During an appearance on the Nov. 7 episode of The Graham Norton Show, Glen Powell revealed that Tom Cruise offered his Top Gun: Maverick co-star some advice on “how not to die” before shooting one particularly risky Running Man stunt.
Cruise Offered Sage Advice
“I had to abseil down eight stories of a building in freezing conditions half naked and wearing a harness which cinched me. Believe me, nothing looked good,” Powell said of the sequence. “The crazy thing I found out after was that there was a guy whose only job was to stop me kicking a window—which means he was looking up my skirt all night. I wondered what he was seeing, take after take!”
Before shooting the complicated stunt, Powell received a call from Cruise offering him some undiluted advice on how to handle himself onscreen. “Tom rang me to give me the low down and, what I thought would be a 10-minute call, lasted two and a half hours,” Powell recalled. “He basically told me how not to die!”
‘You Don’t Look as Cool as You Think’
Powell continued of Cruise’s tutelage: “He also gave me running lessons. He said, ‘You should film yourself running because you don’t look as cool as you think you do.’ He was so right!”
Cruise has already praised Powell’s Running Man performance, posting a photo of himself and the star at the premiere alongside an effusive review. “Another great night out with my friends at the movies!” Cruise wrote. “You guys crushed it, congratulations! I laughed, was on the edge of my seat, and ate way too much popcorn.”
The Running Man is in cinemas from Nov. 14.
Tom Cruise Advised Glen Powell ‘How Not to Die’ for This ‘Running Man’ Stunt
