The new Tom Cruise? Why ‘Hit Man’ star Glen Powell is having more than a moment

It’s undoubtedly the summer of Glen Powell. Movie fans know it, studio executives know it. His parents know it too, despite trolling him on the red carpet at the Austin, Texas, premiere of “Hit Man” with signs reading, “Stop trying to make Glen Powell happen” and “It’s never gonna happen.”
But it is indeed happening.
“It’s so nice to have your family next to you for all this stuff,” the 35-year-old actor told the Star the morning after the Austin premiere. “It’s been a pretty surreal year. You never know if you get to even have another acting job, much less have movies that people are responding to.”
After the actor’s scene-stealing turn as Hangman in 2022’s Tom Cruise blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick,” he delivered an  ultra-appealing star turn alongside Sydney Sweeney in December’s “Anyone but You.” Later this summer, he takes the lead alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones in the highly anticipated “Twisters,” an update of the 1996 disaster epic “Twister.”
While “Top Gun: Maverick” may have gotten him noticed on a bigger scale, Powell has been in the business for decades — having made his acting debut at 13 in “Spy Kids 3.” His other credits include supporting roles in “The Expendables 3” and “Hidden Figures,” but the actor proved he’s leading man material with the success of “Anyone but You,” which has grossed more than $200 million worldwide. He’s already booked to topline multiple projects, including a reboot of “The Running Man” for director Edgar Wright, John Lee Hancock’s “Monsanto,” the thriller “Huntington,” and he’s in talks to star in J.J. Abrams’ next directorial effort.
“Hit Man,” his latest, which Netflix bought at the Toronto International Film Festival last year for $20 million, has since garnered rave reviews. Written by director Richard Linklater and Powell, and inspired by a true story, the romantic action comedy follows a straitlaced professor Gary (Powell) who discovers his hidden talent as a fake hit man and meets his match after he’s hired by a woman named Madison (Adria Arjona) to kill her husband.
“It’s been crazy how universally loved it is,” Powell said of the film, which has a score of 98 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes. “We’re just counting ourselves very lucky that we get to make movies that we love with people we love.”
The Austin-born actor is not letting this success get to him, though, sharing that he’s taken the “Hit Man” themes to heart. “That idea of seizing the life you want for yourself is such a big part of this movie,” he said. “It kind of filters also into how you navigate your life and career.”
Powell, who in his high school yearbook was voted most likely to be a movie star, has clearly learned from his experience working on “Hit Man” with the Oscar-nominated Linklater. He admitted that being fully involved in the filmmaking aspect, which also involved producing the movie, has changed how wants to work. Instead of just being a performer, he appreciated the holistic process of creating art together.
“Rick really brings you into the process, and he ruins you going forward for a lot of filmmakers, because he lets you have the reins of your character and really gives you a lot of accountability for what you do on screen,” Powell said. “It’s such an addictive thing as an artist and an actor.”
His approach to the projects he takes on is now pretty simple. “Working with people I really respect and love sure is going to make life a lot more fun when you’re on a set and you spend every waking hour with people that you really enjoy being around,” he said. “That’s just seizing the quality of life that you want for yourself. I think that’s what I’m taking away from it.”
Having also collaborated with Powell on 2006’s “Fast Food Nation,” 2016’s “Everybody Wants Some!!” and 2022’s “Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood,” Linklater knows that the actor has “a star quality.”
“Glen has always had this thing — he’s a very charismatic, charming guy,” Linklater said. “He has worked really hard, he’s really trained as an actor, and he’s put in that time…. It took the industry to catch up with him a little bit.
“But it’s a great moment for him.”