The movie stars Glen Powell always wanted to emulate: “Who we all wish we could be”
Actor and screenwriter Glen Powell‘s current success in the industry, coupled with a large fanbase for his charming smile, has caused at least one culture writer to deem that we are living through a ‘Glenaissance’.
Powell began his career with small roles in the early 2000s, gaining more recognition in the 2010s through The Expendables 3, the comedy-horror series Scream Queens, and the teen comedy Everybody Wants Some!! He later took on more serious roles in films like Hidden Figures and the historical romance The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, based on the bestselling novel. More recently, he earned praise for his performance in Richard Linklater’s 2023 crime rom-com Hit Man.
On the other hand, the leading man has a somewhat charming personal understanding of what it means to be a movie star, an understanding developed through one of his favourite films, leaving an indelible impression on him since his younger days.
In an interview with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – or, in more common parlance, the Oscars website – Powell named his top five favourite films. These included certified popular classics such as Singin’ in the Rain, Casablanca, Jurassic Park, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. However, it was 1969 film, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid that seemed to stand out in the list on a personal level.
Of the film, he said, “That’s been such a seminal movie for me, as a Texan. I had a poster of Butch and Sundance on my wall when I was growing up. That was Redford and Newman at their prime. Those two guys represented the coolest versions of movie stars ever put on screen, but it was also grounded. Those performances are really subtle. They weren’t trying to be too macho or cool; they felt like three-dimensional guys who had insecurities and fears, and dreams they knew were never going to happen. They broke the rules, but they fought for the underdog.”
Powell also noted how these performances epitomised, for him, what he believed being a movie star was all about. The performances in the film, he said, were “the wish fulfilment of who we all wish we could be”.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is today considered one of the greatest westerns of all time, even though the film did not initially meet with wild praise. A classic buddy film, it tells the story of two Wild West outlaws who are on the run following a string of train robberies and flee to Bolivia in pursuit of their own freedom.
“It’s one of those movies that I could watch over and over and over. I love it,” gushed Powell.
His comments capture a sometimes forgotten but important facet of celebrity. Films and storytelling are, to some extent, a form of wish fulfilment. The heroes and protagonists within them, especially those portrayed sincerely, without a dose of modern irony, are sometimes crafted to embody enviable or inspiring traits, such as the pursuit of truth, freedom, or justice. This was especially so in classic westerns, where protagonists were frequently called upon to take justice into their own hands, becoming vigilante heroes by doing so, no matter that the heroism sometimes went against the law.
Powell’s nostalgia for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid may well speak to wider appeal of heroes onscreen, portrayed with energy and sincerity, as well as called to uphold their personal values against all odds. As modern-day political and social climates remain as volatile as ever, one wonders whether there may even be a shift onscreen back to this form of heroism, as viewers worldwide seek comfort and inspiration from their filmic escapes.
