Glen Powell recalls avoiding ‘picture’ with ‘canceled’ actor

Glen Powell is opening up about the tricky side of Hollywood parties and the weight of cancel culture. 

During an appearance on Jake Shane’s Therapuss podcast, the actor shared a story about an awkward run-in with a celebrity who had recently been “cancelled.”

Powell, who is currently promoting Hulu’s upcoming comedy series Chad Powers and Paramount’s action movie The Running Man, avoided naming the individual but explained how uncomfortable the situation became. 

“I was at a party and there was somebody [there] that had basically been on the ropes in terms of sort of getting cancelled,” he said. 

“This person had made some of my favorite movies and I was like, ‘Oh, this is great.’ He came up and he said, ‘Nice to meet you.’ I was like, ‘Oh, dude. Such a big fan.’ And then a photographer said, ‘Hey, can we take a picture of you guys.’”

That’s when the moment turned tense. Powell recalled quickly realizing the potential fallout of being photographed with the actor. 

“This person was recently cancelled and it was not good,” he admitted. 

“I was a fan of their work, but not a fan of their choices. So I was kind of just being nice. But then, when they wanted to take a picture with you, I realized very quickly — I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know if this is a good idea.’” 

He added that the celebrity seemed to notice his hesitation. 

“I realized that this guy, his face is toxic. Going out into the world, people are having a visceral reaction to this person in terms of the bad choice they’ve made.”

The actor used the experience to reflect on cancel culture more broadly and how it ties into his new role. 

In Chad Powers, Powell stars as Russ Holliday, a quarterback who gets cancelled before reinventing himself by disguising as a new character to play for a struggling Southern football team. 

“Russ Holiday is just a guy who made a mistake, he’s not a bad guy,” Powell said. “Some of these other people who get cancelled, they should lie where they’re shot… In today’s day and age, cancel culture is just a thing where the world doesn’t let you forget your mistakes. With phones, with TikTok, with Instagram, so many people make mistakes and the world doesn’t let you forget.”

For Powell, the heart of the show lies in how people respond to failure. 

“I found it to be interesting how people react to those moments. Do they double down, do they take accountability, do they believe in conspiracy theories? Just having a character learning to say ‘I’m sorry’ is a really beautiful thing.”

The six-episode Hulu series, inspired by Eli Manning’s 2022 ESPN+ sketch, also gave Powell the chance to work under the guidance of his longtime mentor Tom Cruise.

To transform into his alter ego Chad Powers, the actor underwent prosthetic makeup, and he credits Cruise for helping him navigate the process. 

“Tom was extremely helpful in helping to not go down the wrong path in terms of the prosthetics,” Powell told The Hollywood Reporter. 

“He was, as is with a lot in my life, he was my first call… He really kind of pointed us in the right direction to make sure he was really gonna work.”

With Chad Powers on the way and The Running Man in the pipeline, Powell seems to be balancing comedy, action, and sharp observations on Hollywood culture, all while keeping his own lessons from real-life encounters front and center.

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