10 Movies we want to see Glen Powell in

Glen Powell is exploding on the Hollywood stage and we at HATM are here for it. If you don’t know Powell’s name by now, give it time. Besides, you’ve probably already seen him as the arrogant yet hero Hangman in Top Gun: Maverick, the heartbroken lead in Anyone But You, or the incredibly fun college professor turned phony assassin in Hitman.

You remember this guy.

Powell obviously has thing for legacy sequels. In addition to Top Gun: Maverick, you can find him in theaters in Twisters right now.¹ This fall he’ll start work as the lead in the Running Man remake, taking the place of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Last week reports broke that Powell was in talks to lead the Backdraft remake. And go ahead and pencil him in to star with Miles Teller and Tom Cruise in another Top Gun film.

So that got us thinking: what remakes or legacy sequels do we want to see Powell in next? The man has range, but where can he go? Below are ten films I want to see Powell in next.

10. 12 Angry Men

    

    The original opened in 1957 starring Henry Fonda as Juror 8, the lone juror who initially doubted the guilt of a young man guilty of murder. The movie featured some fiery exchanges between Fonda’s juror and Lee Cobb’s Juror 3. Pencil Powell in in place of Fonda and have him spar with a really talented character like Bill Camp (The Queen’s Gambit). Here’s Powell’s first shot at an Oscar.

9. Three Men and a Baby

   

Let’s give Powell something fun to do while talking about how the roles of fathers have changed in the nearly forty years since the original came out. I don’t like the Guttenberg part for Powell, which leaves us the part of either Ted Danson’s lothario or Tom Selleck’s guy who gets the girl. I’m thinking either would work, but perhaps the Danson role opposite Jonah Hill (Guttenberg) and Michael B. Jordan (Selleck).

8. Tin Cup

   

Look, golf is stupid. But Powell needs a sports film and I think he’s got the build for it. Let’s sub Powell in for Kevin Costner’s Roy McAvoy and see what happens. I don’t know who we go for in place of Rene Russo, but I’m leaning Rachel McAdams. Give this one a couple years for Powell to get into his 40s.

7. Once Upon A Time in the West

   

Horizon may be failing right now but that doesn’t mean the Western is dead. And Powell is gonna need one for his resume as well as a full-on villain. I say let’s have him inhabit another Peter Fonda role, this time as one of the most ruthless men ever on screen. We’ll need someone unconventionally handsome and rugged as Harmonica and I’m struggling on this one. Help me out here in the comments below.

6. Summer School

Powell in the Mark Harmon role as a lazy teacher trying to make ends meet? Let’s go.

5. Deadline U.S.A.

   

The original had Humphrey Bogart as the editor of a failing newspaper trying to take down a gangster while keeping his paper afloat. (Charlie Pierce actually came on the pod to talk about the original, which you can find here.)Put Powell in Bogey’s place and have a commentary on the role of journalism in the second quarter of the 21st century.

4. Smokey and the Bandit

   

Powell’s charisma makes this almost the most obvious choice on the list. Put in a Trans-Am, partner him again with Adria Arjona in the Sally Fields role (their chemistry in Hitman was insane) and let’s have Danny McBride as his buddy Cledus. I don’t know what they’re smuggling, but I want in.

3. Touch of Evil

   

One thing Powell is missing is a good old fashioned lawyer role. This move resurrects Charleton Heston noble attorney (yes they exist) from 1958. We need Powell in a courtroom drama. This delivers. We also need someone older to portray the corrupt police captain. Enter Denzel Washington. Scene.

2. One Good Cop

   

   But we also need Glen Powell the Detective. No shortage of those roles. I was gonna go back to the film noir era of the 1950s—-no shortage there. But one actor Powell reminds me of is Michael Keaton. I like One Good Cop here. It’s the story of a detective who assumes responsibility for his partner’s family after he is killed. Keaton is phenomenal at going back and forth between comedy and drama in the same film and I think Powell has it in him.

1. Indiana Jones

   

Just hear me out. We’ve been having this conversation for a while now. You can’t remake Indy in the era. Frankly you can’t have anyone inhabit the role at all (Solo taught us that). But what you can do is carry the series forward. If you were so bold, you can bring Henry Jones, Jr.’s descendants forward in time to today. (Maybe Mutt had a kid before he went off to Vietnam?) Either way, you’ll never match Harrison Ford’s gruff and tired archaeologist, but Powell looks like he could be Indy’s great grandson. He’s got the comic chops and his look is close enough to be believable. Can he do the dramatic aspect of Indy’s family line? I think so. I think with Powell we’ve finally found an actor worthy of the whip and fedora.

So what do you think? Let us know in the comments below.

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But that’s not all. Coming tomorrow is our podcast with Kate Carpenter about the new film starring Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones, Twisters. If you haven’t seen it, run to the theater and do so. We recorded the pod on Sunday and talk about the history of tornadoes and tornado chasing before digging deep into the film. So if you worried about ruining the movie, don’t be. You can go ahead and listen when the episode drops. In the meantime, here’s a little taste of what’s to come. In this clip, Kate talks about the linkages between climate change and the spread of tornado alley:

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One last thing- usually I like to plug the HATM Podcast here but I just think the world of Kate and what she’s doing. So if you’d like a different take on history, check out her phenomenal work, Drafting the Past. It’s a dive into the creation of history and a lot of our guests have also been on her show, so you can get a different feel for their work as well. You can find Kate’s podcast right here:

https://draftingthepast.com/

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Hey, I hope wherever you are that you’re doing well. And there’s always a space for you here at HATM. Thank you for being part of this community.

J

1. Go see this movie. It’s a blast.