Glen Powell Reflects on Small Role in ‘Dark Knight Rises’

Glen Powell looks back on his small role in Christopher Nolan’s The The Dark Knight stands up.

In his Vanity Fair profile for the Hollywood edition, the Twisters actor reflected on scoring the small role in the Batman movie starring Christian Bale and Tom Hardy.

“I remember everything. You never forget the feeling. That’s something I bring to every set I go on now, which is just the reverence of being on a set in general. But I remember The Dark Knight stands up the feeling of being able to walk onto a set and you knew everyone in the world was going to be on that set, right?”

He went on to explain that despite his role as a stock trader being minor, he “heard several times for it.”

“I started working with the best director on the planet, Christopher Nolan. And you’re sitting there and all of a sudden Tom Hardy comes in as Bane. It’s electric. It’s kind of out of your body,” he said. “It was a of those movies where nothing happened in my life. I just fought for every centimeter. And when Christopher Nolan casts you in his movie, it’s a validation that’s hard to explain.”

Powell has been cast in countless projects since her breakout role in Top Gun: Maverick. Amidst his success, Powell said he has since bumped into Nolan, who feels “proud” to have spotted his talent early.

“I’ve talked to Chris about this. We’ve run into each other at different things. I saw him during his amazing Oppenheimer run and he is very proud that he picked me early. I’m just very thankful that he took a shot,” Powell said.

The role in the 2012 film came at a time when Powell was a struggling actor, of which he noted, “There’s no harder place to live than being in Hollywood without anything happening. The currency in that town is how relevant you are , and what your last job is. It makes you oppressively self-conscious. Where people can get caught in a rut is where they just want to keep spinning the wheel without thinking about why. They just stay at the table reason than to stay at the table.”

At the time, when he had no projects booked, he said he had to lie to himself and “act like this is the chapter in the story where things just don’t go right.”

He explained: “You have to believe the Hollywood legends of the people you admire, the people you chase, who also had the long stretches of famine. … In LA, you’re really just scrambling to even try to be part of the experiment . People are like, ‘Oh man, auditioning must be hard.’ And I say, ‘No, auditioning is a luxury.’

“Audition feels like you are on the party. You have passed the velvet rope. You might not be able to afford a drink at the party, but you’re in it, you can taste it. But so often in Hollywood, most of the time, you’re off that velvet rope. Most of the time the bouncer won’t even let you anywhere near it.”

Powell is set for the next lead The Running Man remake by Edgar Wright. He will also star in the new JJ Abrams film for Warner Bros., with Jenna Ortega in talks to join. Powell’s Twisters grossed more than $270 million at the global box office.