00:00 The first time I heard Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten,"
00:03 I feel like it was like some shampoo commercial.
00:05 "Garnier Fructis," was it?
00:08 That's what I'm talking about, "Garnier Fructis."
00:10 Obviously, I know every word to that song now.
00:13 Hey, "Hollywood Reporter."
00:14 I'm Glenn Powell, and I'm here to share my Hollywood firsts.
00:19 First movie I saw that made me want to make movies
00:23 was "Jurassic Park."
00:24 I did a project on it when I was in second grade,
00:27 and I became obsessed with Spielberg's use of practical effects.
00:30 I studied the initial T-Rex interaction,
00:33 and they're doing it in the rain.
00:34 That was, like, for me, I think, like,
00:36 the true magic trick of movies.
00:38 Like, I felt like I was seeing a dinosaur for the first time.
00:41 First audition I ever went on was for a reality show
00:45 called "Moolah Beach."
00:47 It's like a kid survivor.
00:48 They asked me, "Do you have any special talents?"
00:50 And I froze.
00:51 I didn't have any special talents,
00:52 so I just said, "I can do voices."
00:55 I was not on "Moolah Beach."
00:56 [ Laughs ]
00:58 My first time I stepped on set
01:01 was on "Spy Kids 3D," "Game Over."
01:03 And I will never forget that moment.
01:05 I was 13, I think, and I shot my part,
01:09 and then I hung out behind camera,
01:11 and I was, like, talking to the camera guys,
01:13 and I was talking to the stunt guys,
01:14 and was trying to figure out what the chroma key green did,
01:18 and the entire crew had the most interesting jobs on the planet,
01:21 and you had endless friends on a set.
01:23 I think the "Spy Kids" experience
01:24 was really one of the best days of my whole life.
01:27 Also, "Spy Kids 3D" was arguably art dune.
01:31 [ Laughs ]
01:33 First time I was on a red carpet was for "The Great Debaters."
01:35 "The Great Debaters" was a movie that Denzel Washington directed.
01:38 Great movie about the first African-American debate team
01:41 that went and took on Harvard.
01:43 That was my first Hollywood premiere,
01:44 and to be out with Sidney Poitier,
01:47 Oprah Winfrey, Forest Whitaker, Denzel Washington,
01:50 it was, like, an incredible experience.
01:52 And one of those movies that I felt like
01:54 really mattered.
01:55 Right before that red carpet,
01:57 Denzel and his agent, Ed Lomato,
01:59 convinced me to move out to Los Angeles.
02:01 They said, "You're young, and you should give this a shot.
02:04 You should really take the plunge.
02:05 It's been really worth it."
02:06 My first crazy Hollywood altercation.
02:09 So I did this movie, "Expendables 3."
02:10 It's like Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger,
02:13 Antonio Banderas, Wesley, Snipes, Jace Estatham.
02:16 Somehow, I'm the random guy that snuck in.
02:19 So I'm, like, the only unknown person
02:21 in a cast of, like, legends.
02:23 I'm in Cannes for the festival.
02:25 We're driving tanks down the Quazette.
02:27 They have all these character banners,
02:28 like, that are draped on the Carleton Hotel.
02:30 The funniest part was, I got kicked
02:34 out of the VIP section of the "Expendables 3" party.
02:38 It actually got kind of physical.
02:40 There was a large bouncer that was convinced
02:43 that I shouldn't be in the VIP section.
02:46 So it kind of turned into a physical altercation
02:50 where I got hit in the face.
02:52 At the "Expendables 3" party, 'cause no one recognized me,
02:55 even though there was a banner in the party of my face.
02:58 So, you know, just 'cause you got a banner
02:59 doesn't mean you're getting into the party.
03:02 So the first time I heard Natasha Benningfield's "Unwritten,"
03:05 it would've probably been, like, high school
03:07 for me as my guest.
03:08 I feel like it was a, like, a Garnier-Fruttis commercial
03:13 or something like that.
03:14 I have sisters, I was very aware.
03:17 I feel like I have, it was Garnier-Fruttis.
03:18 That's what they wash their hair with.
03:20 And I feel like Natasha had something to do with that.
03:23 Was it?
03:24 That's what I'm talking about, Garnier-Fruttis.
03:26 ♪ Feel the rain on your skin ♪
03:28 ♪ No one else can be as beautiful as you ♪
03:31 I was like, "We're doing this every scene?"
03:33 And soon enough, the whole crew got into it.
03:35 Everybody loved it, but man, rough start.
03:38 First rom-com I watched?
03:40 I remember seeing "How to Lose a Guy"
03:42 in "10 Days" in the theater.
03:44 Ooh, legally blonde.
03:45 If we consider that a rom-com,
03:46 that's my first rom-com I've ever seen.
03:49 And the most quoted movie in my house growing up.
03:52 "Don't the stump of your last season
03:54 "proud of shoes of me, honey."
03:56 You know, like that.
03:57 The first time I flew by myself
03:59 was a really special experience.
04:01 My parents were in town for my birthday,
04:03 and there's this really great tradition in aviation
04:06 where the instructor rips the shirt
04:09 literally off of your back
04:11 and then writes the runway and signs it.
04:14 When Tom Cruise told me that the first time,
04:16 I thought he was messing with me.
04:17 He's like, "Make sure you wear a shirt
04:18 "that you're okay with getting ripped."
04:19 I'm like, "Why is it someone ripping my shirt off
04:22 "after I fly?"
04:23 But my parents were in town,
04:25 and I got to fly the pattern and land by myself.
04:28 And it was just like a really special experience.
04:29 So they got to be there while my shirt got torn off
04:32 when I taxied back into the hangar.
04:34 And "Top Gun" is a movie that changed my life,
04:36 and aviation is a hobby that's changed my life.
04:39 My first Longhorn experience,
04:42 I mean, it would have been diapers.
04:44 I mean, I was born and raised a Texan Longhorn.
04:47 So my mom and dad went to Texas.
04:50 My grandparents went to Texas.
04:52 My aunts and uncles, my little sister went to Texas.
04:55 So it's like, I was born to be a Longhorn.
04:59 Anyone that knows me knows I wrap more Longhorn gear
05:01 than is healthy.
05:02 When I first moved out to LA,
05:03 I remember they went through my closet,
05:05 and they were like,
05:06 "You have an obscene amount of burnt orange in here."
05:08 And I was like, "I take that as a compliment."
05:10 I did not get rid of my burnt orange
05:11 even though they asked me to.
05:13 Must've been like eight or nine.
05:17 I was driving with my Aunt Taffy,
05:20 and she had a car full of all of the cousins,
05:23 and we were almost a part of the Gerald, Texas tornado.
05:27 And if anybody knows about the Gerald, Texas tornado,
05:29 it's an F5, which is the biggest and largest tornado.
05:33 And we had to take shelter in a,
05:35 I think it was a carpet store or something like that.
05:38 I remember looking at my aunt for guidance on how to feel.
05:43 It's something you don't really forget.
05:44 Obviously, as a Texas boy growing up
05:46 to go on and make "Twisters."
05:47 It's a movie that, as I watched as a kid,
05:50 really had a big impact on me
05:51 'cause it felt like a monster
05:52 that was living in my backyard.
05:53 So to make that, again, with Steven Spielberg,
05:56 who I did my first school project on,
05:58 it was all very full circle.
06:00 For me, movies have always been my love language.
06:03 It's how I talk to my parents.
06:05 It's what we talked about
06:06 around the dinner table growing up.
06:08 It's how I relate to people.
06:10 It's movie quotes.
06:11 So it's like the connection I have with people
06:13 really has so much to do with movies.
06:15 You'll have kids come up and be like,
06:16 "Oh my God, I wanna be an actor.
06:18 "I wanna do that."
06:18 And you're like, "Yeah, that's how it happens."
06:20 You see these seminal movies
06:22 that change the way you think about the theatrical experience
06:26 or change the way you think about what's possible on screen.
06:29 Thanks for watching some of my Hollywood firsts.
06:33 See you soon.
06:34 (upbeat music)
06:36 (upbeat music)
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