Glen Powell turned his 2008 vision board into his 2025 reality: “That’s pretty silly”

Posted On August 8, 2025August 8, 2025

One of the great things about being a long-term film fan is being able to spot a rising star and follow their career all the way to the top. Case in point, Mr Jawline himself, Glen Powell.

Most moviegoers first became aware of Powell as the obnoxious-yet-talented fighter pilot Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin in Top Gun: Maverick. He perfected the role of loveable a-hole in further films like Anyone but You and Twisters, and is set to further establish himself as a leading man with his upcoming role in Edgar Wright’s remake of The Running Man.

Certain eagle-eyed and grey-haired viewers will remember Powell from his days prior to being in a Navy plane. He appeared in one scene of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, playing a trader at the Gotham Stock Exchange who encounters a rampaging Bane. The role had a profound effect on him. Before that, you can see him in films like Fast Food Nation and The Hottest State (directed by Ethan Hawke), as well as the cinematic masterpiece that is Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over.

It might seem like he just wandered off into the streets and was given a major role based on his looks, but Powell has worked very hard for a very long time to get to where he is today. Collaborating with Wright on The Running Man is the pinnacle of over a decade of grafting and dreaming, as the star explained to Yahoo! Entertainment during an interview to promote the film.

“What’s happening right now is some of my favourite filmmakers have raised their hands to say, ‘Hey, I’d love to work together’. That’s pretty silly,” he relayed, slightly incredulous. “Edgar Wright was at the top of my list; I searched his name in my email because I was putting something together, and his name came up on what was essentially a vision board. It was a wish list of directors I hoped I’d get to work with when I first moved out to LA in 2008, and [Wright] was at the top of the list.”

Powell also described Tom Cruise as one of his “favourite actors”, with whom he worked alongside on Maverick.

In 2008, Wright was making his first foray into superstardom. He’d released two major feature films—Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz—which had caught people’s eyes due to their combination of sharp humour and pinpoint genre parody. It would be his next film, 2010’s Scott Pilgrim vs the World, that would launch him on an international level. Powell was clearly an early adopter.

In contrast, the actor would have been either 19 or 20 years old when he made that list. He’d had some success in film and TV as a teenager, but was a long way off hitting the big time. He would have been studying at the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin, but dropped out shortly thereafter to move to Los Angeles and chase his dreams. He plans to return to college and finally graduate at some point in 2025.

Working with Wright is a literal dream come true for Powell. The Running Man has a lot of hype around it, so fingers crossed it meets both men’s expectations.

Related Topics