Glen Powell ‘genuinely’ doesn’t ‘like’ politics in interviews

Glen Powell says he stays out of politics in interviews because he thinks it divides people, and he has blamed Paramount’s marketing layoffs for the failure of The Running Man. 

The actor made both comments in a new Esquire cover story.

“Over time, I realized that politics divide people,” Powell told the magazine. 

Read more: Glen Powell recalls ’embarrassing’ stunt in ‘The Running Man’

He said he doesn’t like the way political arguments play out, describing people trying to prove a point as the worst version of a conversation and adding that “I genuinely do not like the discourse.” 

He called engaging in politics “not presently possible” for him, but said he applauds those who fight for what they believe in. 

“If I were a political person, I would be talking about it,” he said, adding that his calling lies elsewhere.

Esquire notes that politics interests him even less now than before. 

His mother, Cyndy Powell, worked at the US Treasury Department in the Reagan administration, but Powell said current events were never discussed at the family dinner table, and he thanked God for that. 

His stance echoes that of Dwayne Johnson, who said in his own Esquire cover story earlier this year that he would no longer speak publicly about politics.

Powell also addressed the disappointing run of The Running Man, Edgar Wright’s adaptation, which made less than $70 million worldwide against a reported $110 million budget. 

He pointed to turmoil at Paramount, saying the studio laid off an entire marketing department a month before the film opened, in the middle of its merger. 

Those layoffs hit in late October 2025, just weeks before the November release.

The film followed a run of hits that included Top Gun: Maverick, Anyone But You and Twisters. 

Powell’s next film, the A24 thriller How to Make a Killing, also underperformed, taking around $21 million worldwide. 

“There were a lot of issues with that,” he said.

Reports at the time of the Running Man release said staff at the studio were in limbo as job cuts loomed, and someone close to the production told Deadline the result should not be read as proof that Powell can’t open a film.

Read more: Glen Powell reveals what makes Michelle Randolph relationship work