Glen Powell wants more from Hollywood for American audiences.
“Having grown up in and around Texas, I’m aware there are vast parts of America that have been underserved in terms of movies that they want to see,” he told The Telegraph this week.
“You sort of have New York and Los Angeles making the decisions about what gets made, but there’s a whole lot more audience out there you need to think about.”
Powell was born and bred in Texas and recently moved back to Austin after 15 years in Los Angeles to be closer to family and finish his degree at the University of Texas.
GLEN POWELL’S PARENTS CRASH TEXAS MOVIE SCREENING TO TROLL HIM
Glen Powell told The Telegraph he feels there are “vast parts of America that have been underserved in terms of movies that they want to see.” (Dave Benett/WireImage)
He told The Hollywood Reporter in May that Matthew McConaughey inspired the move, saying, “He’s like, ‘Hollywood is the Matrix, man. You plug in and it’s all fake world.’’
Powell continued, “He’s like, ‘Then I go to Austin, and I unplug. It’s all real. Those are my friends, that’s my family, my actions matter there.’ And he’s right.”
“If you’re here, you live in the Matrix all the time, there’s no separation of those worlds,” he said of Hollywood.
The 35-year-old has been slowly but surely dominating the industry over the past few years, starring in films like “Top Gun: Maverick” with Tom Cruise, and last year’s “Hit Man” and “Anyone But You.”
Glen Powell, left, starred alongside Tom Cruise in the wildly successful 2022 film “Top Gun: Maverick.” (Han Myung-Gu/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)
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“Anyone But You” was hailed as a revival of the rom-com genre, something that had been considered “dead” by much of Hollywood.
“One of the things that I’ve realized recently is that when studios say a genre is dead, all it means is that there’s a huge opportunity, because a market is not being served,” Powell told the outlet.
“The business stopped making romantic comedies, apparently, because romantic comedies weren’t making any money in theatres. But my belief is there’s no problem facing Hollywood that can’t be solved by a really good movie.”
The film ended up taking home $220 million at the worldwide box office.
Glen Powell starred with Sydney Sweeney in 2023 rom-com “Anyone But You.” (Mark Von Holden/NBC via Getty Images)
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Powell next stars in “Twisters,” the sequel to the 1996 hit “Twister” that starred Helen Hunt and the late Bill Paxton.
In his interview with The Telegraph, Powell expressed that “Twisters” is not any kind of message movie about the climate.
“First and foremost, because if you’re telling people what to think, you’re not allowing them to feel. You can’t put people into that heightened state if they’re thinking, ‘Hmm, do I or do I not agree with this message?’” he said.
Glen Powell said “Twisters” does not have anything to do with climate change. (Monica Schipper/FilmMagic)
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“Of course, you might want to have conversations about those other things later,” Powell added, “but that’s not what our movie is about. It’s man and woman versus nature; finding out who we really are in the face of the storm.”
“Twisters” is in theaters on Friday, July 19.
Fox News Digital’s Ashley Hume contributed to this report.
