Glen Powell is a better man than me. My paranoia would get the best of me.
During his promo run for his new film Hit Man, the Texan turned Hollywood superstar reveals to British GQ Hype a gnarly prank Tom Cruise pulled off. The two are flying back to London after they finished reshoots for Top Gun: Maverick. Cruise is taking his role seriously, going above and beyond like that. "Tom goes, 'Oh no, oh no,' and he starts dropping the helicopter over London," Powell retells. "I was like, 'Am I about to be the unnamed guy that dies with Tom in a smoking hole in the middle of London?'
There's a playful sense of jealousy to him too because he believes he could've been Cruise at one point. Clearly, he has enough gusto to own a helicopter in the first place, let alone pilot it. "He has a helicopter and he's flying actual jets. If I have to pop over to New York or Texas, in this SR-22, it'll take me forever," the Austin actor jokes.
Powell Calls Cruise His Mentor
Regardless of the terrifying prank, Powell still regards Cruise with an abundance of love. They initially connect when the actor is auditioning for Top Gun: Maverick to play co-lead as 'Rooster.' When he loses out to Miles Teller for the role, the Anyone But You star deflates and nearly walks away from the project. None of the other roles catches his eye.
However, Cruise insists he stays, and the role for Hangman falls in Powell's lap. "[Tom and I] sat down for a couple hours and talked about his life and his career and how he chooses movies, and how he develops roles and those sort of things," he tells People Magazine in 2022. "It was really a series of those conversations that convinced me that this could be a role that could actually be exciting, that I could have a little bit of creative license. I could make it my own and make something that could be really special."
It's Cruise's commitment to the project and to Glen that kept him on board. "And I have to give Tom credit, a lot of times people just try to get you on the hook to get you in a movie and none of the promises are fulfilled," he expresses. "But he fulfilled every single one of those promises. And I'm really proud of the movie and I'm proud of my role in it."
