it, from co-writing to co-producing to starring in it. What does it feel like to be sort of on the cusp of this moment of a film that you must be so proud of and that you've invested so much in for the world now to have a look at it? Yeah, it's been, I think this moment, especially, for my family and for me, we've kind of keep recounting stories.

And it all about kind of like the coming up through this business. And it's been a long gauntlet. It hasn't been easy for a lot of reasons and a long time. And I think I've obviously had a wonderful slow burn to study other people's careers from the outside. But I think the one thing I'm really taking in is that a guy like Richard Linklater, growing up in Austin, Texas is, has been. one of my heroes. You know, as a guy that I studied in a creative writing class, I like,

you know, literally watched his movies and I remember being on set with him at 14 years old on Fast Food Nation and looking at him being like, wow, I'm getting to work with one of the greats, like how surreal and how cool is this, that this will be one of those things that I get to do in my life. And so, so many years later, I get to, you know, over 20 years later, I get to like literally be on set with Richard Link later on something we baked together and cooked up together and I now don't just look at them like from this vantage point, but I can look at him eye to eye as a collaborator and friend. And it's just really been surreal. It's been really surreal. And to do it with a movie that I, the response to this movie has been so

incredible. And it's really two hemispheres of our brains cooking this thing up and we had the best time writing it. So it's just been a joy baking this thing up with Rick, but also just seeing people's reactions. It's been, it's been wild. For people watching and listening who don't know a lot about Richard Licklater, think days and confused, boyhood, the before movies, sunset, sunrise, midnight, all of those. Just an amazing, there's no other director like him. I think that's fair to say. So from your point of view, what is the Richard Linklater experience? What makes him special? I think, I mean, if you look at his filmography, I feel like what happens so often when you get to a level like Rick is you sort of end up being a derivative of

of your own tone and your own legend, right? Rick is in Bastrop, Texas. He's enjoying his life, but his creative instincts say sharp. You know, he doesn't like subscribe to one genre or one thing. He like really finds things that inspire him and he tries to do it to the best of his ability. And I think what it does is like he's never, just like sometimes when directors get out in Hollywood,

they're all suck in the same air. You know what I mean? And there's something about those creative instincts that keep him fresh and keep him inspired that that doesn't allow him to be polluted by other people's ideas and uh or what they think is popular or what they think is cool or any of that's you know those things and it's it's a really rare thing so to be in the the trenches with him the one phrase that rick would always say when we were working was you know is that is that is that how it work you know and like tell me about like we're experienced with this like what does that

look like and he's just a big listener he asked a lot of questions It's very thoughtful about stuff, but he's always wanting, he's always wanting, you know, authenticity. He doesn't go from a movie logic place. He goes from a place of like, how would this affect on a granular level people watching this movie and not go so often I feel like people, this is where I think like his advantage of being out in Bastrop, Texas, compared to L.A. Is he doesn't skip to what the movie logic is thing. He goes, how is it actual? How is it real? how is it effective and how is it a universal experience and what you end up happening,

like what ends up happening with a guy like Rick is movies like before where nothing really happens affect everyone around the planet. You know, a movie like Boyhood in which you really don't have these big, epic moments, but you have these small human moments. And what it ends up doing is it like his movies just last in a different way. Yes. And I think being with him in the creative trenches, I think I really, I really, learned so much about sort of trusting your own instinct and trusting your own experience that it will

resonate if it's true and authentic. It must say to you a lot about where you've come in your career, kind of what you're talking about a minute ago, that Richard Linklater, the great Richard Linklater said, I want you to be my peer on this. Yeah. I don't just want you to be in my film. Let's write this together. Help me produce this. That must have felt very gratifying to get that kind of affirmation from him. Absolutely. I mean, the interesting part is it only hits you when your friends, because Rick is the most unassuming person on a planet. I mean, he's one of the greats, but he always makes you feel like you're just hanging with a friend. And then you have your friends, I'm like, oh, what are you doing? I'm like, oh, I'm writing with Rick's, you know,

and they're like, now, do you give him notes? Like, do you? I'm like, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, do you rewrite his words? I'm like, yeah, yeah, like, we rewrite each other. Like, I send him stuff, and we're kind of constantly. He's like, is he okay with him? Is he okay with him? I'm like, yeah, he's like, you know, but that's the creative process with Rick is he's so egosless, you know, he really wants the actors that he surrounds himself with to contribute for them to take ownership of that voice and for everybody to kind of be a part of that process that it really makes him so unique. I feel like, again, directors, I think sometimes the higher they get, sometimes they hold on tighter and tighter. And I feel like Rick has just constantly

let those reins be loose and have trust in his collaborators. And I think it makes his stuff just breathe with a crackle that sometimes people lose over time. Yeah. And you guys had this incredibly rich story that you agreed would make for a good film based on a Texas monthly piece called Hitman, almost 20 some years ago, 25 years ago, something like that. How did you come across that piece? And then what about it told you, oh, I think there's a movie in here. Yeah. Well, it was early on the pandemic, my friend Michael Koss again, who works with Jason Payton, he sent me the article and said, you know what, I think this is really cool article in Texas Monthly,

so I read it. And immediately I was like, oh, this is a fascinating character. The thing that was very clear at the earliest stages was a guy, he's a professor, right? So he's a professor who moonlights with the police department in these sort of undercover sting operations. And what was so fascinating, a real guy named Gary Johnson, And his approach to the job was different in that instead of just being some generic hitman

when you're sitting across from someone trying to kill your business partner or whatever, he would psychoanalyze you and figure out what your fantasy of a hitman was. And then he would become that. So they called him the Lawrence Olivier a fake hitman. And he just put on all these identities and characters and things like that. And you'd listen to these recordings. And the real life, Gary Johnson was so, like, you know, quiet and kind of muted. And there was not much, it didn't feel like there was much to him.

And then he put these characters on. And he was fascinating and dangerous. And you're like, who are these? How are these two things married? And what was so fun is to, I thought about it. And I go, here's a guy that really is, you know, studying humanity. You know, he's studying humanity. He's technically an expert at humanity, but he's not participating in it.

And when he puts these characters on, he's participating in a different way. And he feels like he's embracing humanity in a way that he can't when he's Gary. And I started thinking about how we all do that. You go to a costume party. You put on a different outfit, a different personality comes out. You know, you listen to some different music. You go to a different club or a different, you know, part of town. And all of a sudden there's these new personalities that come out.

And it's in all of us. And I feel like that's what makes this movie really universal is people can look at us and assume one thing, you know, and then, you know, but we all contain multitudes. We all contain all these different things that are exciting and things that we want people to see and express. And so that was sort of the jumping off point with the story was to try to make, this was sort of a fantasy,

obviously, you know, a guy putting on a fantasy for other people, but becoming the best version that he wants to see in the mirror. And what must have been so fun for you as an actor is that in all of these encounters with potential clients, he was someone else, which meant you got to be someone else. Some of them totally absurd, like they pop up and we won't give it away, but there are wigs and glasses and all kinds of different props that come into play. That had to be a blast as an actor to say,

oh, today I'm this person, and tomorrow I'll be someone else. I mean, I could not have had a better time with the costumes and all the stuff that went along with it. I mean, you really have to, it's a very. very interesting. I mean, in this movie, I'm playing a guy who's playing all these other characters and you have all these kind of, you start stacking these things on top of each other and you kind of have to figure out how they fit together. But the best part as an actor in this movie, getting to write it as well, is the real Gary Johnson would put on all these disguises and fake teeth and wigs and all these, like, you know, would look up these, you know, tutorials on how to, like, change his face structure

and add scars and things like, like, like, like, and add scars and things. like that to close the gap on that fantasy. So it was something that was kind of stranger than fiction. You know, like you can't really, I told Rick, I was like, the first act of our movie is all taken from the real life Gary Johnson and his life. And I was like, if we tried to make that up, it would feel so odd and convoluted you couldn't make it up. But we got to jump off, you know, the springboard of this really fascinating guy who somehow was all these things simultaneously, and yet to himself felt very binary and boring. Right.

And then towards the end, you know, you appreciate all these different things about yourself at the end. You know, it's as much of a man, you know, falling in love with a woman as a man falling in love with himself, you know? Yeah, yeah. That's kind of interesting. But the characters were especially fun to play. And the craziest part is that Rick and I were working so intensely.

Rick called it a Mexican knife fight, you know. It's like, I wouldn't quit and he wouldn't quit. We're just like tethered together on this wild journey. But coming up with these characters was like you have to make them feel living and breathing and sort of like they could have their own little spinoffs, their own little storylines, because someone has to sit across from it and buy into that fantasy. But it was a real joy. And we didn't have enough time to ever show Rick those characters until I actually shot them. So until I stepped out of the cast man, Rick never saw it. any of these characters, which was even more fun.

It became kind of the game over the course of it as I got to, like, be on stage for the first time for Rick, yeah. And meanwhile, Gary kind of realizes he might like this other version of himself a little better than the one he is. Yeah. Right? So all of us chase some fantasy of maybe, oh, if my life had gone a different way or whatever, I could be that.

You know, it's like, I think like one of the things that Rick and I talked about during the pandemic was that everybody was kind of going through that same simultaneous midlife crisis. Yeah. Right? Everybody was, all of a sudden, was stuck at home, and they were stuck with their thoughts. And all you could do was look in the mirror and say, do I like this person or not? And this movie is really about the fact that it's never too late to become the version that you want to be. And we were talking about that, you know, during the pandemic, you saw people change up their habits. They, they did activities they would never do before. They, they, sometimes

looked at their partner and said, hey, this is not it. You know, there was these bigger questions that were happening about how we spend our time and who we spend it with and who we want to be going forward. And those are sometimes really healthy resets. But I think that's essentially the experiment of this movie is a guy who's kind of forced to reset and doubled down on someone that he may like more than what he feels like he's stuck with. Now, was the real life Gary Johnson still around? I should know this, but I'm a minute.

Gary passed away right before we started making the movie. He did. Okay. But did you have some contact with him? No, you know, I, you know, it's one of my regrets on this is I, you know, Rick had plenty of interactions with him. And I sometimes feel like when you're playing a real life character and he's, he's, you know, he was, he's older and he's had this entire career of doing this thing. I kind of wanted to just listen to the recordings of this thing operation that were happening

in real time and what he was experiencing in that moment rather than reverse engineer from an older an older gentleman who's talking about those things. And I feel like I've made that mistake before that you kind of want to... You just really want to honor the moment. And then I'd get to meet him, but I never got the chance. I've heard that before.

You don't want to play the current version of this person. You're playing something else. Because someone, it's like when you play somebody, you want to play them, you know, in that present moment. We all change. And sometimes hindsight, you talk differently about things or feel differently about things. And it was so obvious on based on what I could listen to

and what I could read, that this was a very specific moment in his life in which he got to enact all these different identity and live this really specific existence. And sometimes you don't want to feel watered down or pollute your brain, your creative brain with something that may not be as potent. When you're watching it, you could be tempted to think this is so outlandish. It can't be real. And then at the end, you guys, right before the credits, you show the pictures of the real character. He was like, oh, it was maybe even a little stranger than I just saw. Yeah. Yeah.

He was invested in these conversations with potential clients deeply. Yeah. Deeply. Yeah. And also, you know, the things that you pull out of the movie where you're like, you know, he was all these different things. Like the funny part is, is like, you know, he had the cat in and ego. This is like he was a professor. He was all these different things.

He worked tech for the police department. He got called up to the bigs. It was just fascinating. and he was like very friendly with his ex-wife, like almost like best friend wise, which is also just, it's such an, it's such an interesting guy, you know, like, it was such a, because you have, as an actor, you ask all these questions why, and when you have all these different things to pull from, it's such a gift. I'm so glad you read that article and made this movie because it's like, it's an amazing story.

They get to like, oh, this is real. Hey, guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Glenn Powell right after the break. Welcome back now more of my conversation with Glenn Powell. So that the experience, so we talk about the acting side of it, when you're making the film and you've written it and produced it, does that change your experience as an actor on the movie? Are you thinking about, oh, maybe we should do this scene differently?

Are you thinking about other characters in a way you wouldn't, or is that part over, and now you're the actor in the movie? You know, it's interesting. I feel like Rick and I really defined our process on this movie we did called Everybody Wants Some. So it was like, that was like maybe my favorite film experience of all the time. Such a fun movie. So it's just a spiritual sequel to Dazzy Confused. Just an 80s baseball hangout movie. And the greatest group of guys had the best time

shooting it. But one thing that I feel like Rick and I figured out on that movie is like how to talk to each other about film. And a lot of the guys would bring ideas to me. Like if they had an idea for a bit, they would always come to me and say, hey, like, we mind pitching this to Rick and I'd be like, you know, this feels like a little bit, like, this doesn't feel like it's tangential to the story or what we're going for. And I'd help him kind of craft stuff to bring to Rick. Because I always realized I could see what Rick was going for. Like, and I think I always felt really comfortable and confident because I was never

coming with like, I was telling these guys, like, it's always fun to come up with bits, but don't come with like selfish bits. Come to bits that contribute to the movie, the greater whole, the team sport of it all. And I feel like, you know, on this one, on the writing process, it felt very, kind of defined the way I kind of want to go forward with my career in general, because it's all one and the same. Like, it's not like you write, I did have a little bit of a moment of panic right before we started and the fact that, like, I wrote a role that two weeks before we started shooting, I was like, I don't know if I could do it. You know,

like, or you're like, did I write something I can pull off? I was like, you're in it now. And that's a good way to feel. You know, there's a little bit of danger that goes, like, I think a right role scares you in all the right ways. It fills you up with enough anxiety to keep you sharp, you know, to keep you on your back foot a bit. But with this one, I did feel a little bit like, okay, did I write something that I can't pull off? But now I realize that's part of the process is when you have a collaborator that you can talk

with and get into the trenches with. None of those conversations are scary. You're not one, you're not just one thing to the thing. You can always mold the clay to kind of, build around it to kind of, it's a living, breathing organism, you know, and I feel like that's the relationship I really like with filmmakers. Just hearing you talk about movies and given that you've now written and produced an excellent movie that people are going to love and hit man, the next obvious step would be to direct.

Does that something that interests you at some point? Maybe not tomorrow, but down the road? I mean, definitely not tomorrow. I think my favorite part about what I'm getting to do in the next few years and where I've gotten to be in the last little bit is I've gotten to work with some of my favorite filmmakers and I'm getting to do film school from all of them. So when I direct, which is definitely down the line, I want to be prepared for that moment, but right now I'm getting the best film school ever. You know, you get to work with the greats and you get to learn their process. And a guy like Rick, I would steal so much of his process because it really creates a fun environment. It's an environment that I think is

merciful to the crew and empowering to actors, but also just makes for great performances and a great shooting day, you know. I can see it. It's coming. You're going to be a good director. You've learned from a lot of good ones and clearly you have an eye. Congratulations. This movie's, it's great.

Thank you. Like I said, people are going to be into it. And you're on a role right now. We're kind of talking about this before we sat down about you're coming off one of the most successful romantic comedies ever, which I thought romantic comedies weren't supposed to work anymore. You guys come along. You and Sidney Sweeney. I think it did like $220 million at the box office, anyone but you. You knew it was a fun movie. You knew you enjoyed the experience, but could you have imagined what it became, how successful it was? You know what's so interesting

is that I think with any movie, at least, at least this is how I work, I sort of go, what's the best case scenario and what's the worst case scenario, right? You kind of have to head your bets because Hollywood doesn't always unfold the way you want it to. But the one thing that I will say I had as a great partner in Sydney is someone who was down to gamble. And I remember a moment where we could have played it a lot safer and we could have gone a different direction in terms of how we put that movie out. And we looked at each other in the eyes and we said, you know, I think the market is starving for this thing. And I think if we do it right, we make it cinematic and we make the set pieces big, the romance big, and it feel like an event through and through.

I think there's a major audience for it, and we gambled on it, and I'm really glad we did. But that's what it takes, like a great creative partner, and someone who's, she's just game. She's so smart, and I'm really proud of how hard we work to try to put that on the world's radar. And it was great. It was great. It was just such a wild, fun experience, but, and, And I get thanked by all my friends who are rom-com writers. Like, thank you for the job. It's true. Single-handedly bringing it back.

So when you say you took chances and gambled for people who don't work in the business, what do you mean by that? What was the other way to go? Well, I think the other way to go is, look, there's two channels right now. And sometimes they feed into each other. And sometimes they feel like they're at odds, which is theatrical and streaming. And I think with Hitman, we have this beautiful. configuration where we get to have both, right? It's clearly an audience movie. We get to have a run

theatrically for people that want to see it there. And then that only fuels excitement and contributes to what happens on the streamer. I think with anyone but you, there was a thought process, which is rom-coms only exist in a streaming model and a streaming world. That's only where they'll show up. I think what I'm really proud of on anyone but you is that Sydney and I took a gamble that people would pay their $15. leave the house, get the sitter, whatever it means, to show up to the theater for a movie that's just about love, and the fun of finding love, you know,

which something that is really universal, but something has been forgotten about in the theatrical experience, and just something that leaves people dancing out of the theaters, which was always the intention, and then this thing took off on TikTok, which showed people singing and dancing out of the theaters, and we were like, that's the feeling that we made this thing with,

And that's what we want people to feel. And it went viral. You know, and it went everywhere because for me, that's why I got into his business. I remember leaving the theater on any of my favorite movies. And you felt different, you know, and you felt excited. You got into the car with a different energy. You quoted it to your friends. And that was something that Sidney and I always talked about is that's a, that's a cultural experience.

That's a thing that can only exist in that place. And so now I'm just really happy we took the gamble on it. And it was organic. That TikTok stuff just happened because people genuinely connected with the movie. So how many rom-com scripts did you get the Monday after opening weekend? Are you like, whatever you want? Please, please. Totally.

Yeah. Well, that's the funny part is also, you know, Sydney and I are obviously want to get back in the trenches together on all of it. And but the funniest part is, you know, we've both said in interviews, you know, we're reading scripts. And my agent's like, why did you do that? It's like, you put so much work on my plate. The floodgates are open. Yeah, the floodgates are open. But Sidney, you know, it's when you find, this is why you see so many actors that, you know, it's like Julia and George, you know, Matthew and Kate, you know, these people that work together over and over and over again.

It's when you find somebody that you have a great creative partnership with and somebody you can really trust and somebody that makes like, that treats the, that treats the, you know. the crew well and their co-stars well, and that you really see the vision for the movie, and she's such a smart businesswoman. You know, you want to just keep doing that. There's no reason to do it any other way. So more coming from the two of you? Yeah, my agent's going to hate me for saying this,

but we are reading. We are, we are. No. By the way, she knows her way around a Ford Bronco, too. When I interviewed her, I would say 40% of our interview was about vintage Ford Broncos. And she can do it. Yeah, yeah. Her body shop is my college football.

She's one of the most impressive. She knows so much about so many things. She's just a naturally curious person. But yeah, the fact that she authentically knows how to build a Ford Bronco bottom of the top is kind of unreal. I was like, come on. That was just like an Instagram post.

She's like, nope. Put in the brakes, suspension, all the whole thing. She knows what she's done. It's kind of amazing. Yeah. So you saved the romantic comedy. Thank you for that. And the year before that, you guys saved theatrical movies altogether with Top Gun Maverick.

So thank you for that as well. You're welcome. My gosh. That movie, which was connected so deeply with so many people and was so good and was so successful and so acclaimed, put you, I think, is a fair to say, in sort of a different stratosphere of people saying, oh, I like him. He's good. Did it feel that way from the outside to you? Did your life change a lot? when that movie came out?

You know, I don't know if my life changed all that much after that movie other than the fact that, um, being a part, you know, Tom gave me this great advice when I was sort of waffling on if I was going to do Top Gun at all, you know, it was kind of a crazy process on how I kind of made my way into that movie. You're up for Rooster first? So I was up for Miles's role. Rooster.

We tested. Miles ended up getting it. And, you know, I had read the script and the role wasn't, um, as far as far as, fleshed out at the time and really didn't have the attributes that I was kind of looking for that I thought I'd, you know, win. And I didn't think if I played it that the movie would win. So I talked to Tom about it and he was relentless, but he really invited me into the process. And that's how Tom works is like, it's a team sport. It's a, it's a living, breathing organism where you're all kind of contributing ideas. And I sort of kind of took the leap of faith.

and I'm really glad I did because that movie changed my life not only just in terms of being a part of a movie of that size that does so well, but it was also exactly what you're talking about, like part of a moment in the film business that represented, there were so many people at the time in the movie business saying there was the death of theaters and the death of a certain kind of entertainment. And Tom, I watched how steadfast he was with this plan. And he's like, every time I, every, I never thought I'd get a call from Tom Cruise and be like, because every time Tom called, I was like, they're pushing the movie again. It's happening again. And during the pandemic, he's like, you got to trust me. There's a moment for this. The world, when theaters open back up, he's like, we'll, we'll do it and we'll do it right. But he's like, this movie's meant for theaters. And I'm so happy. I'm just so, I'm just, I learned so much about him and from, from just his perspective on. I remember being at cinema con with all the theater owners and watching, you know, cinema con is this big, you know, convention where all the theater owners from around the world come into one place and they get the slate of movies.

And we showed Top Gun for the first time there. And you had grown men bawling and high-fiving each other being like, we're back, baby. You know what I mean? And I was like, that was such a great feeling because that's what that movie did is it taught me not only, you know, the, the experience of being an actor on a movie and trying to embody role or whatever, but it's like how this business affects so many other businesses when done correctly and how so many people are relying on you to show up and be out in front of a movie and do it right and play in all these different territories.

It's like it really like Tom, Tom's vision is not so. The job is to make a great movie, but the job is also, you know, you've heard him talk about it before. Like there are a lot of people that would be at a lot of people. that would be out of work if the business doesn't, is not supported. You know, if people don't continue to buy into this form of entertainment. But yeah, that movie really changed my life in so many ways, but really, I think it was a signal of a new chapter in my life and ownership over that new chapter.

By the way, I was one of the grown men getting choked up. At the screening I went to, right from the opening theme music. I was like, what's that? It's my childhood. It's all rushing back. It's amazing. It's so well done. Like my dad, I remember like my dad and I watching that movie together.

You know, I think they did like a re-release in the theaters or something. I just remember being like, it was one of the most, like, as a father and son, it was like he, he couldn't wait to show me this thing that represented something so important to him. So to step into that flight suit to be a part of something that represents so much to your dad and like to your friends. and the Navy, like being a part of with the Navy, and you're sitting there, like, half of these guys join the Navy, probably more because they watched the original Top Gun. And so you're getting to be a part of that legacy, too. It's like flying with guys that the original movie inspired them.

That's where I feel like in this phase of life, I'm feeling a lot of those full circle moments, you know. It's just because those things, it adds new context to all of it. You're talking about taking from all the people you've worked with, whether it's Richard Linklater or Tom Cruise, and what a gift to learn how, not just to make movies, but how to navigate the thing you're going through right now,

which is the world knows who you are, knows your name, and it's once in every detail of your life. Has he been helpful in that way of here's how to do it? You know, I mean, that's that piece of advice where he was talking about quieting the noise. You know, he said, you know, when it all kind of pops off, and I didn't feel it after Top Gunn,

I didn't feel like there was a lot to quiet, but he said when it pops off, life's just going to get a little loud. And he's like, it's your job to be in control of that dial, how loud or how quiet it all becomes. And I think that's been the most important thing, which is like none of it is, you know, sort of real at the end of the day. It's only how much attention you give certain things. And if you're putting your focus on your family, if you're putting your focus on yourself,

like these things can feel very wounding and very vulnerable. And if you're putting your focus on your family or your dog, sort of it's all the volumes a little down you know and it brisket yeah brisket yeah i don't know brisket brisket's probably i mean he's enjoying his luxury life here in new york you know all these nice hotels but but it's those kind of things that ground you family being back home in texas a dog just right yeah i think i think where i think the reason i decided to move out of l.a was just that is that the attention to something feeling so all important all the time. I think movies at their best are really, really important, you know, and I take the job incredibly seriously. But then there's all these other ancillary businesses that are not the job,

that are, that are, they're, it is noise, you know, and it's a noise with a purpose, right? It's a noise that contributes to all of it, but it's a noise that if you let it seep into your self-worth or your process, it's really dangerous. And I feel like that's where I was like, okay, I need to get out of L.A., go back to Texas, hang out, and just be around, you know, the people that make you feel like you. Yeah. Stick around for more of my conversation with Glenn Powell right after a quick break. Now to the rest of my conversation with Glenn Powell. There may be another element, too, tell me if I'm wrong, but I've heard this from other people, which is you talked about a slow burn a little bit in your career, which is you are a grown man now. You know what I mean? You're mature. You can handle things in a way that if all this had happened to you when you were 19,

20, 21 years old, may have been a different story. Is that fair to say that you're just ready for it in a way you may not have been? I feel so, you know, look, when you're, when you're struggling in L.A., like, there's nothing worse than being a struggling actor in L.A. We're just trying to put food on the table and, like, your failure is so loud and ever present in any room you go into. Because, again, the way people stack you is very, you know exactly where you stand in LA at any given point. And I feel like the benefit I've had is watching a lot of people in a very close proximity have this journey and how they take these moments and what affects them and what keeps them, you know, hungry, what keeps them saying, how they take advantage

of a moment, how they protect people around them. And I've really, I have this sort of, from this like, I guess you call it like a wisdom journal where I take advice from all these different people and I call it icon wisdom. And I write down what different people have told me and how they've dealt with it. It's even something as simple as like, hey, this is going to affect your family. This is how you protect your family. This is how you protect the people around you and prioritize them and make them feel, you know, how they feel seen in a party or how to introduce them or what they just even small things like that you realize if you don't do things with intention this business kind of pushes you on its own right on its on its own ride and you really got

a you really got to dictate where it's all going so I feel like I've had the benefit of a lot of different people on this kind of chaotic journey make me feel very comfortable in a piece about it all because I've gotten to see it from a different vantage point and you have a great family parents a couple of sisters will keep you right down on the ground I'm sure well slap me around A little of that, right? Yeah. So I'm curious when you were growing up in Austin athlete, right? Lacrosse, football, other sports.

When did the idea of being an actor creep into your mind? What gave you that thought even? I think it's so interesting how, you know, I got to give the commencement speech at the University of Texas, and one of the things is like, don't believe in ghost stories. It was one of my things. And what I meant by that was that, don't, let other people's failures or the stories of their failures define how you orient yourself to

the world. Right. So you can't, you can't believe in, in those ghost stories. You have to kind of forge your own path. And I feel like I grew up in Austin obsessed with movies. Like, I talked to my mom about this the other day. She's like, she's like, I remember going to like the Access Channel. Like I was, I loved editing other people's movies and I love putting stuff together. And so I went to the Access Channel to use their editing bays. It was such a nightmare. Like, they weren't nice about it. And it was like, and then I was like, I painted the garage at home chroma key green so that I could do green green. Yeah. Wow. So it was like these things I was like obsessed with. But I never looked at it as a career because every single one of my friends that was in Austin that did film or TV or commercials,

they went out to L.A. I saw them come back a year and a half, two years later. And the life was gone from their eyes. Like, it just looked like life had just rocked them in every way. It took the personality out of them, the soul out of them. It felt like they went out there with this optimism and came back being like, I don't ever want to talk about that. And I was just like, I had such a joy around movies and the experience of movies and acting.

I was like, I just don't want that joy to be taken out of me. You know, LA, so LA was never even an option. Like, I really never thought that this would ever be a job. I always thought I'd kind of go off and do, you know, a normal. a normal job. And then it wasn't until, you know, Denzel Washington and his agent Ed Lamato really, really pushed me out of the nest a bit and said, you know, you should double down on yourself. You should give this a shot. That I took the plunge and I'm really glad I did. You know, I'm really glad I did. But I think it's, I never looked at this thing as a job. And I think a lot of kids

don't chase their passions because you hedge those bets. And I think a lot of parents, maybe push their kids towards things like that you go, hey, this is where you make money. This is where there's some sort of security. And instead, I always think like the great advantage in this world is if you wake up passionate about something, you're already, you're already on top, you know, because then you're waking up thinking about it, you're excited about it, you orient yourself differently to it. So like, it's not work. And I never, I segmented work and play. And now in this job, it's something I'm really passionate about. So I get to like, work and play simultaneously, and I feel like it just keeps me sharp and energized.

And if Denzel Washington tells you you're good at something, that's probably a good sign to keep going. Yeah, especially like a 17-year-old kid. I was like, oh, all right. Yeah. You were in high school, weren't you? Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I was at the University of Texas, which is like, I just finished my freshman year at UT, my favorite place on the planet, the greatest year of my life was like having the best time. And to leave that existence, to know that I was going into a gauntlet that I may not succeed at was a, a, was tough. And even though in hindsight going like, okay, Denzel, you know, he has nothing to lose by saying that, but, you know, you don't really know what that journey is ahead of you. But thank God,

you know, Denzel, you know, I've seen him since. He's like, you owe me. You owe me. That's amazing. Sometimes all it takes is one comment. It's set you on your way, right? You know what? And that's the one thing I'm taking also stock in right now is that you never know those little bursts of those resets, those little boosts that that keep you emotionally on the path because there's so many people telling you like, hey, this isn't for you, you should back up and leave that when you do have those people that say, hey, stick with it, you got it. It means more to people than you really realize. Yeah, I think about that too. Just a little word of generosity goes such a long way. Yeah. Ccasting agents in Hollywood could

not resist you after they saw tape of Danger Dude. I think that's really what put you over the top, right? Yeah, never love for Danger Dude. I was watching that this morning. I didn't feel safer afterward. Yeah, no, no. Not a good morning watch. Why were you

watching Danger Dude? I'm digging deep, digging deep. That's a deep dig. I actually, you're, that's maybe the deepest dig I've ever seen anyone. That's the most impressive journalism I've seen in my entire life. Danger dude. You thought I was going to go spike Kids 3D. I took it one level up. That's an impressive level. That's that's that's the that's the true fan level. I so you know this is what people don't realize is like you don't just jump to Spy Kids 3, right? The ultimate Spy Kids 3. You know as an actor you're doing industrial commercials. You know you're doing Time Warner cable commercials and Kenmore ads and you're like you're trying to just get anything under your your feet. And I, you're doing time Warner cable commercials. And I, you're doing. And I. You're trying to just get anything under your feet. And I, I did this internet safety video called The Safe Side, where I played this character named Danger

Dude, which is basically like a Napoleon Dynamite knockoff. He was. Like, it was just like... It was like an impersonation. I was basically doing an impersonation. Nothing inspired about that performance. I'm not sure that was the point. But, yeah, I basically play like a Napoleon Dynamite knockoff telling you about internet safety.

So, you know, we all get our start somewhere. Danger dude. I love that you bring it up. There it is, right? Now you finally give you a venue to talk about Danger Dude. I'm going to get that on my license plate. Like Danger Dude is a great license plate. I'm going to think about that.

Might be a little dushy, but, you know, like if you look at it a different way. It's really where I live. Yeah, putting well-known characters like Danger Dude on my license plate is where I live. So what would, I mean, when you got to L.A., danger dude aside, you've talked about, because you're not alone in this, the struggles that come. Yeah. So I guess the question for me is, what kept you going? because when you hear no as much as you do

and those friends of yours who came home back to Texas because it's just it killed their souls, why didn't you come home to Texas? What kept you going? You know, I've, I got to talk about this with Linklater as we were kind of breaking Hitman, which is really about the stories we tell ourselves and how powerful storytelling can be.

Gary Johnson in this movie is obviously telling himself that he's sort of stuck in this identity. This is just who he is, and he comes to realize there's another path, another way he can kind of express himself and another way he can find fulfillment in his life. And I feel like when things weren't working out, movies were always like my therapy.

They were always a way that I could talk with people and identify with people and understand different experiences. And again, it was always my sort of love language with people. But I also realized it was sort of a wonderful emotional safety net in the fact that when things were really down, when the chips were down, when people were like, hey, you should leave, I realized, I said, you know, this is just that point in the movie where things get really, really bad for the character. There's that point where people kick you

while you're down. This is the point where nothing's going right. And we've all seen it in story structure. It always goes like that. And you have to double down on that idea. You sort of have to deceive yourself a little bit or sort of at least tell you yourself a story that it is all going to work out because that's the only way through is if you look at a, at a, at a, at a, at a, at a moment as a constant, then you're dead. You're dead in the water, you know. But if you look at it as a moment on the way to greater moments, I think maybe it's that optimism, that kind of belief in a happy ending that got me there.

That's an amazing outlook, which I'm sure wasn't always easy to hang on to. Right? Totally. And again, like talking about LA, it's like people tell you things, people are brutal out there, you know? And sometimes a little bit of that, people, saying these things about really telling you that it's not for you or that you don't have it or any of these things, they keep you sharp. You know, like sometimes that's a little bit of emotional fuel in the morning.

You know, waking up with a little bit of a chip on your shoulder, I think, is good, you know? And I think, again, maybe just telling yourself that they're wrong, the likelihood is they're right, but you have to just continue to tell yourself that you're sort of the underdog in the story and then eventually it's going to lead to a big game. And makes where you're sitting right now in the position you're at all the sweeter because you hung in. No, 100%. And I think that's where I'm really taking in this moment right now, which is I've always kind of just kept my head down and you just kind of keep, you know, keep at it. And now I'm getting to sit down with people like you where it's like and really talk about this stuff in a way that's, yeah, it's been like, it's been really amazing and surreal.

And I think like a really great journey for me and my family when they've been next to me through all of this. And they know that failure is not something that you, talking about failure in hindsight is a different thing than experiencing it in the present, right? And when you are experiencing failure in the present, it's overwhelming and it feels public. It feels embarrassing. It feels all these different things.

And I think that's been the great part is having my family on this adventure throughout all of it, from Spy Kids here, from Danger Dude on, you know, it makes you, it makes you take in the journey and really just cherish this moment in a way that's, it's just been really calming and wonderful. I love how much you talk about family. It's the first thing you say. Yeah. Your parents must be so proud knowing where you started, how hard you've worked, all those peaks and valleys you just laid out in L.A.

To be where you are now, it must just be a family celebration when you go home for those costume parties that you guys have. Well, again, you know, it's like, that's, that's been the fun part is like, my, my, my, the greatest part of, of my family is that I truly feel like the best version of myself with them, right? And I keep them close because obviously it's, it's sort of this, this amazing grounding, but it's not really about, it's just about, like, I find that, like, some actors, like, you start seeing it, like, they buy into their own bullshit, you know what I mean? Like, it can make you a, weird. I think without, without sort of those people that, that keep you honest and keep you

feeling like yourself, like this, this thing can veer off. And, and I find that, like, being able to have my parents, like, I'll feel like a track suits and tequila party, right? And my parents are there in tracksuits. They're drinking tequila. They're having the best time ever. My, my friends are as good of friends with my parents as they are with me. And my sisters are, you know, my best friends and my greatest allies and greatest source of truth. And, and, and, and, And I feel like the fact that I genuinely like love my family, which is, again, as I get older, it feels more rare as I go on for people like love their siblings and like trust their siblings and want to bring their parents, you know, to everything.

No, it's a great gift. And again, I don't take it lightly because to be able to like party with your parents, like I threw this neon rodeo. I remember like I was with my sisters. We threw this neon rodeo at the ranch and I put like a mechanical bull in there. And there was all these neon lights, and I brought all my friends. I probably had, you know, 60-something friends there and we're just having the best time. And I remember hugging my mom, who was, like, on the dance floor.

And I was with my sisters. I had both of them there. And I just, I, we all kind of started crying a little bit. Because I was just, because it was like, wow, this is what life's about. You know, this is really it. It's like to be able to not segment experiences, but have them be all-inclusive with your family, I think is like the greatest gift. So it's something like, you know, I, and I cherish like a lot. And I remember Cruz telling me this on Top Gun.

He took, he was in his dress whites. He was a scene on the beach and my mom was waiting to kind of get a picture with him. And he took as many pictures as she wanted and we kind of all walked back to his trailer before he does the coolest thing in the world, which is getting in his motorcycle and like freaking take off into the night. But he told me, he said, you know, I, you know, he grew up with his mom on set. And he's like, those were the greatest years of my life getting to share that. And it really, he goes, don't take it lightly. He's like, whatever you're doing with your family, he's like, that is the right move. Because this thing is the greatest job in the world.

But when you get to share it with the people you love, it adds a whole other element. And that's who you want to share with. You want to be dancing and doing tequila shots with your mom. That's what it's about. You know, Mama Powell, she really kicks off the party. She's a partier. She's wild. She's always the last one at the party.

We always have to drag her out. I love the sound of her. I'm going to let you go, but I got to ask you about a couple things because I love the Blue Angels IMAX stock that you're producing with JJ Abrams. There's a theme here. You're a pilot, devotion, Top Gun, the Blue Angels, Doc, tell me about it.

Well, that's been an interesting ride because it's like when I was shooting Top Gun, I obviously was exposed to the Navy, you know, you were exposed to all the top brass of the Navy, the greatest pilots in the world. And I got to basically take that same technology that Tom and Claudio and Joe developed on Top Gun, which is shrinking this IMAX technology to its smallest form and being able to place it around the planes. So as I'm getting to like spend all this time with the real life heroes, the real life guys who do this, and I got to fly with the Blue Angels, I'm in the center of the hive. And I was like, God, if I could just bring people into this cockpit, you know, if I could just make people feel what this is like. And then also, the more you fly, the more impressed you are, the more impressed you are with what they're doing up there, that this is extremely dangerous. And I was like, okay, if we could make an audience feel that for real.

We've obviously done it with Top Gun. We put audiences in that cockpit. But how can we do it with not actors, but with the real life guys and put, bring a visceral experience. you know, to the audience, but in documentary form. And so we teamed up with JJ, JJ Abrams, one of the best there is in terms of figuring out how to give audiences a ride. And we really made a documentary. I'm really proud of it.

Yeah, it's beautiful. I got to watch some of it. It's really cool. People are going to love that. You've also got Twisters coming up. We have a massive movie this summer. So fun. Right?

Is that a blast? Oh, it's so fun. I mean, that was down in Oklahoma. We shot in Tornado Alley. you know, obviously Spielberg is producing and brought together the best of the best. And this director, Lee Isaac Chung, who directed Minari, just was the perfect filmmaker for it. And it just, you know, it stars Daisy Agger Jones and Anthony Ramos and Brandon Perea, Karen and Shipka, David Cornswet. You have just this, like, incredible cast around this thing.

And it really turned out. It's exactly how I felt after Top Gun. Really? Yeah. Which is like to really put, give audiences like, bring. like bring them into a very specific world and give them there's money's worth in terms of a ride and have it be like emotional

and thoughtful and smart and all these different things and just like it's why you go to the movies. So I'm really excited and unleash it on audiences this summer. Have you seen it? Have you watched it? That's great. Okay. All right. Can't wait for that. And finally, I mean, you've got a million projects.

You're so busy. Chad Powers. So fun. Come on. Yeah. For people who don't know who Chad Powers is Eli Manning character. Yes.

that you developed with the Manning brothers? Yeah, so Chad Powers is, there's this video that I saw that, I mean, anybody that watches sports and beyond, like saw this video that Eli made, Eli Manning made about him basically going undercover as a Penn State recruit trying out for the football team. So he went, as this character named Chad Powers, who's got this crazy mustache and this mullet, and it's like just a bizarre thing,

but it's clearly like this kind of country bumpkin, like odd character trying out for the Penn State football team. So, you know, I kind of took this concept to like one of my favorite ideas, which was like I loved Tutsi when I was a kid and I loved Mrs. Doubtfire. But I was like, what if we took those two concepts and we put it in the world of college football? You know, we really, and we really infused, you know, the heart of both of those movies and talked about a guy who, you know, maybe is not a great teammate who puts on the mask of a great teammate and becomes a great teammate, sort of, that sort of architecture. The same way Tootsie,

it's about a misogynist, a guy who puts on the clothes of a woman and ends up becoming, you know, a fully developed man on the other side of it. We kind of took that same architecture and what's been really fun to write it with Michael Waldron, who's one of the most brilliant writers, you know, out there. We've really crafted, like, a story that I'm like, I don't even think this is going to be like a funny show. I think it's going to be one of the best shows on TV. I'm like so excited about it. It's really turning out. So I'm, I'm, and the team, that's come together on it is wild. And then I got to hang with Eli yesterday.

He welcomed me to the city. I just moved to New York. So I got to, you know, get tapped in from the goat himself. He welcomes everybody who moves to New York. Oh, is that how it is? Oh, that's a little greeting. Just when he started to get me to take that away from you. No, no, it's like, no, I just have a lot to think about today.

And maybe I should text you. This was so much fun. Thank you for the time. I really enjoyed it, Glenn. Thank you. Congrats on everything. My big thanks to Glenn for a great conversation, and of course, to Brisket for being there as well. You can check out Hitman in Select Theater starting May 24th and streaming on Netflix starting on June 7th.

Glenn also starring in Twisters coming up this summer. My thanks to all of you, as always, for listening again this week. You hear more of these conversations with our guests every week. Be sure to click follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday today on your TV set. weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Ice. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sitdown podcast.