Glen Powell names his four favourite movies of all time
Few high-profile actors have had as jam-packed a year as Glen Powell. The Sydney Sweeney co-starring rom-com Anyone But You was a markedly strong box performer for its genre and age rating at the tail end of 2023. This summer, he appeared in Twisters, a sequel to the cult favourite 1990s storm-chaser blockbuster. He also found time to make an offbeat action-comedy with Richard Linklater in Hit Man.
It was while doing press for the latter that Powell was asked by Letterboxed what his four favourite movies of all time are. All of Powell’s picks are crowd-pleasing classics that few, if any, would dispute as worthy legendary contenders, not to mention a wide-ranging spread across the decades, indicating someone who knows his film history and wants to make his own.
The actor’s first pick is Singin’ In The Rain, 1952’s high benchmark for golden Hollywood-era big movie musicals. It also stars and was co-directed by one of the definitive lead actors of his generation, Gene Kelly, who is undoubtedly still a source of inspiration for any ascendant leading man.
Sticking in the ‘old classics’ territory, Powell then adds Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid to his list, the 1969 western that immortalised its titular outlaws as romantic rogues rather than petty train robbers. Directed by George Roy Hill and starring two other iconic leading men, Robert Redford and Paul Newman, the film was largely panned by critics but turned out to be a huge hit with audiences. This public reception helped earn it an enduring legacy, and it’s since become acknowledged as an important piece of American cultural history. It’s unsurprising that Powell counts himself among its legions of fans.
The most modern of Powell’s choices is still somewhat of a dinosaur by now: Jurassic Park. Having been in Twisters, it feels natural that another monstrous 90s action romp would be at the forefront of the performer’s mind. It’s his fourth pick, however, that’s the slight outlier of the list: 1982’s Tootsie.
With Dustin Hoffman in the lead role, Tootsie plays on the Some Like It Hot formula, forcing Hoffman’s hot-headed actor, Michael Dorsey, to adopt a female persona to land more roles. In this guise, he books a job on a popular soap where his career takes off like a rocket, even while his personal life becomes complicated by living a double life. While not as well-remembered, Tootsie was only beaten by E.T. at the box office in its year of release, lapped up by critics for its shrewd combination of throwback, farcical humour and modern-day, sharp commentary on sexism.
Powell adds that there’s a lot of Tootsie in Hit Man, describing it as a “huge inspiration.” In the Linklater film, he plays a meek college professor who finds himself forced to pretend to be a hitman in order to set up sting operations for law enforcement. Both films share the comedic conceit of someone masquerading as something far removed from themselves, and both are a lot deeper than this conceit would suggest: Hit Man dives into the philosophical question of what the ‘real’ self is while maintaining an engaging level of action and humour.
Powell goes on to reflect to the interviewer that while Tootsie has had a specific influence on Hit Man, all of his favourite films he’s listed have had a big impact on his work of late. “I feel like every movie I’ve gotten to do recently has been a version of the movies that got me into this thing in the first place.”
Glen Powell’s favourite movies:
- Singin’ in the Rain
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- Jurassic Park
- Tootsie
