Glen Powell has opened up about an embarassing moment involving a Hollywood icon that left him absolutely convinced he’d tanked the biggest shot of his career. In a new interview, Powell spills the story with equal parts embarrassment, humor, and real appreciation for how it all shaped him.
Glen Powell recounts reading a script with Dustin Hoffman
In an appearance on First We Feast’s Hot Ones episode, Glen Powell spoke about meeting Dustin Hoffman early on in his career.
Powell still laughs about how stunned he was, saying, “My first week [in Hollywood], I found myself at a dinner sitting next to Dustin Hoffman.”
What really shook him was that Hoffman had actually watched The Great Debaters, where Powell had a tiny role. “The fact that [Hoffman] saw this movie just blew my mind,”
Powell said. Hoffman then surprised him further with a compliment. “He said, ‘You’re a good actor.” Hoffman didn’t just give Powell a compliment, he actually followed up.
He told Powell they should stay in touch, and a few days later, he proved he meant it by calling and inviting him to his office to read for a project. Powell says he “lost his mind” when he got that call.
When he showed up, Hoffman handed him a script and asked him to read. “I started reading [it], but I was so in awe that Dustin Hoffman was sitting across from me,” he admitted.
As Powell kept reading, he knew the whole thing was tanking in real time.“I’m watching the life drain from his eyes, being like, ‘This guy sucks so bad.”
The more pressure he felt, the worse it got. “I’m watching him [and] I’m losing him,” Powell said. “And then I’m being like, ‘Yeah, you’re losing him,’ and then I look back and I’m losing him even more.”
But years later, that meltdown actually changed how he approaches his craft. Powell says the experience taught him to stop seeing Hollywood legends as intimidating icons and start seeing them as people.
“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.”
Originally reported by Rishabh Shandilya on ComingSoon.
