Glen Powell is looking back at a mortifying meeting he had with Dustin Hoffman early in his career.
The 37-year-old Running Man star revealed that he once completely bombed a script reading with Hoffman because he was seriously starstruck.
“My first week [in Hollywood], I found myself at a dinner sitting next to Dustin Hoffman,” Powell remembered on a recent Hot Ones episode. “I was sitting next to him and he saw a movie I did called The Great Debaters.”
Harpo Productions/MGM
Glen Powell in ‘The Great Debaters’
Powell had a small role as a member of the Harvard debate team in the 2007 film, which Denzel Washington both starred in and directed.
“The fact that [Hoffman] saw this movie just blew my mind,” he recalled. “I was like, ‘This is the coolest moment of my entire life.’”
Things got even cooler when Hoffman took a moment to praise Powell’s performance. “He said, ‘You’re a good actor.’ I was like, ‘Oh dude, thank you,’” he said. “He goes, ‘I got something, I got something for you. Let’s keep in touch.’”
A man of his word, Hoffman really did call Powell up a few days later. “I’m losing my mind, I’m like, ‘This is the coolest thing,’” Powell said. “He’s like, ‘I’m gonna invite you to my office and I want you to read for something.’”
When he arrived, Powell explained that Hoffman handed him a script and told him to read it out loud.
“I started reading [it], but I was so in awe that Dustin Hoffman was sitting across from me,” Powell admitted. “He’s one of my favorite actors of all time. As I’m reading, I’m watching the life drain from his eyes being like, ‘This guy sucks so bad.’ And I was like, ‘Oh no.’”
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Powell could feel the opportunity slipping through his fingers at the time, but just couldn’t salvage it.
“I’m watching him [and] I’m losing him,” he said. “And then I’m being like, ‘Yeah, you’re losing him,’ and then I look back and I’m losing him even more. And I left so defeated.”
Powell noted that it took time for him to realize that it’s okay to play as an actor — even when working with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars.
“You start looking at these guys as, like, legends, and then you start looking at them as collaborators who are just trying to make magic for audiences around the world, you know?” he said. “I think that’s the difference — I think the excitement of this business hasn’t worn off, but my perspective has.”
Powell made his big screen debut as a teen in the 2003 film, Spy Kids 3: Game Over. While he enjoyed success over the following decades, his star didn’t go full supernova until starring as Jake “Hangman” Seresin in the 2022 Top Gun sequel, Top Gun: Maverick. Since then, he’s gone on to become one of Hollywood’s most popular leading men, headlining rom-coms like Anyone But You and action films like Twisters and The Running Man alike.
The Running Man sprints into theaters on Nov 14. Watch Powell discuss the moment with Hoffman in the video above.
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