Glen Powell may be a smooth operator on the big screen, but earlier in his acting career, the Chad Powers star had an awkward encounter with a true Hollywood legend.
Powell, 37, appeared on Thursday’s episode of Hot Ones to help promote his latest movie, The Running Man, a remake of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1987 adaptation of Stephen King’s novel. Discussing his early acting career, Powell recalled meeting Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman, who told him he had enjoyed Powell’s work in 2007’s The Great Debaters.
“The fact that he saw this movie just blew my mind,” Powell said, via PEOPLE. “I was like, ‘This is the coolest moment of my entire life.’ He said, ‘You’re a good actor.’ I was like ‘Oh dude, thank you.’ He goes, ‘I got something, I got something for you. Let’s keep in touch.'”
Powell and Hoffman did link up days later, but things didn’t go as the young performer hoped.
A reading to forget
Hoffman actually had a script for Powell, but the Spy Kids 3: Game Over actor was too intimidated to do anything with it.
“I started reading [the pages], but I was so in awe that Dustin Hoffman was sitting across from me,” Powell said. “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.’
“And you can like [it]—I’m watching him, I’m losing him. 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.”
As embarrassing as this experience must have been for Powell, it clearly didn’t affect his acting future. He’s gone on to become a Hollywood fixture, which leads into his latest work.
The Running Man, revisited
Because Powell and Schwarzenegger have worked together in the past–The Expendables 3 (2014)–the two have become friends.
Powell, who is no stranger to action flicks, said Schwarzenegger gave him some valuable advice when he was preparing to star in The Running Man.
“He was so excited, but he told me, he said… And every single one of my buddies who have starred in action movies told [me] this. They were saying, ‘I don’t think you realize going and being out in front of an action movie where’ — again, in this movie, the entire world is hunting this one guy — I would tell them the premise. They’re like, ‘Oh, that’s gonna be, that’s gonna be something. That’s gonna be intense.’ And it’s true,” Powell said.
The Running Man will hit theaters throughout America tomorrow.
This story was originally reported by Men’s Journal on Nov 13, 2025, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men’s Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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