The two “legends” Glen Powell always wanted to work with: “In the trenches”
Next week sees an interesting release in cinemas, because it pairs America’s new favourite hunky leading man, Glen Powell, with the usually superb ‘we don’t bother with marketing’ studio A24 in the black comedy How to Make a Killing, loosely based on an old film you should absolutely watch: Kind Hearts and Coronets.
The latter is worth tracking down because it features Obi-Wan Kenobi himself, Alec Guinness, in full-on chaotic ‘Nutty Professor’ style playing eight different characters and serves as a reminder that just because something was made almost 80 years ago, it doesn’t mean it isn’t as watchable or as entertaining as any film made these days.
And secondly, the former means that we get to witness Powell being far more than just a greased-up topless beach volleyball player in the likes of Top Gun Maverick, because the guy genuinely likes movies, understands the craft and could become something of a latter-day Redford if he continues to take on more interesting, less mainstream projects than the frankly woeful Twisters from 2024.
While that needless reboot/sequel was everything wrong with blockbuster American movies, all “I like drinking beer, my truck and my girl” nonsense, Powell has also been in much more engrossing and nuanced fare like the brilliant throwback NASA movie Hidden Figures in 2016 as astronaut John Glenn (some suitable nomenclature there) and more recently the Richard Linklater-directed Hit Man, for which he picked up a Golden Globe nomination.
Not only did Powell put in a fantastic performance in the lead role of that one, he also co-wrote the screenplay with Linklater and co-produced, which served as something of a dream come full circle for the actor who recently told The Oscars’ site: “Growing up in Austin, the two guys that were legends there are Richard Linklater and (From Dusk Till Dawn director) Robert Rodriguez. So, obviously, I wanted to get in the trenches with Rick.”
He added, “Rick is a guy who gave me one of my first jobs in Austin, Texas, and was a guy I looked up to so much when I was growing up. I started writing screenplays in my creative writing class freshman year and was studying Richard Linklater movies; now, here I am, releasing a movie I’m really proud of with Richard Linklater.”
And not only did he tick Linklater off his list, but he also worked with Rodriguez many years earlier, albeit in a small role as the worryingly named ‘long-fingered boy’ in 2003’s Spy Kids 3D: Game Over starring Antonio Banderas.
Balancing out his first A24 movie this year will likely be the scale of one of the others he will film in 2026, namely JJ Abrams’ The Great Beyond, which features a cast including Jenna Ortega and Samuel L Jackson. Details are sketchy at the moment, other than the plot will revolve around a young couple battling against some kind of supernatural entity. Given the film will be released in IMAX this November, it’s likely to be reasonably visually spectacular, and hopes are high because Abrams hasn’t released a film since he finished with the Star Wars movies back in 2019.
Powell is also currently attached to make a Ron Howard film based on the life of a firefighter, although that one doesn’t have a title as yet.
