Glen Powell Recalls His 'Darkest Moments' in Hollywood Before Becoming a Household Name: 'You Have to Lie to Yourself'

The road to fame was not always easy for Glen Powell.

While talking to Vanity Fair for Hollywood Issue 2025, Twisters star, 36, spoke about the early days of his career.

“As a struggling actor, there’s no harder place to live than to be in Hollywood where nothing is happening,” he said. “The currency of that city is how relevant you are and what your last job was. It makes you oppressively self-conscious.”

The Everything but you The actor then revealed that sometimes the only way to get through those uncertain times was to “lie to yourself”.

“Even in the darkest moments in that city, when really nothing was happening to me, you have to lie to yourself, at least a little bit, and act like this is the chapter in the story where things just happen.” it’s not going right,” he explained. “You have to believe in the Hollywood legends of people you admire, people you’re chasing, who also had long periods of hunger.”

Glen Powell’s 10 Hottest Moments in 2024

Powell also noted that many people outside the industry don’t realize how difficult it can be to even get an audition, let alone land a role.

“People say, ‘Oh man, auditioning must be hard.’ And I say: ‘No, it’s an audition luxury.‘ ”

“Finding an agent, finding anybody to talk to you at a goddamn party, having enough money to pay for headshots, those are the things nobody talks about,” he continued.

Glen Powell at a special screening of ‘Twisters’ in Oklahoma City on July 15, 2024.

Brett Deering/Getty

He added: “An audition makes you feel like you’re at a party. You have jumped the velvet rope. Maybe you can’t afford a drink at a party, but you’re at it, you can taste it. But so often in Hollywood, you’re outside of that velvet rope most of the time. Most of the time the bouncer won’t even let you anywhere near it.”

Now that it is Hit Man star is one of Hollywood’s most sought-after leading men, he admits he has to consider a whole new set of variables — especially how to feel creatively fulfilled while entertaining an audience.

“I try to think ‘Audience first’ and not ‘Me first.’ “, he said, adding, “What does the audience want to see? How can I fit into a role that really challenges what I do, where I don’t fit into any rhythm that feels too familiar or too monotonous? Do you know what I mean?”

“There was always that phrase, ‘One for me, one for them,'” he continued. “I just don’t agree with that idea either. I think it can be anything for them, and it can be anything for you, and you just have to be very thoughtful about what you’re a part of.”

Glen Powell at A Toast to Texas on May 16, 2024 in Austin, Texas.

Chris Saucedo/Getty

During the interview, Powell also explained that his “audience first” mentality extends to press tours, admitting that he and his Everything but you Costar Sydney Sweeny, 27, was aware that bringing flirty chemistry to red carpets and interviews would only help the success of their film as a whole, despite both being involved with other people.

“I think what people forget with the press tour is that it’s its own sense of fun. I don’t think it’s two-faced,” he said.

Glen Powell admits he and Sydney Sweeney were sympathetic to romance rumors for the market Anyone but you: ‘It worked’

Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney at the premiere of ‘Anyone But You’ in New York.

John Lamparski/WireImage

“For TwistersI had the best time because I was literally going to live in a world of trucks, and tornadoes, and the South, and country music, and all these different things where I was like, ‘This is authentically me,'” he continued “Shooting beers on stage with Luke Combs is a journalistic question, but it’s also something I do best.”

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It’s in May Top Gun: Maverick actor revealed that after speaking with actor Matthew McConaughey, he made the decision to leave his home of 15 years in LA and return to his roots in Austin, Texas.

While talking to The Hollywood ReporterPowell recalled McConaughey telling him, ‘Hollywood is the Matrix, man. You plug in and it’s all a fake world,” He says, “Then I go to Austin and unplug. Everything is real. Those are my friends, that’s my family, that’s where my actions matter.’ ”

“And he’s right,” Powell said, “if you’re here [in Hollywood]you live in the Matrix all the time, there is no separation of those worlds. And I, especially as my parents get older and my niece and nephew grow up, I want the separation of those worlds.”

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Source: HIS Education