Glen Powell likes to have a good time, just like the fun cut-ups he plays in Richard Linklater's Everybody Wants Some!! When he started his career, he was intent on putting himself out there in ways that were appealing to some but ostracizing to others. In a recent profile in Vanity Fair, Powell talked about his early days in Hollywood and his approach to hits like “Top Gun: Maverick'' and “Anyone But You'' and “Twisters.'' He talked about how things have changed over the past year or two with new blockbusters. ”
“I came from a college party mentality that had no boundaries,” Powell said of adjusting to Hollywood culture. “No one cares about you in Hollywood if you can't offer them something.”
For a long time, Mr. Powell initially seemed unsure of what he could offer people beyond his bubbly personality and innate charisma.
“I've probably been told, 'You can't make it in this town,' more than anyone else alive,” Powell said. “The odds are so low that people hand out those quotes like candy.”
The problem is, those people are ultimately wrong. After years of playing bit parts, Powell is now a household name, and the dynamic change it's created for him is dramatic. His face is so familiar that he recently decided to leave Los Angeles and make his home in Texas, where he was born and raised. It's not like he's less well-known there either.
“Literally, for the first time, I felt like a commodity,” Powell said of realizing his star was officially on the rise. “I started thinking, 'This might be a problem.'”
To address this issue, Mr. Powell appears to have separated his public persona from his real self. He told Vanity Fair: “It's like creating alter egos for wrestlers. It's like Bruce Wayne and Batman. No one has the whole picture, so they have to figure it out. You have to be okay with not having it. It's entertainment. It's okay to have your personal life be part of it now.”
One example of this is his recent use of social media to promote his and Sidney Sweeney's hit rom-com “Anyone But You.'' To spice up the reveal, the two actors decided to emphasize their dynamic and make it look as if there were actually sparks between them.
“We leaned into the chemistry and we leaned into the fun,” he said. “We put all of that effort into it, and the movie benefited from that. The fun part for Sid was figuring out what would be noisy and tacky. We're talking about cannibalizing TikTok, but what we're seeing is that TikTok is feeding off each other, becoming more of an event, more fun.A year and a half ago, a guy named Glenn said: I wouldn't have been happy with that. Now I can put myself in a different place and become the character.”