Taylor Sheridan had already proved his worth as a writer-director when Glen Powell made a breakthrough in his career as a leading man. The success of his Oscar-nominated movie Hell or High Water and shows like Yellowstone and its spin-offs showed the industry that he knows exactly what the audiences like to watch – a good story, even if it’s from a genre that is considered long dead.
Similarly for Glen Powell, he made a breakthrough with his role as Hangman in the Tom Cruise starrer Top Gun: Maverick (2022). His performance in the movie was loved by critics and fans alike, and soon he was making splashes on the silver screen as the leading hero for movies like Anyone But You, Hit Man, and most recently, Twisters.
Glen Powell and Taylor Sheridan Have Similar Views About The Industry
When Taylor Sheridan wrote Hell or High Water (2016) and then came back with Yellowstone two years later, the market for the Western genre was thought to be dead. Very few people, if any, were working on Westerns, but Sheridan was there to change the landscape. In between, he also made another movie called Wind River in 2017, a neo-Western crime-thriller starring Jeremy Renner.
All his projects turned out to be successful, with commercial success following critical acclaim, even though Westerns were supposed to be a thing of the bygone era. Talking about Yellowstone, Sheridan once revealed how a lot of networks passed on the idea saying ‘Nobody’s doing TV Westerns.’ But the creator knew what his project was and kept knocking on doors until he found a breakthrough. He said (via CBS News):
Look, anytime that Hollywood says a genre is dead, it’s because they made a bunch of bad movies about it.
And looks like he is not the only one who believes in this notion, as Glen Powell too made a very similar statement recently. Talking to The Telegraph, he said:
One of the things I’ve realized recently is that when studios say a genre is dead, all it means is there’s a huge opportunity, because a market is not being served.
As both reiterate, it is not the genre, but the story that makes or breaks a project. A genre is not dead if good movies and TV shows come out of it, as proved by Sheridan in the case of Westerns, and Powell, when it comes to romantic comedies. As Powell said:
My belief is there’s no problem facing Hollywood that can’t be solved by a really good movie.
Before his hit movie opposite Sydney Sweeney, Glen Powell too heard similar sentiments about the rom-com genre, saying they were done for. But his movie, Anyone But You, proved that a genre is not really gone until people stop making projects on it.
Glenn Powell Turned Down a Role in the Jurassic Park Reboot
Jurassic Park is getting a reboot, and we already have confirmation that Scarlett Johansson has been roped in for a leading part. David Keopp, who wrote the screenplay for the first two movies in the franchise, is back for the upcoming feature, and the directorial chair will be helmed by Godzilla fame Gareth Edwards. But recently it was revealed by Glen Powell that he too was a candidate for the movie, but he turned down the role. Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, he said:
It’s one of the things I’ve wanted to do my whole life… I’m not doing that movie because I read the script and I immediately was like, my presence in this movie doesn’t help it.
He further added:
The script’s great. The movie’s going to f—ing kill. It’s not about that. It’s about choosing where you’re going to make an audience happy and where you’re going to make yourself happy.
Even though the original Jurassic Park (1993) movie was one of his “favorite movies,” He didn’t want to be a part of the movie just to become a part of the franchise.
Anyone But You is available for streaming on Netflix.
