Glen Powell says his path to becoming a headlining star might not have been possible without Chris Pratt paving the way. In a new GQ cover story, Powell reflected on how Pratt’s breakout in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) opened doors for actors who didn’t fit the “brooding” mould that once defined leading men.
“I remember when Chris Pratt broke out in Guardians of the Galaxy,” Powell recalled. “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 felt most at home. And that’s where I feel like I had a gear that is a necessary flavour in terms of Hollywood, and not a gear that a lot of guys can play.”
Back in 2014, the same year Guardians premiered, Powell was still landing small supporting roles, including a turn in The Expendables 3. At the time, Hollywood leaned toward “dark” archetypes, leaving Powell struggling to break through. Now, with hits like Anyone but You and Twisters behind him, and his first action lead in Edgar Wright’s The Running Man due November 14 from Paramount, Powell has become one of Hollywood’s most in-demand actors.
To prepare for the physically demanding role of Ben Richards in The Running Man, Powell leaned on advice from his Top Gun: Maverick co-star and mentor, Tom Cruise. “I knew that based on the Stephen King book, [my character] Ben Richards was a tank,” Powell said. “I was like, ‘Okay, I’ve got to be a bit of a weapon.’ And so that’s why I trained the way I trained on this. I put on a lot of muscle… I went from going, ‘Oh, I’m an actor on a movie,’ to ‘I’m a high-performance athlete.’ And I’m just very lucky that I have someone like Tom who I could literally go to and say, ‘Hey, what do I do to survive something?’”
The Edgar Wright directorial also stars Josh Brolin as the producer of the show. The film is an adaptation of Stephen King's dystopian novel The Running Man, which offers a satirical take on capitalism. Michael Bacall and Wright adapted the novel for the screen. The film reunites Bacall and Wright after collaborations on Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Project X, and 21 Jump Street. The film also stars Colman Domingo (show host), Katy O’Brian, Michael Cera, William H Macy, Emilia Jones and Lee Pace.