It all started with Set It Up. The Netflix rom-com made Glen Powell better known among Hollywood casting agencies and, at the latest, since Top Gun: Maverick, this has also been true among the audience.
This year is all about the big grin from Austin, Texas. First came Where the Lie Falls, then A Killer Romance and, as of this week, Twisters. With this disaster film, Powell gets his first blockbuster of his own. It is a late breakthrough that was paved with some defeats – including a reality show.
Even as a teenager, Glen Powell wanted to become famous with a reality show
Powell’s first contact with Hollywood was a small appearance in Spy Kids 3-D (2003), which was produced in his hometown. In the same year, he competed in the second season of the reality competition Endurance, or at least tried to. Endurance was something like Survivor for children. Teens had to solve tasks in exotic locations in order to stay on the show. One of them was the 14-year-old Glen Powell.
Discovery
Glen Powell in the reality show Endurance (2003)
On the homepage of the TV channel DiscoveryKids, the Texan was described as follows:
Glen loves making his own films and is working on buying a professional video camera by mowing lawns and acting in commercials. He is a globetrotter and is looking forward to discovering new destinations and meeting new people with Endurance. He also enjoys dancing and singing in nursing homes. His interests haven’t changed much since then. Except for one thing. Endurance turned out to be a bitter defeat for Powell.
In the challenge in the first episode, the participants have to hold a metal bar above their heads. If they let their arms sink, they fall into the water. Powell was one of the first to fail and was eliminated in episode 1.
Why the Twisters star can be happy about the defeat
Discovery
Glen Powell in the reality show Endurance (2003)
Losing on a reality show is unpleasant enough, but it’s much worse for a 14-year-old in the tough hierarchy of high school. Powell described the experience to the Hollywood Reporter as follows:
I mean, it is the most embarrassing thing that can happen to a ninth grader. Not only are you the smallest in the class, but you also messed up a feat of strength in front of the whole worldand the amount of shit I got was extraordinary.
For Powell, the experience became a turning point of sorts. From now on he gained muscle masswhich he says gave him self-confidence and more success in sports:
It just made me fiercely determined, like, ‘I’m going to be the strongest guy ever,’ and weirdly, I was more focused in every aspect of my life.
These are all external and internal characteristics that don’t exactly hurt on the way to Hollywood.
You can watch this lovely piece of TV nostalgia here:
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Powell’s journey to the top was still long after Endurance, but he had taken the first important steps. Luckily for him and Twisters, the Endurance defeat turned into a motivational boost. Someone else might have given up on his dream.
Twisters has been in German cinemas since this week.