Can Glen Powell Save Movies?
Can Glen Powell Save Movies?
Plus Reviews of Furiosa, I Used To Be Funny, & Am I Okay?
In my last post, I touched on just how bleak the current moment is in Hollywood. Unfortunately, things have only escalated since then.
The Memorial Day box office numbers were some of the worst on record.
Studios are writing off 2024 and the mantra “Survive till 25” is echoing throughout Hollywood.
Almost every media outlet has discussed at length what this could mean for the future of movies and the industry as a whole. I am not here to rehash any of that discourse, but if you are interested in some thoughtful insights on the topic, I would recommend Sean Fennessey's Monologue.
Alright, enough negativity!
With everyone so focused on the potential demise of the theatrical industry, there is a much more positive storyline heading into the summer that is flying under the radar. One that is more fun to talk about - Glen Powell.
Glen Powell is many things to many people. To some he is simply an actor that they barely know. To others he is, “That guy from Top Gun Maverick”.
To me, he is our next great movie star.
That may sound surprising.
After all, he has only been in about 30 films and most of those were minor roles. Only 7 times has he played a leading role in a film, and only 3 of those were major releases (“Set it Up”, “Devotion”, and “Anyone But You”).
There is no denying that the sample size is small, but we are on the precipice of Glen Powell taking over Hollywood and ascending to the heights of movie stardom only seen by the likes of Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, & George Clooney.
Is that going to happen overnight? Of course not. But between the release of “Hit Man” on Netflix later this week the release of “Twisters” in theaters later this summer, we are going to take a massive leap in that direction. Layer on all his upcoming projects and you can quickly see how the Glen Powell era of movie stardom is upon us.
I have long thought that Powell had the stuff, but his recent press tour for “Hit Man” is making me double down. The stories he is telling and the stances he is taking are straight out of the Tom Cruise movie star playbook & it appears as thought he is just getting started.
I get that you may be skeptical. Heck, I was skeptical when people first started floating the idea five years ago.
Then I saw “Everybody Wants Some” & “Top Gun: Maverick” was released. Lets just say I didn’t need anymore convincing.
Aside from his old-school comedy and charm on screen, there are plenty of other reasons that he is in prime position to become the next great movie star.
Lets explore a few.
Denzel Washington is the one who suggested that Powell take acting seriously - One of Powell’s early roles was a small part in the 2007 Denzel Washington led film, “The Great Debators”. After meeting on the set of the film, Washington pushed Powell out of the nest and said, “You should double-down on yourself. You should give this a shot.” Washington went on to suggest that Powell move out to Los Angeles. Anytime one of the best actors on earth tells you to pursue acting full time, it is a pretty safe assumption that you may be pretty good at it. Since then, Washington as remained a mentor to Powell.
Tom Cruise is also one of his mentors - Ever since filming Top Gun: Maverick together, Tom Cruise has taken Powell under his wings and is teaching him everything he knows about being a movie star. So much so that Powell recently recounted in an interview with British GQ that Cruise sent him to a theater to watch a six hour “film school” video that Cruise put together for his close friends to pass on everything he knows about making movies. Powell expected to be in a crowd, but it turns out it was just him in an empty theater for six hours watching Cruise wax poetic about the cinema. It is clear that Cruise sees potential in Powell and I would have to imagine sees a bit of himself.
He says he won’t participate in Oscar bait films - This one is straight out of the Tom Cruise movie star playbook. Of course, we all know that Tom Cruise has been nominated for academy awards, but the key is that Tom doesn’t seek it out. He isn’t starring a particular movie because he thinks it has Oscar prospects or could win him a bronze statue. He stars in movies that he thinks will be quality films while still being commercially viable. Which is a HUGE difference between a movie star and a great actor. There are dozens of great actors throughout Hollywood, but only so many bankable movie stars that will get people to the theater consistently. Building good will with the general audience takes time and is not an easy thing to garner. Powell is taking the same approach. Does that mean he will never win a Oscar? Not necessarily. In fact, even though Tom Cruise wasn’t aiming for Oscars, he still has three acting nominations (and should have have a win for Jerry Maguire).
He has turned down Jurassic Park and Marvel roles - far too many of the young Hollywood stars are getting sucked up into the IP machine and taking on a role in some major Hollywood franchise. Doing so doesn’t mean you can’t be a movie star, it just makes it harder. When you sign up to do a franchise, you commit to making those films for 5-7 years if there are plans for 3 or 4 movies. On top of that, you run the risk of not being able to shake the character you played in that franchise. Look at someone like Chris Pratt - he has leveraged his franchise stardom into being in more franchises and animated movies, but when was the last time he was in an original movie? I would much prefer young stars not get sucked into the IP machine and focus on leveraging their stardom to make original movies. Tom Cruise is a good example of this and even when he did venture down the franchise road with Mission Impossible, he did it in a way where he still had control and say over what went on screen. Leading original movies that perform well in theaters is much harder today than it was in the 80s or 90s, but it is still possible. It just takes much more commitment, like saying no to Star Wars, Marvel, Jurassic Park, Fast and Furious, etc.
Box office success of Anyone But You - The success of “Anyone But You” was a wakeup call to the rest of Hollywood that the Glen Powell stardom (and Sydney Sweeney) was here about five years sooner than many thought. With a box office total of about $220 million on a reported budget of $25 million, “Anyone But You” turned out to be one of the most profitable movies of 2024 so far. And it kind of came out of nowhere. The last successful Rom-com in theaters was Crazy Rich Asians way back in 2018, which was at a very different time in theatrical movie going. Even the people at Sony wouldn’t have anticipated this much success for “Anyone Buy You” in their best projections.
No matter how you slice it, much of the success should be attributed to Powell and Sweeney’s viral marketing tactics. They turned a rom com that is just simply okay into a movie that became a must see phenomenon. That is movie stars doing what they do best. As the weeks go by and the 2024 box office gets bleaker by the week, the success of this film only gets more impressive.
He understands the necessity and importance of movie theaters - In an era where all of the best actors are taking big pay days to make second rate movies for streaming services, it is so great to see someone championing the importance of theatrical release. In an recent interview, Powell shared that every streaming service offered a crazy amount of money to get the rights to “Anyone But You”, but they refused to accept the offers because they knew it wouldn’t have the same cultural impact on a streamer that it did in theaters. Research backs this idea up. Even if a film doesn’t tell well at the box office, audiences still see it as a more important movie when it hits streaming than a direct to streaming movie that was never in theaters.
The unfortunate irony of this is that Netflix is only putting his upcoming film, “Hit Man” in theaters in a few cities prior to it releasing on the service. It is important to note that Powell had no real say in the matter. The hope for the film coming out of the Toronto International Film Festival last year was that a major studio would buy the movie before Netflix stepped in and won a bidding war. After the success of “Anyone Buy You” at the box office & with most studios dealing with major holes in the summer release calendar, you have to think that many will be kicking themselves on not acquiring this one and giving it a theatrical run.
He can steals scenes as a supporting character - The real test of someone becoming not only a great movie star, but a great actor in general is if they can steal a scene or a movie by only being in it for a few minutes. It is one thing to have the presence and gravitas to lead a movie, but what about when you only have a few minutes? Take Top Gun: Maverick for example. Ask anyone who has seen the movie and Hangman is one of the most memorable and crucial characters in the film. You would think he had half an hour of screen time. In reality, he was only screen for 4.5 minutes during the film. If you can have that amount of impact in less than 5 minutes, there is no denying that you’ve got the stuff. Another example of this is the 2016 Richard Linklater classic, “Everybody Wants Some”. Powell is part of an ensemble cast, yet you get to the end of the film and he is one of the few characters that actually stands out. Early in his career, Powell has already parlayed the success of small roles like these into larger, leading man roles.
Multiple collaborations with a renowned filmmaker - Another hallmark of a great actor is when one of the best living filmmakers wants to keep making films with you over and over again. Think Scorsese/DeNiro, Scorsese/Dicaprio, Spike Lee/Washington, Spielberg/Hanks, Tarantino/Jackson, Linklater/Hawke, Wes Anderson/Murray, or Lanthimos/Stone. Almost all of the great actors have a go to director that they regularly work with. At just 35 years old, Powell has already found his guy with Richard Linklater. “Hit Man” will mark their fourth collaboration after previous teaming up for “Appolo 10 1/2”, “Everyboday Wants Some”, and “Fast Food Nation”. Multiple collaborations with one filmmaker doesn’t guarantee success in Hollywood, but it certainly can’t hurt, especially when it is one as talented and influential as Richard Linklater.
Upcoming projects he is working on - If “Hit Man” and “Twisters” this summer won’t be enough to convince America that Glen Powell is a movie star, there are going to be plenty of other upcoming opportunities to hop on the train. His next projects include a legal drama alongside Laura Dern & Anthony Mackie from the director of “The Blind Side”, a revenger thriller from A24, Edgar Wright’s reimaging of the Stephen King novel and 1987 film, “The Running Man”, and he will star in the reimagining of Warren Beatty’s “Heaven Can Wait”. And those are just the confirmed projects at this point.
Well, if all of that isn’t enough to convince you that Powell is the next Tom Cruise, then buckle up and watch the next decade play out. To me, all of this is less about how big of a star he has the potential to be and more about how refreshing he is. In an era when most young up and coming stars get sucked into the IP machine of Marvel, Star Wars, or some other franchise, he isn’t trying to re-invent the wheel like so many others are. He is taking an old school approach to an industry that is in desperate need of new star power.
Will it work? Only time will tell, but given the people in his corner, it is hard to imagine it not succeeding to some degree.
Will he save movies? Probably isn’t possible for one person to save an entire industry. That said, if anyone were to give us a fighting chance, it would be a throwback movie star. And for that, I am along for the ride.
I Used To Be Funny Review (Directed by Ally Pankiw)
Premise - “Stand-up comedian Sam struggles with PTSD, and considers joining the search for a missing teenage girl she used to nanny.”
My thoughts - Dark dramedies are hard to pull off. In fact, they are probably up there with satire as one of the most difficult genres to land the plane. Layer on that the “dark” in this case are topics as heavy as depression, sexual assault, and PTSD, and you quickly realize that the film even being watchable is an act of brilliant filmmaking in its own right.
Given how much there is to tonally balance, “I Used To Be Funny” does surprisingly well at remaining genuine while still striking a balance between its heavy subject matter and witty humor. That is large part due to another knockout performance from rising star, Rachel Sennott. The film doesn’t work without her ability to blur the lines between the two. Sennott gets the unique opportunity to blend her humor from “Bottoms” and “Bodies, Bodies, Bodies” with the dramatic chops that she showed in “Shiva Baby”. To put it simply, she knocks it out of the park.
While first time director Ally Pankiw succeeds in authentically portraying emotions and the human condition, the narrative structure of the film causes it to fall flat at times. Specifically the first act relies heavily on flashbacks that feel out of place and a bit on the nose. The movie seesaws back and forth between the present day and the past, but by the time you fully realize where Sam’s trauma stems from, over 35 minutes of the film is already behind. These were crucial moments to continue building out the character and our understanding of her that felt squandered. Even once we do learn what has happened to Sam the flashback nature of the film causes you to just brace for seeing how it plays out, not focus on the actual character.
Despite the flaws, it is very much worth seeing for the ambition of the script, what Pankiw pulls off tonally, and the performance by Sennott. While I wouldn’t categorize “I Used To Be Funny” as an instant indie classic, I would say that thirty years from now (when Sennott has had an illustrious career in Hollywood) many will stumble upon this film and wonder how they missed it in 2024.
I am glad that I won’t be one of them.
Rating - 3/5
Where you can watch - The film will open in theaters in NYC on June 7th, in Los Angeles June 14th, and on digital June 18th.
Am I Okay? Review (Directed by Tig Notaro & Stephanie Allynne)
Premise - “Lucy and Jane have been best friends for most of their lives and think they know everything there is to know about each other. When Jane announces she`s moving to London, Lucy reveals a long held secret. As Jane tries to help Lucy, their friendship is thrown into chaos.”
My thoughts - I saw this all the way back at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival in January of 2022. While the film was delightful, it has been almost 2.5 years since the premier, so take anything I say on this one with a grain of salt.
I am a notorious fan of all things Dakota Johnson, but there is something about her portrayal of the naïve, charming, and imperfect Lucy that will warm even the coldest of hearts towards Johnson. It always feels monumental when she is given the chance to play a more comedic role and my goodness does she shine.
While the film is low stakes, it is infused with an authenticity that is smart, funny, & heartfelt. Every second of it’s cozy 1 hr. 26 minute run time splendidly portrays how friendships can fuel or hinder the journey that we are all on in life to find our true self.
Rating - 3.5/5
Where you can watch - Streaming on HBO Max starting on June 6th
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (Directed by George Miller)
Premise - The origin story of renegade warrior Furiosa before her encounter and team up with Mad Max.
My thoughts - George Miller follows up one of the greatest action movies of all time with a sprawling epic that introduces a grander scale and scope than we have ever seen in the Mad Max universe. While it doesn’t live up to the standard that Fury Road gave us as, “One of the greatest action movies of all time”, Furiosa can certainly stand on its own two legs as a great action film in its own right.
There are moments in Furiosa that are some of the best action scenes of the year, if not the decade. It is that good. Miller’s understanding and awareness of perspective remains one of my favorite things about this franchise. He never tries to pull one over on the audience by the way he films or edits the big action set pieces. You can see the whole thing and you know exactly where each character is in relation to one another, which is a rarity in most action movies that use surprise as a tactic to make fights seem more exciting than they really would be.
As great as the action is, narratively & even structurally the film falls apart a bit the deeper you get into it. It in some ways feels too long & at the same time doesn’t feel long enough. Another thing that hurts it is the pacing - Fury Road went at such a breakneck pace from start to finish that it will almost catch the audience off guard how slow the film is at times.
All in all, a good Mad Max movie is a great action movie compared to most other action movies out there.
Rating - 4/5
Where you can watch - In theaters across the world
That is all for now. Hope everyone enjoys Glen Powell in “Hit Man” on Netflix this Friday as much as I will!
As always, enjoy some great films until next time!
Aaron Nolan