Tag: Glen Powell

How Chad Powers creator Michael Waldron turned the ESPN skit into a Hulu hit

The co-creator of this fall’s upcoming series chats everything Chad Powers.

Chad Powers was introduced to the world in September 2022 in a sketch starring Eli Manning for Omaha Productions. The premise of the gag was simple: what would walk-on tryouts at Penn State be like for the two-time Super Bowl champion Manning donning a hilarious — if not obvious — disguise?

This fall, the concept of Chad Powers is back, thanks to the co-creator team of Michael Waldron (Loki) and Glen Powell (Twisters). This time, he has an actual story and a new actor behind the makeup.

This new version of Chad Powers hopes to take viewers on a humorous (and likely emotional) journey.

Powell will play Russ Holiday, a college quarterback whose questionable decision-making derails his career and forces him to find an alternate way to keep playing.

Both Waldron and Powell are huge college football fans — the former went to Georgia and the latter is second only to Matthew McConaughey in Texas football fandom — so the partnership was a natural fit.

Despite wanting to work with each other, however, both Waldron and Powell had a similar reaction when pitched the idea of adapting the Manning skit.

“That’s insane. What do you mean?” Waldron said in a recent interview with For The Win. “What do you mean, adapt that? Then, as we really started thinking about it, we actually got quite, quite excited.”

With the massive success of Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso, which was based off of a 2013 NBC Sports commercial, it’s not unheard of to extrapolate a small skit into a huge hit. Waldron also mentioned filmmakers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller as inspirations — namely for the duo’s work on The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street — in taking something that really shouldn’t work and making it into something people truly love.

Waldron was dedicated to ensuring the actual football in this football show looked good and was as realistic as possible. Chad Powers is being made with the support of ESPN, giving it an extra layer of realism and allowing them to film in places like Sanford Stadium in Athens. Steve Zahn, who plays Powers’ coach in the show, shadowed Kentucky football head coach Mark Stoops.

“It was like, we can’t be the college football show where the college football looks awful. It has to look awesome,” Waldron said. “Our aspiration was, this should be the best football anybody’s ever seen.” The veteran Marvel Studios writer attributed the top-notch football renderings to set consultants, scene choreographers and extras. Oh, and Powell.

“Frustratingly good” is how Waldron described Powell’s football prowess, adding that the Hit Man star worked diligently with trainers and football consultants to look as convincing as possible.

“He’s a super handsome dude, incredibly pleasant. He’s also a great writer. He’s also a terrific writer. His family is lovely,” Waldron said. “Then he’s just got a great arm. I’m like, God, man. Leave some for the for the rest of us.”

Chad Powers is expected to debut this fall on Hulu.

Everything we know about the Chad Powers Hulu series, including who’s replacing Eli Manning

The prank turned series hits Hulu in fall of 2025.

Two years ago, the world met Chad Powers, a “walk on” at Penn State University. It was a bit done as a prank by former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning for the Omaha Productions YouTube channel, but now it’s grown into something more.

Much like the wildly popular Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso, which stemmed from a Jason Sudeikis commercial, Chad Powers will now head to the small screen as a television series.

Here’s what we know about the upcoming Chad Powers series on Hulu.

When and where is Chad Powers releasing?

Chad Powers is listed as a Fall 2025 release on the Hulu streaming platform.

What is the basic plot of the Chad Powers series?

The show will follow Russ Holliday, a college football QB that sees his dreams go up in smoke after getting in some trouble. Instead of giving up on playing, Holliday disguises himself as the likable Chad Powers in an attempt to walk onto a new team.

Who is playing Chad Powers?

Glen Powell, the charismatic star of Twisters, Hit Man, Anyone But You and Top Gun: Maverick is taking over the mantle of Chad Powers for the series. He has the ability to ride the line between confident and cocky while also being extremely charming. As a massive Texas fan, Powell is also fully equipped to immerse himself in the world of college football.

Who else is involved in Chad Powers?

Powell and Michael Waldron (Loki, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness) are co-creators and executive producers. Eli and Peyton Manning are also executive producers, alongside Ben Brown, Jamie Horowitz and ESPN. Steve Zahn (The White Lotus, That Thing You Do!) also stars, as well as Perry Mattfeld (In the Dark).

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Glen Powell addressed the Mission Impossible rumors with a funny quote about his mom

Honestly, mom might be right on this one.

The newest trailer for the upcoming eighth Mission: Impossible movie dropped on Monday, ramping up excitement for Ethan Hunt and The Final Reckoning. Tom Cruise once again returns as the lead, looking to somehow outdo his hanging off a dangling train car or jumping off a cliff on a motorcycle stunts.

A report from Hollywood writer Jeff Sneider (@theinsneider) on Tuesday floated the idea that Cruise had his Hunt-in-waiting lined up in Top Gun: Maverick co-star Glen Powell. ESPN’s Pat McAfee wasted no time trying to get to the bottom of the rumor, calling the Twisters actor during Tuesday’s Pat McAfee Show.

When asked about the rumor, Powell had the perfect retort in denial. “My mom would never let me do that.”

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6 photos of Glen Powell as Oregon’s quarterback in an Eli Manning-inspired Hulu show

Glen Powell looks good in those Oregon colors!

Glen Powell is becoming one of the biggest and busiest actors in Hollywood and his next project has an exciting connection to the sports world.

Powell, who starred in Top Gun: Maverick (2022) as well as Hit Man (2023) and Twisters (2024) more recently, is a sports fan. While his allegiance is to the University of Texas Longhorns, he will soon play a quarterback for the University of Oregon Ducks.

GLEN POWELL INTERVIEW: Texas superfan talks Longhorns football, the CFP and being Matthew McConaughey’s deputy

This role is inspired by Chad Powers, an alter ego that Eli Manning has used in the past. Manning has previously made fun of Powell for the improper way he threw a football in Top Gun: Maverick.

Powell will co-direct and star in the TV show, which is coming to Hulu.

Here is your first look at Powell in an Oregon jersey for the show:

 

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Twisters is one for people who just love movies

We feel it, and we’re chasing it.

Twisters blew into theaters this week and brought with it that feeling of the summer blockbuster.

It is hard to accurately pin it down or describe it perfectly, but you know it when it hits. Led by the wonderful Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People) and the utterly charming and wonderful Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick, Hit Man), this is a movie for people that just love movies.

Although a sequel to the iconic 1996 disaster flick, Twister, director Lee Isaac Chung (Minari) went the route of not having any direct ties to the original except, you know, the tornadoes. No one is a relative of Helen Hunt’s Jo or Bill Paxton’s Bill, and that feels like a smart decision.

MORE: 16 fabulous pictures of Glen Powell (and Brisket) from the Twisters red carpet events

Instead, we get the world of Twister but with a new spin (no pun intended). It is a lot of pressure on Edgar-Jones and Powell to match the charisma of Hunt and Paxton, but the duo succeeds. In the 2024 upgrade of the disaster flick, we have Kate (Edgar-Jones), who survives a traumatic experience with a twister and goes on to work in an office in New York instead of continuing to chase tornadoes in Oklahoma.

The remaining members of Kate’s crew, Javi — played by Anthony Ramos of Hamilton and In the Heights — reaches out to her five years later with a proposition to help him track down storms to collect data with the hopes of preventing future devastation.

She eventually gives in, returning home and running into Powell’s Tyler Owens, a cowboy streamer in the world of tornadoes that has groupies and followers as a self-proclaimed “tornado wrangler.”

Essentially, Twisters is like if Helen Hunt’s character started out with Cary Elwes’s character from the original then met and was charmed by Bill Paxton’s character and the pair teamed up to make a difference.

The action pieces are unreal (see this in IMAX if you can), and it grips you from start to finish. When it ended, I wanted more, and what else can you ask from a summer blockbuster?

Movie: Twisters
Release Date: July 19 
Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Stars: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Eli Manning roasted Glen Powell’s QB skills ahead of their new college football series

Sir, please don’t insult the slightly confusing beach football scene.

A new comedy based on an Eli Manning character is coming to Hulu with the retired quarterback partnering with actor Glen Powell and showrunner Michael Waldron. The premise is to bring Manning’s “Chad Powers” persona to life in a half-hour episode series. Powell (Top Gun: Maverick) will co-create and co-write with Waldron, as well as star as the lead character.

MORE: Texas superfan Glen Powell talks Longhorns football, the CFP and being Matthew McConaughey’s deputy

“When bad behavior nukes hotshot QB Russ Holliday’s (Powell) college career, he disguises himself and walks onto a struggling Southern football team as the talented, affable Chad Powers,” the series description reads, according to a Variety story.

Manning used the announcement as a perfect opportunity to roast the leading man’s abilities after his famous beach scene in Maverick.

Anyone But You’s box office success should be message to Hollywood to make more rom-coms

MAKE MORE ROM-COMS!

If you haven’t been paying attention, you might not have noticed what Anyone But You has been doing at the box office over the last couple months. The Sony Pictures romantic comedy starring Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick) and Sydney Sweeney (Madame Web) in an R-rated adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing has been quietly raking in the big bucks.

MORE: Glen Powell reveals the best romcom advice from Anyone But You costar Dermot Mulroney.

Since its release in December 2023, Anyone But You has made $190 million, well eclipsing its reported budget of $25 million. It’s also now the highest-grossing live-action adaptation of a Shakespeare work (although that doesn’t adjust for inflation for Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 movie, Romeo + Juliet).

Hopefully, this means Hollywood will get the message that audiences are clamoring for more fun rom-coms with charming leads.

Texas superfan Glen Powell talks Longhorns football, the CFP and being Matthew McConaughey’s deputy

The Top Gun: Maverick and Anyone But You star is hoping his Longhorns can take home the title.

If you want to get actor Glen Powell to light up in an instant, ask him about his football team. Powell, who had a breakout role in 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick and is starring alongside Sydney Sweeney in this month’s romcom Anyone But You, is a Texas native and a self-proclaimed diehard Longhorns fan.

And he’s pumped to watch No. 3 Texas take on No. 2 Washington in the second College Football Playoff semifinal game at the Sugar Bowl on Monday.

Powell’s grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and sister all went to the University of Texas, so the burnt orange is in his blood. Last season, Powell earned an invite on the set of ESPN’s College GameDay when the long-running show stopped in Austin. He donned a mullet wig in honor of quarterback Quinn Ewers and made Bijan Robinson mustard jokes. It was perfection.

This season, he’s maintained that enthusiasm and been in attendance for several Longhorn games despite having a wildly busy schedule. Being a Texas superfan means he’s also gotten a chance to meet that other Texas superfan, actor Matthew McConaughey.

MORE: Glen Powell reveals the best romcom advice from Anyone But You costar Dermot Mulroney

“To be along on this ride this season has been pretty awesome, and finally career-wise being at a place where I get to be invited on the sidelines as like McConaughey’s deputy,” Powell said with a laugh in a recent interview with For The Win. “McConaughey is always going to be the sheriff; I’ll be his deputy.”

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The 35-year-old burgeoning star can’t help but think of young Glen when experiencing some of these moments.

“I was with McConaughey and Brian Orakpo and Vince Young, and we got a touchdown, and I’m high-fiving all these guys,” Powell recounted. “I was like, ‘If my younger self could see me now.’ I mean this is the pinnacle for me.”

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Above all else, Powell is just impressed with the on-field performance of the three-seeded Longhorns. He credits head coach Steve Sarkisian for the culture shift and resulting success.

“What Coach Sark has done with this team is really, really incredible. I feel like the entire culture of the Longhorns and that program has shifted in a really dramatic way, and you can really feel the magic around it,” Powell said.

When it comes down to it, Powell mentioned the versatility of the team as the reason he’s so high on their postseason chances.

“I think what’s really exciting about Texas is there’s obviously guys like Xavier Worthy, who are studs, who always convert when they need to. But I think what’s really fun about Texas is there’s a lot of targets downfield… I think the depth of Texas is really amazing.”

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It might be a little bit of bias, but Powell is definitely taking the Longhorns in the semifinals over the Huskies — a game he’s planning on attending — and thinks they have what it takes to win it all.

“It’s a very versatile team, so I would put them up against Washington,” he said. “I’d put them up against Michigan and Bama. I feel very good about our odds this year.”

Texas faces Washington in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Sugar Bowl on Monday at 8:45 p.m. ET on ESPN.

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Sydney Sweeney was bitten by a gigantic spider while filming Anyone But You and everyone thought she was acting

We would all scream dramatically, too.

Don’t ever say that acting isn’t dangerous. Sydney Sweeney learned the hard way when filming on location in Australia for the romcom Anyone But You, which releases in theaters on December 22.

In one scene, Bea (Sweeney) and Ben (Glen Powell) are hiking and run across a huntsman spider. They used a real one for filming, and during the shot it actually bit Sweeney as it rested on her arm. While the Huntsman is very large and very scary looking, it thankfully isn’t deadly.

MORE: Glen Powell reveals the best romcom advice from Anyone But You costar Dermot Mulroney

Still, it’s a spider biting you, and Sweeney has a very natural reaction: unbridled screaming. Since the spider was supposed to have bitten her character, Powell and the film crew thought she was just taking the scene a little too far dramatically.

Sweeney shared the anecdote when visiting The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and even brought along the “blooper” reel (if you can call it that).

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Powell, who sat across from Fallon shortly after Sweeney’s visit, elaborated on the moment and told his own tales of spiders, sharks, Fitbits and emergency helicopter landings.

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The moral of the story: don’t trust spiders, even if they have wranglers and names.

Glen Powell reveals the best romcom advice from Anyone But You costar Dermot Mulroney

The charming leading man is ready to be back in romcoms for the first time since Set It Up.

The charm of actor Glen Powell is utterly undeniable.

It’s one of the qualities — along with quick wit and undeniable good looks — that makes him the perfect lead in a romantic comedy. Although Set It Up wasn’t Powell’s first major role, he burst onto the scene in the 2018 Netflix romcom that paired him with the delightful Zoey Deutch as the duo attempted to set up their bosses.

Now, Powell is back in the romcom world, this time across from Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria, White Lotus) in Anyone But You, which hits theaters on December 22. The genre is clearly special to Powell, who genuinely lights up to talk about his experience with romcoms.

“It’s a dream, you know,” the Texas native told For The Win in a recent interview. “You understand why [Matthew] McConaughey did so many romcoms because you’re in a very happy place when you’re making a romcom. It’s just really wonderful.”

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As an actor, Powell — who pulled Gs and got airsick for his role as Hangman in 2022’s mega-hit Top Gun: Maverick — knows very well that it’s not always fun and romance and laughs on set.

“When you really talk about the job of an actor, there’s a lot of different ways to go to set every day,” Powell said. “Sometimes you have to channel some pretty dark things and you have to live in weird places. Mentally, and then also physically, you’re away from your friends and your family.”

This time around, Powell was able to bring some of his family down to Australia during filming to hang out, meet costars like Sweeney and thoroughly enjoy the whole process.

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Dermot Mulroney, who played the lead in the iconic My Best Friend’s Wedding with Julia Roberts in 1997, stars with Powell and Sweeney and served as a romcom mentor. Mulroney didn’t always love the genre, however. “Well, I do [like them] more than I used to,” the The Wedding Date star said in a 2019 Glamour interview. “I have a lot more respect for them than I probably should have at earlier phases of my career.”

That led to some key advice for the younger romcom riser.

“He told me, ‘Don’t shrug off being a romantic comedy lead,'” Powell articulated. “He’s like, ‘If you can represent love to people, it’s the greatest thing in the world.'”

Anyone But You is in theaters this Friday.