Glen Powell Credits Chris Pratt for Changing Hollywood’s Leading Men

LOS ANGELES, CA — Glen Powell has praised Chris Pratt for changing the landscape of Hollywood leading men. In a new GQ magazine cover story, Powell said Pratt’s breakout role in Marvel’s 2014 film Guardians of the Galaxy marked a shift in how studios viewed male stars, moving away from the dominance of “brooding or dark” actors such as Christian Bale and Robert Pattinson.

“I remember when Chris Pratt broke out in Guardians of the Galaxy,” Powell recalled. “There’s no doubt it really helped — not being brooding or dark. Like, I’m not Christian Bale. Christian Bale has a gravitas and a weight, and 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.”

Powell had a small part in The Expendables 3 the same year Guardians was released. He said Pratt’s example showed Hollywood that “sillier” and more “buoyant” performances could succeed. He now sees himself as part of that change, adding: “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.”

Now considered one of Hollywood’s rising stars, Powell has appeared in Anyone but You and Twisters, and will headline Edgar Wright’s The Running Man in November. He plays Ben Richards, a contestant on a game show who must survive for 30 days to win $1 billion.

Powell trained extensively for the role. He spoke with his mentor and co-star from Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise, who advised him to treat the action role as a physical job. Powell said, “I knew that based on the Stephen King book, [my character] Ben Richards was a tank. I was like, ‘Okay, I got to be a bit of a weapon.’”

He noted that much of his training focused on building functional muscle so he could perform the physical demands of the role. “I went from going, ‘Oh, I’m an actor on a movie,’ to ‘I’m a high-performance athlete.’”

Powell also revealed a humorous moment on set when Cruise teased him about his unique coffee concoction. “You look like you’re drinking a stool sample. What is that?” Powell said Cruise remarked as he drank his mushroom-infused coffee.

Fans can look forward to seeing Powell in The Running Man, which hits theaters on November 14.