Glenn Powell is coming clean on how he once thought his performance in Hidden Figures may have ruined the biographical drama film.
In fact, the actor, 35, who played real-life astronaut John Glenn, confessed he vomited outside a studio lot after watching a rough cut of the movie while appearing on the Therapuss with Jake Shane podcast.
‘It does get in your own head. People forget that when you’re watching a rough cut of a movie, it’s probably like watching the footage of yourself that you’re having to edit. So you sit there and you’re like, “I hate myself.”‘
‘I remember watching [Hidden Figures] for the first time on the Fox lot – and this was before all the effects were done, the music was in [and] the sound design – and I literally left the movie, and I puked in the bushes.’
‘I thought I ruined this movie. I was like, all these women put in these great performances and it’s like the legacy of these women – I was like, “I literally ruined this movie.” It feels like the most atrocious thing you can do as an actor is just be terrible in a movie about real-life people that need a real-life story.’
Glen Powell, 35, had such a strong reaction to watching the film Hidden Figures the first time during an early rough cut that he vomited outside the studio thinking he ruined it
For Hidden Figures, Powell played a true American hero in astronaut John Glenn, who has the distinction of being the third American in space and first American to orbit the Earth
The Austin, Texas native says he left the studio feeling like he’d done some sort of disservice to the memory of the women who helped get America to the moon during the Space Race leading up to the 1960s, as well as his other co-stars.
Hidden Figures tells the story of three female African-American mathematicians: Katherine Goble Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) who worked for NASA as the U.S. and Soviet Union battled it out in the race to achieve superior spaceflight supremacy.
Directed by Theodore Melfi, who worked from a screenplay he co-wrote with Allison Schroeder, Hidden Figures is loosely based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly.
Not only did it showcase the high drama Space Race, it also highlighted the racism and segregated facilities the three Black ladies faced at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia and in their everyday lives in the 1960s.
Along with Henson, Spencer and Monáe, the cast also featured the likes of Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali and Aldis Hodge.
By playing John Glenn, who has the distinction of being the third American in space and first American to orbit the Earth, Powell stepped into the shoes of a true American hero.
That too could have played a role in the pressure Powell felt in holding up his end in the production as an actor.
Following its release in December 2016 the movie went on to gross $236.2 million at the worldwide box office against a budget of $25 million, making it a bonafide hit.
!['I remember watching [Hidden Figures] for the first time on the Fox lot – and this was before all the effects were done, the music was in [and] the sound design – and I literally left the movie, and I puked in the bushes'; seen in a still](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/26/04/85343981-13460657-As_an_astronaut_Glenn_relied_on_the_mathematics_of_his_spaceflig-a-17_1716692796656.jpg)
‘I remember watching [Hidden Figures] for the first time on the Fox lot – and this was before all the effects were done, the music was in [and] the sound design – and I literally left the movie, and I puked in the bushes’; seen in a still
Janelle Monae, Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer play three female African-American mathematicians who are working for NASA during the Space Race into the 1960s
Along with the three leading ladies, Powell also thought he let down his other co-stars such as Kevin Costner and Jim Parsons
Powell is currently promoting his new romantic action film Hit Man, for which he plays the lead role and co-wrote the screenplay with director Richard Linklater
Although the mathematicians were ultimately replaced by electronic computers, Mary Jackson went on to earn her engineering degree and became NASA’s first female African American engineer.
As for Dorothy Vaughan, she continued on as NASA’s first African American supervisor for years, while Katherine Goble Johnson was accepted by Stafford as a report co-author, who would go on to calculate the trajectories for the Apollo 11 and Space Shuttle missions.
Powell is currently out promoting his new romantic action comedy film Hit Man, for which he plays the lead role that’s now available to stream on Netflix.
He also co-wrote the screenplay with Richard Linklater, who serves as the director of the feature that follows an undercover police contractor who poses as a reliable hit man as he tries to save a woman in need.
Laura Davis is an entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to Broadway, she offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
