‘Anybody But You’ Star Glen Powell Opens Up About Pursuing the ‘Female Gaze’ for Intimate Scenes in ‘Hit Man’ While Battling ‘Loopy’ Pain With Co-Star Adria Arjona — Plus, Why He decided it was time to return to Texas while his star is on the rise in Hollywood.
Glen Powell continues to rise after the great success of his film Anyone but you with Sidney Sweeney – and that hot press tour – is why he took so much care with the intimate scenes in his new film Hitmanwith supporting Adria Arjona.
Powell spoke with IndieWire earlier this year about how intentional they were in their approach to the film’s sex scenes. Powell, who co-wrote the film with director Richard Linklater, felt the scenes were an important part of his character Gary’s progress and evolution.
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At the same time, he noted, “As much as this is a fantasy for Gary, it’s a fantasy for (Arjona’s character, Madison),” he explained. “And you must have the female gaze in that sex scene. So we really showcased it as a team to show you photos that we’re excited about, things you’ve never seen before.
“That’s the point,” he added. “Sexual intercourse scenes can be a bit paint-by-numbers and so boring and ineffective.”
Powell faced an additional problem in Hitman, alongside Arjona, in promoting these intimate moments, which she mentioned had already been filmed at one time. Unfortunately, that day, she and Powell developed “a rash.”
“We were both in a lot of pain,” she told For selection only podcast on Thursday, which really affected her ability to take the moment seriously. “We were dying laughing: ‘How much makeup do you have on your butt right now?’ I was like, ‘Very much, it’s not even funny.'”
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To make matters worse, there was a scene that took place in a bathtub. Arjona said a crew member put Daybreak dish soap in the water, which “takes all the oil off the skin.”
“This is used for geese kids when there’s an oil spill, for God’s sake,” she said. The ensuing mix had a dramatic effect on them. “We soak in this tub for an hour, and I get out of the tub and impulsively dry myself off and I can’t bend my knees because I have no oils,” she said.
With all these extra questions, Arjona praised Powell for being a “gentleman” at all times, as well as a “kind” collaborator. “He doesn’t like to be successful alone,” she told Selection. “When you’re an actor and you’re in a scene with another actor and you’re doing romantic movies and romantic scenes, you need someone who wants to win with you, and Glen is the definition of that. ”
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While he’s opening up on screen, Powell has made a personal decision that leads him to move away from the Hollywood lifestyle he’s lived for the past 15 years. As he advised The Hollywood Reporterhe feels he has reached the point in his career and can finally “leave Hollywood.”
After the great success of Anyone but you, Powell becomes an in-demand leading man, enjoying a degree of success, as does co-star Sweeney. Suddenly, you both find yourself with a bit of leverage in the business, and with that kind of energy comes flexibility.
For Powell, that means moving back to Austin, Texas, where he’ll be closer to home and perhaps enjoy some privacy. His extremely public breakup with model Gigi Paris, while he and Sweeney were strategically dating while selling their romantic comedy, was about as much scrutiny as he could handle.
“It’s like I’ve gained the power to return to my family,” Powell explained to THR. Now, he has purchased his Hollywood Hills home and bought a new “house” just half an hour from his parents’ house.
Actor gives credit to fellow Texas native Matthew McConaughey for some eager insight and perspective on a decade-long dialogue. “He’s like, ‘Hollywood is the Matrix, man. You log on and it’s all a fake world,’” Powell recalled. “He said, “Then I’ll go to Austin and hang up. It’s all real. These are my friends, this is my family, my actions matter there.’”
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“And he’s right,” Powell emphasized. “If you are here, you live in the Matrix all the time, there is no separation of these worlds.” At this level of his life and profession, he seeks this separation.
He’s also trying to escape that “fishbowl feeling” of living in Hollywood, where professional and personal cameras seem to point at him wherever he goes. This way, he can enjoy things like entering that world on late-night shows, press tours, and so on, but also disconnecting and moving away from it.
When talking about how he exploded into Hollywood last year, Powell is quick to put on the brakes, considering that one day he could be another Tom Cruise. In fact, he said that “there will never be another Tom Cruise.”
However, it is not simply the Main weapon star he is talking about. “The movie stars of the 80s, 90s and early 2000s will never be recreated,” he said. There’s definitely been a lot of dialogue lately about whether or not the era of the blockbuster movie star is over.
Whether or not it is may also be a subject for entertainment historians to discuss for years to come. When they get to the 2020s chapters, though, you can bet they’ll talk about Glen Powell.