NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 11: Glen Powell attends Columbia Pictures’ “Anyone But You” New York … [+]
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“Hollywood is the Matrix,” Matthew McConaughey once told Glen Powell—which explains why the (lone) star lives in his home state of Texas instead of Los Angeles.
Powell’s film career kicked off in 2003 and along the way he’s appeared in such hit films as The Expendables 3, Everybody Wants Some!! and Hidden Figures.
The Austin, Texas, native’s career rocketed into the stratosphere in 2022, though, when he played the Iceman-like Naval aviator Lt. Jake “Hangman” Seresin opposite Tom Cruise’s Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Top Gun: Maverick.
Another major hit followed in 2023 when Powell starred opposite Sydney Sweeney in the rom-com Anyone but You, and he’ll soon be starring opposite Adria Arjona in a Netflix original movie, the action crime comedy Hit Man.
In addition to that, Powell is a producer on the upcoming Prime Video documentary The Blue Angels, and is starring opposite Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anthony Ramos in the big-budget action thriller Twisters in July.
In short, Powell’s career is on fire in Hollywood—but Hollywood is not where the actor wants to be. In an interview Wednesday with The Hollywood Reporter, Powell explained why he’s moved home to Texas, where he lives about a half-hour from his parents.
Powell told THR that fellow Texan Matthew McConaughey once shared with him an observation of why he lives in his home state instead of Tinseltown—which he relates to the virtual world of a Keanu Reeves sci-fi classic from 1999.
“He’s like, ‘Hollywood is the Matrix, man. You plug in and it’s all fake world,’” Powell told THR while imitating McConaughey’s distinctive drawl. “He’s like, ‘Then I go to Austin, and I unplug. It’s all real. Those are my friends, that’s my family, my actions matter there.’”
In short, Powell added, McConaughey’s right about Hollywood.
“If you’re here, you live in the Matrix all the time, there’s no separation of those worlds,” Powell told THR. “And for me, especially as my parents get older and my niece and nephew are growing up, I want a separation of those worlds.”
Powell Is Being Choosy About Future Projects
While Glen Powell has earned his pick of various high-profile projects in Hollywood, he’s carefully proceeding in his career regarding which films he decides to get involved with.
Powell told THR that he won’t take part in an Oscar-bait or Marvel movies, and he’s already passed on scripts for an update of the Bourne Identity and a reboot of the Jurassic World film franchise. Oddly enough, Powell voiced the recurring role of Dave on Netflix’s animated series Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous from 2020-2022.
As for why he said no to the Jurassic World film reboot, Powell told the trade publication that he simply felt like his role didn’t contribute enough to it.
“Jurassic is one of my favorite movies. It’s one of the things I’ve wanted to do my whole life,” Powell told THR. “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.”
Powell noted that while “the script’s great” for the Jurassic World reboot, he simply passed because he wanted to do what’s best for the audience and ultimately, for himself.
“The movie’s going to f—king kill. It’s not about that,” Powell told THR. “It’s about choosing where you’re going to make an audience happy and where you’re going to make yourself happy.”
The Blue Angels begins streaming Friday on Prime Video, while Hit Man—which reunites Powell with his Everybody Wants Some!! director Richard Linklater—premieres on Netflix on June 7.
Twisters, meanwhile, opens in theaters July 19.