Glen Powell is one of the hottest stars in Hollywood right now, but before his breakout success in Top Gun: Maverick that wasn’t exactly the case. In a new interview conducted by fellow Texan Matthew McConaughey, Powell admits that not that long ago he was broke, though he never let the money dictate what roles he decided to take.
While Glen Powell is probably commanding some pretty impressive salaries as his star has been on the rise, it’s taken some work for him to get there. Talking with McConaughey for Interview Magazine, Powell talks about the difficulty that came with choosing the roles he wanted to do, rather than the ones that would have made him more money, because he wanted to do things “right” even when he really could have used the money.
He talks specifically about his small role as John Glenn in the drama Hidden Figures. He was paid well enough for the part, despite Powell feeling he "ruined" the movie, but as it was the only work he did that year, he was still only scraping by. Still, he did it because he wanted to be part of the movie, and he wanted to send the right message. Powell explained…
I had a small role in Hidden Figures, but I had such a good feeling about that movie and what it would become. It’s that point in your career where you’re barely getting by. I think I made $35,000 on that movie, and it was the only movie I made that year. There’s a lot of things I could have done in terms of guest spots, but basically, I made a decision to use my old UT economics class, which is just supply and demand, and take supply out of it and hope demand would follow. Just letting the town know I’m not going to take those things that are the obvious choices that guys take at this moment in their career.
Glen Powell clearly had an idea of the sort of actor he wanted to be in Hollywood, and for him that dictated not only the jobs that he took but also the jobs that he turned down. But at the end of the day, everybody needs money. Powell himself admits that taking that path as hard because he was broke, but it was important to him that he make the right movies, even if it wasn’t easy. Powell continued…
That was the hardest part for me, because I was dead broke. But I remembered at that moment trying to be discerning and not go down the wrong path.
Maybe taking those other jobs wouldn’t have changed the trajectory of his career, but what is clear is that the choices he made did get him here. His appearance in Top Gun: Maverick made him a bonafide movie star. He’s got one of the best movies on Netflix right now in Hit Man. He’ll appear this summer in the long-awaited sequel to Twister. He’s able to choose the roles he wants, he turned out a part in the new Jurassic World movie, which likely would have been a pretty impressive payday, but being broke probably isn’t going to be a problem for him for a very long time.
