Exclusive: Glen Powell talks Top Gun: Maverick, Denzel Washington, and Devotion
Currently leading the charts at the box office is the Top Gun: Maverick, which is directed by Joseph Kosinski and stars Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Charles Parnell, Bashir Salahuddin, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis, Danny Ramirez, Greg Tarzan Davis with Ed Harris. This is the long awaited sequel to the 1986 blockbuster in which Cruise is reprising his role as Maverick.
After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of TOPGUN graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose”.
For Powell, who plays Lt. Jake "Hangman" Seresin, an F/A-18E pilot and mission candidate, this his second of three films where he’s played a pilot. He played John Glenn in Hidden Figures, and later this year will be seen playing Tom Hudner in the action war drama Devotion opposite Jonathan Majors.
While Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over was Powell’s film debut, it was a conversation he had with Denzel Washington that convinced him to move out to Hollywood. Powell played Preston Whittington in Washington’s directed film The Great Debaters and later had roles in The Dark Knight Rises, The Expendables 3, Everybody Wants Some!!, Scream Queens, and Hidden Figures.
A few years ago at an awards events in Los Angeles where Powell was there with the Hidden Figures cast, I took a photo of Powell and Washington and mentioned this to Powell as we were about to speak about his role in Top Gun: Maverick.
“To be with Denzel, the guy who convinced me to move out to Los Angeles and give this thing a shot in the first place. And for him to be like, “I told you I was right.” You captured that moment. And I'm really appreciative for that, man. That was that was really amazing. Thank you so much for the picture!“
You’re no stranger to playing an aviator, having done Hidden Figures, this film and the upcoming Devotion. Let’s talk about playing Hangman?
Glen Powell: My agent has banned me from plane films. He said to just relax. Nothing in the air.
How did the role come about for you?
Glen Powell: Top Gun is a movie I've wanted to make since I was 10 years old. This is the movie that inspired me to be an actor in the first place. And what was interesting is when I found out that Paramount was toying with the idea of doing a sequel, I was really trying to circle the process and really trying to embody the spirit of year long before I even went with some of the producers to a Top Gun anniversary Top Gun screening three years before I originally auditioned. I even that with the original screenwriter Justin Marks about when he saw in that movie and what he was actually going to put in that movie, how it was going to be infused, and what were the things that you need in a Top Gun movie and what you can omit, what you need to pay homage to and what is too on the nose. And so I was I was passionate about this movie long before I auditioned. Then I auditioned for the role of Rooster originally and didn't get that role. I was debating on whether I was going to do the movie at all and Tom convinced me that there was another role that he thought I'd be really great at playing. I'm just really glad that Tom didn't just cut me out of the process there. He was like, "Hey, I see that your skills, your attributes of who you are as a person and what you do as an actor can really be better used in this other role." And so yeah, I'm just really glad I said yes.
How would you best describe Hangman?
Glen Powell: I think Hangman is a guy who believes he's the greatest weapon the Navy's ever produced. He has an unapologetic swagger. Tom always conceptualized that the character was the cross between Maverick and Iceman. He the guy doesn't apologize for his opinion that he's right in the entire movie. He represents the spirit of what the original Top Gun was, which is the fun and wish fulfillment of what it is to be young and saving the world.
How much fun did you guys have on and off the set while making this film?
Glen Powell: This is such a special group of actors, I gotta say, you never know what you're gonna get when you put a bunch of strangers together and say, "Hey, you got to go learn how to fly, you're going to have to pass all these tests together, and you're going to be living on naval bases on carriers. And you're going to be doing this for over a year." You never know what that experience is going to be like, and I know it sounds cliche, but they are truly family at the end of this. On a normal movie, you spend time at a location, having fun breaking down character and acting a little bit. But I truly feel like I served with these people. It's been a four year process since we started this thing. So it's almost like we've been best friends throughout high school or we've gone on deployment together. It's like a different level of depth. There's also a lot going on in naval base. You can't talk about everything. So these people know me inside and out. It's just a beautiful thing. I really really love this group of people. I feel so lucky that this journey of a lifetime I've gotten to share with them.
You don’t have enough scenes with him, but how was it watching Tom, having watched him early in his career with the original and come back and do this nearly 40 years later?
Glen Powell: It's really surreal. Even in the audition process, it's the moment I'll never forget, because Tom is Maverick, and when he started the line that Maverick says, it was an out of body experience. I remember mainly that character that made me want to be an actor. and here I am auditioning with the guy. Tom makes you quickly forget that he's the biggest movie star on the planet, and he becomes your friend very quickly. You have those moments over the course of the movie where you're acting across from him, and you can't believe that's what's happening. You're getting to do that. There were a million pinch me moments on this movie. To get to act alongside a movie star, who is returning to his most iconic role is nothing short. He's really embracing the fact that he's a mentor in this movie on and off the set, that was just unbelievable. I really got to literally collaborate and build something with my hero, and it just doesn't get any better.
Having done Hidden Figures, this film, and the upcoming Devotion, how’s your appreciation for the men and women that get to go up in the sky?
Glen Powell: I was actually going to do Devotion before Top Gun. That was one of the reasons when I didn't actually get the role of Rooster, I thought maybe I should just put everything I have into Devotion. That's my naval aviation movie. I should just let the folks make their Top Gun movie. I'm so glad it worked out the way that it did. Not only did I get to make two movies that are so near and dear to my heart, but I got to take the education that Tom gave me on Top Gun: Maverick and put that all into Devotion. In knowing how to shoot the sequences, and knowing how to build the relationship between these characters, and also just the appreciation I have for the men and women in uniform, after Top Gun and being able to call on those folks, in order to do it authentically, in a way that makes them proud. I am just so lucky.
It just it really does feel written in the stars, the way it all worked out. Just my connection to the Navy is eternal. I'm so happy I'm in that family. I always want to do right by them. Because I do feel like making Devotion and Top Gun: Maverick, we've covered the legacy of naval aviation, and the sacrifice that those men and women have made over the course of time. It's just very cool.
What does it take for you to say yes to projects? Is it the story, the talent, or the timing of when it can be shot?
Glen Powell: Definitely not timing. It's interesting. I’m frustratingly precise and discerning when it comes to these things. I don't say yes a lot. I'm a guy very similar to Tom, not that I will compare myself to him, but in terms of time and the fact that I like really like to be committed when I throw myself into a role. I like to really care. Kevin Costner gave me this advice on Hidden Figures. He's like, “Movies are your epitaph, thoughts and ideas that you're putting out in the world. And when you're all gone, those movies can still live and still impact people and affects people. And that's a great privilege."
Tom feels the same way about the movies. He puts everything he has into every day, every minute of these experiences. I feel the same way. I don't want to do a movie unless I feel completely invested. With Devotion, these are two movies that are near and dear to my heart, so whatever's next, I just want to make sure I feel that level of investment and care.
How was the experience at Cannes with this film and seeing the audience reaction?
Glen Powell: The audience reaction is again a moment I'll just never forget. Watching this movie with an audience, the fact that the world is getting to finally see this movie and experience this movie, and everything that we've got and put the last few years is surreal. To do it in a place like Cannes, which you never know how that audience is going to react to anything. It's the Doggy Dog World at that festival and I couldn't believe the reaction to that movie. To experience that moment with this group of people that we made it with, and to be in this foreign place and the elegance of Tom. Tom basically said, "Guys, please be patient. We got to show the world this movie the way it was meant to see. We just gotta be patient. I don't know when that's going to be but we just got to hold the line on it."
There was a moment where Tom shook my hand right after people started cheering and came up to me and said “Congratulations!" I just remember that moment. It was again an out of body experience where I was like, "I'm so glad this man waited to be patient to show the world this movie and do it in a way that it was meant to be seen because of the way it was shot." So anyway, that truly was a moment I'll never forget. The way people reacted to this movie is nothing short of incredible. It's just really amazing.