Glen Powell Reveals the Advice Tom Cruise Gave Him While Filming ‘Top Gun: Maverick’
14.12.2022 - 19:35
/ usmagazine.com
Learning from a pro. While reflecting on his Top Gun: Maverick role, Glen Powell credited Tom Cruise for helping him elevate his performance as Jake “Hangman” Seresin.
During Variety’s “Actors on Actors,” which was published on Tuesday, December 13, Powell, 34, opened up to Kate Hudson about the advice he received from Cruise, 60, about sticking the landing on screen.
“Sometimes you can fall into the trap of wanting to be liked on camera,” the Texas native shared. “And in a movie like this, where you know there’s going to be a lot of eyes on it, you don’t want to be Draco Malfoy.”
According to Powell, Cruise suggested that he lean into being the antihero of the movie. “For the ending to work, you have to completely lean into that. Everybody else in the movie is questioning their own ability,” the actor recalled hearing from his costar. “You’re the only guy that’s not questioning it. So, if there’s any sort of apology in anything you say, the movie doesn’t work. Lean into the douchebaggery of it all.”
Powell later joked that he keeps “getting cast as a douchebag” in projects, adding, “Even the thing I did with [Oliver Hudson, Kate’s brother] in Scream Queens, where I’m a super douche.”
Earlier this year, the Set It Up star appeared in Top Gun: Maverick alongside Cruise, Miles Teller, Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly and Jon Hamm. Powell also worked on the aviation film titled Devotion, which included Jonathan Majors, Daren Kagasoff and Joe Jonas.
The Scream Queens alum praised Cruise for his support when it came to both endeavors.
“I found that [Devotion] book and developed that for five years, so when I missed out on the Rooster role, the conversation I had with Tom was, ‘Hey, I didn’t get this role, but I actually have a naval