Glen Powell disliked his ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ character at first.
The 34-year-old actor starred in the action sequel as Lieutenant Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin but confessed that he had reservations about his part and considered his alter ego to be a “Navy Draco Malfoy” in a comparison to the ‘Harry Potter’ antagonist.
Glen told GQ magazine: “He was there to add conflict to Rooster’s character, which is a good thing, but he wasn’t three-dimensional and he had no pay off. I didn’t know why he existed.
“It was a leap of faith. In hindsight, I’m like, God, I can’t imagine if I missed out on this one, but it wasn’t so obvious.”
Glen explained how Tom Cruise helped him to discover ways to make the character more likeable and explained how body language such as putting his feet up could alienate audiences in foreign markets.
The ‘Hidden Figures’ star recalled Cruise telling him: “It’s not that I need people to root for you, but I need them to love watching you.
“In some places in the world, this piece of body language will turn them off emotionally to your character.”
Powell revealed that working with Tom has given him a better knowledge of the movie industry and he now has a clearer idea about the type of actor he wants to be.
He said: “To make movies on that scale, if you want to make a ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, with that budget, you have to be able to justify your value as a star, and your creative influence, to make sure that movie will play everywhere.
“That’s where studios trust Tom. They look at Tom and they go, ‘Yeah, you know how to do this, go do it.’ I find that to be a really fun challenge. Do I have the ability to do that?”
