Lance Avery Morgan
Top Gun 3 and Upcoming Hit Man Actor To Be Inducted Into Texas Film Hall of Fame On May 15
By Lance Avery Morgan Photography courtesy of Netflix, Austin Film Society
When the Austin Film Society (AFS) announced they would induct actor, producer, and screenwriter Glen Powell into the Texas Film Hall of Fame, we were elated for the actor who is very much on Hollywood’s radar. We first discovered movie star handsome Powell in the indie Brit film, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and then he became a six-pack sensation in Top Gun: Maverick, co-starring with Tom Cruise. The rest, as they say, is Hollywood history.
The honor will take place on May 15 at the Netflix premiere of Hit Man at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin. Powell stars in the film alongside Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, Sanjay Rao, and Retta. Beyond being an actor, Powell is also bright. He produced and co-wrote the film with his director pal Richard Linklater. Who knew that he started his career as a child actor in 2003 when he was in Spy Kids 3: Game Over, directed by Austinite Richard Rodriguez? And Powell has been working hard as an actor ever since.
Born and raised in Austin, Glen Powell first worked with Richard Linklater on Fast Food Nation (2006). They also collaborated on Linklater’s films Everybody Wants Some!! (2016) about college life in the 80s. and Apollo 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood (2022). Powell has gone on to star in recent films including Set It Up (2018) and box office hits Top Gun: Maverick (2022) and Anyone But You (2023). He will next be seen in Hit Man, in select theaters on May 24 and releasing on Netflix on June 7, and the upcoming film Twisters, in theaters July 19. In addition, Powell is a co-producer on the upcoming IMAX Blue Angels documentary for Amazon Prime.
Hit Man is inspired by the unbelievable true story of Gary Johnson chronicled in a 2001 Texas Monthly article, Hit Man follows a strait-laced professor who discovers he has a hidden talent as a fake hit man. And trouble ensues, as we say in show business. He meets his match in a client who steals his heart and ignites a powder keg of deception, delight, and mixed-up identities.
“It’s an honor to be part of inducting a fellow Austinite, my friend and collaborator Glen Powell, into the Texas Film Hall of Fame,” said filmmaker Richard Linklater, the founder and artistic director of AFS. “The Texas Film Hall of Fame acknowledges Texans who have had a lasting impact on film culture, and Glen has already achieved this milestone. Glen’s incredible talent has been at the center of many Texas-made independent films, network television shows and now blockbusters like Top Gun: Maverick, Anyone But You, and Twisters. He’ll be adding his name to the Texas Film Hall of Fame alongside fellow legendary Texans like Matthew McConaughey, Forest Whitaker, Sissy Spacek, and Cyd Charisse, to name a few. Of course, I’m delighted that he’s being inducted at the premiere of Hit Man, which we wrote together.”
The following day, on May 16, the Austin Film Society will host a Toast to Texas Film event celebrating Glen Powell’s induction into the Texas Film Hall of Fame. The event will be held at Troublemaker Studios and will be a fundraiser for the Austin Film Society’s artistic and educational programs. Previous inductees to the Texas Film Hall of Fame have included Renée Zellweger, Luke Wilson, Sissy Spacek, Paul Thomas Anderson, Farrah Fawcett and Jesse Plemons.
For more information about A Toast to Texas Film: Honoring Glen Powell, click HERE.
