You can’t spend more than a millisecond online without running into Glen Powell content. This summer, “Kenergy” is out — and “Glenergy” is in.
Powell was put on the map following his role as arrogant pilot Hangman in “Top Gun: Maverick.” But “Twisters” made Powell the man of the hour.
Nowadays, Powell hangs out with Tom Cruise, his dog Brisket has a bigger following than the typical B-list actor, and he’s tagged in more than 167.5 million TikTok posts.
Where was Powell before his meteoric rise to Hollywood stardom? The movie star has actually been acting since he was 15, despite his newfound stardom.
Here are 8 movies you forget — or didn’t know — Glen Powell was in.
1. ‘Hidden Figures’ (2016)
In “Hidden Figures,” Glen Powell played John Glenn — an astronaut who takes time to get to know the West Area women.
After Powell saw a rough cut of the movie, he recalled “puking” over fears he “ruined” the movie, he said during a May podcast appearance on “Therapuss with Jake Shane.”
“I remember watching ‘Hidden Figures’ for the first time on the Fox lot ... and this was before all the effects were done, the music was in, the sound design ... and I literally left the movie and I puked in the bushes,” Powell told Shane.
“I was like, ‘All these women put in these great performances,’ and it’s like, the legacy of these women. I was like, ‘I literally ruined this movie.’”
“We all want to be good — we all want to service something greater — and nobody wants to be the weak point in a movie, especially when you’re talking about real-life stories,” Powell said.
Where to watch: Disney +
2. ‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’ (2018)
In “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,” Powell plays Mark Reynolds, an American publisher who attempts to woo writer Juliet (Lily James) — who he thinks will be his perfect match.
“It’s really fun seeing all my mom’s friends whenever I say, ‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,’ they just light up. It’s definitely beloved all over. It’s an honor to be a part of this one,” Powell said in an interview with “HeyUGuys.”
“I think this is a really special movie and I think it’s a really cool way into kind of an era of history that no one really knew about.”
Where to watch: Netflix
3. ‘Devotion’ (2022)
Following his role as cocky pilot in “Top Gun: Maverick,” Powell got back in a fighter jet to play a pilot once again. Before taking on the role, Powell sought Tom Cruise’s blessing.
“I said, ‘Hey, Tom, I already have a naval aviation movie that’s really close to my heart,’” Powell recalled in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “And Tom said, ‘There’s room for two. You can do ‘Top Gun,’ you can do ‘Devotion.’ You don’t have to choose.’
“The fact that Tom gave me the liberty to make both, Black Label and Sony gave me the liberty to make both — I feel like these are two movies that could not be more different from each other, but really complement just the love of aviation and the legacy of our men and women in uniform.”
Where to watch: Paramount +
4. ‘Set It Up’ (2018)
Glen Powell has successfully worn many hats — pilot, storm chaser, astronaut — but my personal favorite is Powell as a romantic comedy lead. “Set It Up” was the first movie I saw Powell in. I was an instant fan. Powell can pull off a lot of different roles, but he was made to star in rom-coms.
After further proving himself as an outstanding rom-com lead in “Anyone But You,” fans are begging Powell to take on more roles in the rom-com genre — hopefully alongside Zoey Deutch.
“Deutch and Powell are so good together that they should be making more movies together à la Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, or Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling — it’s what we deserve,” Refinery29 wrote about “Set It Up.”
Where to watch: Netflix
5. ‘Red Wing’ (2013)
In 2013, Powell starred alongside original “Twister” star Bill Paxton in “Red Wing.” Powell said he implemented advice from Paxton while working on “Twisters.”
“I shot this movie called ‘Red Wing’ years and years ago, and Bill and I became really close on that movie,” Powell said during an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
“As an actor, sometimes you have to shoot outdoors and you’re kind of squinting and whatnot and he taught me this trick that if you close your eyes and you look up at the sun, it warms your eyes up to the sun and you can open your eyes,” Powell said.
“So while we were shooting ‘Twisters,’ I was shooting outdoors the whole time so I’d used that trick my entire career since meeting Bill. And on ‘Twisters,’ I really felt like every time I closed my eyes, I got to think of Bill, which was great.”
Bill Paxton died in 2017 from a stroke. He was 61, per KSL.
Powell wrote a tribute to Paxton at the release of “Twisters.” He called Paxton a “great friend” and said, “His boots are impossible to fill, but this life is all about chasing the greats.”
Where to watch: Peacock, Amazon Prime Video
6. ‘Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over’ (2003)
At 15 years old, Glen Powell landed his first acting role as Long-fingered Boy in “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over.” His appearance in the movie is short-lived but he claims it “really started a love of film,” per Esquire.
“I actually auditioned for two characters named Edog and Logos. I remember being in the audition room as one of the last three of us for two roles — and its like me, and these two grown men with goatees,” Powell said in an interview with Esquire. “And then, Robert Rodriguez ended up getting me the role of Long-fingered Boy which really changed my life and really started a love of film.”
Powell was part of a stacked cast that included George Clooney, Sylvester Stallone, Selena Gomez, Salma Hayek, Elijah Wood, Steve Buscemi, Bill Paxton, Carla Gugino and more.
Where to watch: Max
7. ‘Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood’ (2022)
Powell’s face is cartoon-ized in “Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood” as he plays Bostick, a NASA official who aids in recruiting a 10-year-old for the “Apollo 10 1/2″ mission.
This was Powell’s second time playing a character involved with NASA, which director Richard Linklater references when he pitched the role to Powell.
“(Linklater) said, ‘Hey, man, you’ve already played an astronaut. What if you do mission control? That’d be fun, right?’ I’m like, ‘You can tell me to play anything, man. I could be the guy mowing the lawn at NASA, and I’d do it if you asked me to,’” Powell told Inverse.
Where to watch: Netflix
8. ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ (2012)
Yes, Glen Powell is in “The Dark Knight Rises.” His appearance is brief, but it made an impact on him.
“I shot a small role in ‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ I play stock broker number two. We rehearsed the stunt a couple times. It’s where Tom Hardy is basically supposed to give me a little tap on the back of the head before he slams so I can kind of put my arms down. Tom’s a strong man and also we got caught up in the moment and he just slammed my head into the keyboard,” Powell said in an interview with Esquire.
“I kind of awoke from a daze and Chris Nolan walked up to me and said, ‘Man that was perfect.’ And I said, ‘Yeah I think I hit my head pretty hard on that keyboard. And Chris goes, ‘Can you do it again just like that?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, yeah, whatever you need,’ and he goes, ‘I’m kidding. Go see the medic.’”
Where to watch: Max