In a couple of weeks, a brand-new Glen Powell movie is going to hit and likely dominate theaters. It has all the makings of a big hit with audiences: Glen Powell, Edgar Wright, and Stephen King. 2025 has been the year for King adaptations, and Powell is a burgeoning star. The dystopian action thriller The Running Man will feature plenty of stunts, which is why Powell went to an old friend for advice on how to handle things.
Glen Powell Went to Tom Cruise for Advice
Don’t expect Glen Powell to be hanging off a flying airplane or diving into a submerged submarine like Tom Cruise did in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, but do expect Powell to be doing a lot of his own stunts in The Running Man.
Powell seems to be studying from the book of Cruise. He said (via National News Desk) of doing legitimate stunts without CGI involved, “It really sells it because if the audience knows that you are in peril, there is an inherent investment. I believe you have to give the audience their value in the ticket. If people are actively going to the [cinema], getting a babysitter, maybe doing dinner, you’ve got to justify that ticket price.”
He went on to say that is what Cruise always preaches. “You have to have skin on the line. If they’re showing up for you, you’ve got to show up for them,” he added. That’s why, he said, he called Cruise immediately once he landed the role of Ben Richards. After Wright cast him and Stephen King confirmed the plan for his book’s adaptation, he picked up the phone for Cruise.
“I said, ‘Dude, you’ve been doing this for decades.’ He has picked up every trick in the book. And he’s so generous, I thought I was going to talk to him for 10 minutes. He stayed on the phone for two hours plus. He’s like, ‘Tell me some of the stunts you’re doing.’ I said, ‘OK, I’m jumping off exploding bridges, falling off roofs,’” Powell said.
Cruise went pretty in-depth with his advice, telling him how and when it’s best to film running scenes, which, given the name of the movie, are going to happen pretty often. “Don’t do any sprinting shots at five in the morning. Your body’s going to be out of whack, and you’ll get hurt. They’re always going to do a wetdown at night,” Cruise told Powell. He went straight into practical tips, with Cruise not even bothering with platitudes or surface-level ideas.
The advice even ranged into the stuff behind the camera. Powell is in front of it, but with the action star’s advice, the overall product might get better. “He goes, ‘If you’re hanging 11 stories up, make sure people see how high you are. Make sure the shot reflects depth and dimension. You are selling the fact that you are doing these things,’” Powell concluded.
Powell and Cruise met on the set of Top Gun: Maverick, where Powell played a hothead pilot under Cruise who had to learn to work in a team and shed that persona to ensure the success of the mission. But in doing so, he learned a whole lot about action filmmaking and seems to have developed a lasting friendship with Cruise.
Conclusion
Tom Cruise is arguably the last true movie star, but Glen Powell seems bent on transforming himself into that. He’s taking on roles like Cruise and adopting a lot of the same ideologies when it comes to acting and making movies. They both seem to have a genuine love of the art, and it often bleeds into the product.
