Glen Powell’s First Lesson From Tom Cruise on Running: "You Don’t Look as Cool as You Think"

Glen Powell is about to run for his life, literally. The Top Gun: Maverick star is headlining The Running Man, a high-octane reimagining of the 1982 Stephen King novel, and if anyone was going to help him prepare for the role, it was the guy who practically turned sprinting into an Olympic-level cinematic art… Tom Cruise.“When I was cast, Tom was my first call … to learn how to run,” Powell shared at CinemaCon. “He said, ‘Film yourself running as soon as possible. You don’t look as cool as you think.’ And we did.”Powell went on to say: “And, as you talk to these running coaches [they say] there’s, like, only one actor that knows how to run on screen. It’s Tom Cruise.”Powell had to step up his game for the new film, directed by Edgar Wright and co-starring Josh Brolin and Colman Domingo. He added: “When that camera rolls between action and cut, you have one shot to give it all you’ve got for an audience to be thrilled all around the world, and it’s a really big responsibility. “It’s really cool. It’s one that I didn’t take lightly. So look, I don’t have the insurance plan to be Tom Cruise. I’m not trying to be Tom Cruise, but I will say I learned so much from him on how to properly do an action movie.”The story centers on Ben Richards, a man forced to compete in a deadly reality show in a dystopian America, outrunning killers on live TV to earn enough money to save his daughter.They screened some footage from the film and you can watch our reaction video for it here. The Running Man hits theaters November 7th via Paramount Pictures.

Apr 22, 2025 - 21:17

Glen Powell’s First Lesson From Tom Cruise on Running: "You Don’t Look as Cool as You Think"

Glen Powell is about to run for his life, literally. The Top Gun: Maverick star is headlining The Running Man, a high-octane reimagining of the 1982 Stephen King novel, and if anyone was going to help him prepare for the role, it was the guy who practically turned sprinting into an Olympic-level cinematic art… Tom Cruise.

“When I was cast, Tom was my first call … to learn how to run,” Powell shared at CinemaCon. “He said, ‘Film yourself running as soon as possible. You don’t look as cool as you think.’ And we did.”

Powell went on to say: “And, as you talk to these running coaches [they say] there’s, like, only one actor that knows how to run on screen. It’s Tom Cruise.”

Powell had to step up his game for the new film, directed by Edgar Wright and co-starring Josh Brolin and Colman Domingo.

He added: “When that camera rolls between action and cut, you have one shot to give it all you’ve got for an audience to be thrilled all around the world, and it’s a really big responsibility.

“It’s really cool. It’s one that I didn’t take lightly. So look, I don’t have the insurance plan to be Tom Cruise. I’m not trying to be Tom Cruise, but I will say I learned so much from him on how to properly do an action movie.”

The story centers on Ben Richards, a man forced to compete in a deadly reality show in a dystopian America, outrunning killers on live TV to earn enough money to save his daughter.

They screened some footage from the film and you can watch our reaction video for it here. The Running Man hits theaters November 7th via Paramount Pictures.