Glen Powell Says Movie Leads Don’t Have to Be Like Batman Actors

Glen Powell recently reflected on how Chris Pratt’s breakout role in Guardians of the Galaxy changed Hollywood’s perception of leading men. In a new interview, he explained that Pratt’s lighter, more buoyant style opened doors for actors like himself. Powell also highlighted how this shift helped him move beyond typecast roles and find his place in the industry.

Glen Powell on how Chris Pratt changed the game for leading heroes

Reflecting on Chris Pratt’s 2014 breakout role as Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy, Glen Powell told GQ that the performance “really helped — not being brooding or dark.”

He explained, “Like, I’m not Christian Bale. Christian Bale has… gravitas and a weight, and [Robert] Pattinson had his thing. And when Pratt kind of appeared on the scene, where he was doing things that were a little more silly and buoyant, that’s where I feel most at home. And that’s where I feel like I had a gear that is a necessary flavor in terms of Hollywood, and not a gear that a lot of guys can play.”

At the time of Guardians’ release, Powell was still getting minor supporting roles in movies such as The Expendables 3. He recalled that casting directors mostly saw him as “the jock or the fraternity guy or the very vanilla next-door-neighbor vibes.” With Pratt’s rise, Powell found an opening for actors with athleticism and humor. This contrasted with the moody archetypes associated with Robert Pattinson in Twilight or Christian Bale in The Dark Knight.

Powell’s rise followed roles in Everybody Wants Some!! and Hidden Figures, leading to his breakout as Hangman in Top Gun: Maverick in 2022. By 2023, he headlined Hit Man and Anyone But You, which earned $220 million globally. He then featured in Twisters and will lead Edgar Wright’s The Running Man, set for release in November 2025.

For The Running Man, Powell leaned on Tom Cruise’s mentorship, training intensely to portray Ben Richards. “I went from going, ‘Oh, I’m an actor on a movie,’ to ‘I’m a high-performance athlete,’ ” Powell said. “And I’m just very lucky that I have someone like Tom, who I could literally go, ‘Hey, what do I do to survive something?’”

Originally reported by Anubhav Chaudhry on SuperHeroHype.

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