Glen Powell may have a lock on a slew of beloved 1970s and 1980s franchise reboots, but the actor almost traveled to a galaxy far, far away a decade ago.
Powell told GQ UK that he was amid the final casting round to play Han Solo in “Star Wars” prequel film “Solo” circa 2018.
“I can joke about it now, [but] I blew that final audition,” Powell admitted.
Ansel Elgort also auditioned but it was Alden Ehrenreich who was instead cast in the lead role. The feature, directed by Ron Howard, bombed at the box office.
“It’s haunting when you blow those moments,” Powell added. “But that’s one of the parts of [the Hollywood myth] that’s not true. That was always somebody else’s ride to go on. You know what I mean? It was never yours to go on. If you put your time in, you’ll get your ride.”
It wasn’t the only younger-Harrison-Ford role, sort of, that Powell almost got. “I auditioned for ‘Cowboys & Aliens,’ to play Harrison Ford’s son,” Powell said.
There were other what-ifs: “I auditioned for [‘Friday Night Lights’] like three or four times,” he continued. “I was really right for the role and kept not getting it. That was a part of my career where I felt like, ‘Am I ever going to get a shot?’”
It was tough going up against some of his current A-list contemporaries, like Pedro Pascal, Austin Butler, and Taylor Kitsch, at the time.
“The weird duality of the business is that you have to be ultra competitive but at the same time it’s not in your power,” Powell said. “I have to be comfortable with saying, ‘I did my best, it wasn’t meant to be.’”
He added, “I really do feel like a lot of Hollywood is which actors are in vogue. What everybody does is end up writing to that thing. All of a sudden, when Robert Pattinson pops off, they’re like, ‘We want a brooding Robert Pattinson type.’ You see it in every script.”
In fact, an agent even told Powell to take on a movie-star persona, much like his recent film “Hit Man,” when auditioning.
“He was like, ‘Hey man, you gotta be less punctual, like a little more cool actor-y,’” Powell said. “There’s definitely a bit of a game [to the whole thing]. It was clear to me very early on that it’s not a meritocracy, and I still believe that. I still believe that the best guy doesn’t necessarily get the job. You can’t just be good – you also have to be very lucky.”
Powell is now in the position to be turning down roles, like the latest “Jurassic Park” reboot (titled “Jurassic City”) that he says he passed on. He also said thanks but no thanks to a “Bourne Identity” revival.
But don’t worry, Powell is plenty busy. He’s doing a “Heaven Can Wait” remake, Edgar Wright’s reimagining of “The Running Man,” and is next leading the “Twister” sequel, “Twisters.”
“I’ve got a Bingo board of roles I want to play,” Powell added. “‘Twister’ was on there. ‘Top Gun’ was on there. ‘Casablanca’ is on the board! I’ve always wanted to play a senator or a president….”
