Since accompanying Tom Cruise in his aviation ventures in Top Gun: Maverick, the highest-grossing film of Cruise’s career, Glen Powell has garnered wider recognition following his acting prowess. Moreover, the actor once again made headlines after jumping onto the rom-com landscape with Sydney Sweeney in Anyone but You, the kind of film that is a rarity these days.
But after the rom-com, the actor is back to what he loves doing the most, aviation, and he has the Mission: Impossible star’s influence to thank for it.
Glen Powell on Tom Cruise’s Influence on His Love for Aviation
Since his childhood, the Top Gun Hangman has always had a keen interest in aviation, and thanks to his time with Tom Cruise, his love for it only ameliorated. Glen Powell, who is behind the recent Amazon documentary The Blue Angels, which delves into the training of the Navy and Marine flight exhibition team, stressed after Top Gun 2, he never looked “at the sky the same way again”.
He said (via DiscussingFilm):
What happened to me after Top Gun: Maverick and Devotion was that I never looked at the sky the same way again. Anytime a plane flies over, you wonder what it is, who’s flying it, and where it’s going. It’s also really impossible to be around Tom Cruise and not fall in love with aviation.
Powell further stressed that his time with Tom Cruise, who bears a license for helicopters, fighter jets, private planes, and commercial flights, was one of the “most incredible in my entire life”.
I got to live on naval bases and be around the best pilots in the world. When you’re around the best of the best, it’s an infectious thing that happens.
As a result, Powell was instantly in when the actor was asked about joining Boss Wooldridge, the former commanding officer of The Blue Angels, to put a documentary together.
Glen Powell Initially Hesitated to Play Hangman in Top Gun: Maverick
While Powell had the time of his life working with Tom Cruise, the actor wasn’t initially onboard with the character of Hangman, as he considered it as “Navy Draco Malfoy”.
Considering Powell initially auditioned for the role of Rooster, which he lost to Miles Teller, the actor needed a little bit of convincing to play Hangman.
Reflecting on his decision, the actor stressed it was a leap of faith. He told GQ:
He was there to add conflict to Rooster’s character, which is a good thing, but he wasn’t three-dimensional and he had no payoff. I didn’t know why he existed. It was a leap of faith.
Fortunately, his intuitions proved to be wrong, as, in hindsight, the actor expressed he couldn’t imagine missing out on the role, which ameliorated his love for aviation.
Top Gun: Maverick is available to stream on Paramount Plus.
The Blue Angels is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
