Is Glen Powell the New Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Although widely considered the natural successor to Tom Cruise, Glen Powell has a penchant for slightly off-kilter, genre-melding action movies, which connects him more closely to Schwarzenegger, argues Meg Walters.

There aren’t many people who could pull off an Arnold Schwarzenegger remake. But from the opening moments of Edgar Wright’s update of 1987’s The Running Man, I knew Glen Powell was the right guy for the job. We first meet Powell’s Ben Richards gazing through a grimy window with grim determination plastered in heavy-set lines across his face. It felt almost like a visual homage to Schwarzenegger. He’s the perfect image of steely, can-do spirit. In fact, in many ways, it could be argued that Powell is almost Schwarzenegger’s spiritual successor. 

Of course, I must preface this with an acknowledgement of their differences. Thirty-seven-year-old Powell, who hails from Texas, grew up playing lacrosse and football, and was briefly a member of a fraternity in college. He therefore comes with a built-in bro-y appeal. Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, grew up in Sixties Austria and, after beginning weight training as a teenager, went on to win the Mr Universe title at the age of 20 along with a further seven Mr Olympia titles. When he moved to the US at 21, he barely spoke any English. 

Despite their distinct backgrounds, they have each gravitated towards similar projects – and bring a similar energy to their roles. Both of their Hollywood breakouts came with roles that relied on their looks and physiques. For Schwarzenegger, this, of course, made perfect sense: brawn was his claim to fame. After a number of small projects throughout the Seventies – including an on-brand cameo as ‘Handsome Stranger’ in 1979’s Cactus Jack – Schwarzenegger snagged the lead in 1982’s Conan the Barbarian, which played to his strengths.

As the unstoppable warrior seeking revenge for his family’s murder, he’s in his element – all rippling, tanned muscles, flowing locks and gruff, brute expressions. This was, of course, followed closely by The Terminator in 1984, in which Schwarzenegger, as an unstoppable robot killer, proved his chops as a brutal, but iconic, action baddie.

Powell, by contrast, landed in Hollywood as the all-American boy. He brought the goofy charm of a stereotypical jock to 2016’s Everybody Wants Some!!! and played confident frat-boy types in Scream Queens (2015-2016) and the Netflix rom-com Set It Up (2018). In 2022, he lent cocky swagger to the part of Hangman in Top Gun: Maverick. Powell plays the talented, but smug, pilot with twinkling charm (and a Schwarzenegger-esque bare torso), elevating the archetypal bad-boy role. Ultimately, his cocksure golden boy is the film’s unlikely hero. He proves to be far more compelling than good guy Rooster, Miles Teller’s more careful, by-the-book pilot. 

In fact, Powell’s ballsy character, and his slick, confident performance, are often compared to Tom Cruise’s turn as Maverick in the iconic original. He’s therefore often positioned as a natural successor to Cruise. Indeed, the A-lister has taken Powell under his wing, showing up to the London premiere of The Running Man (as he did for 2024’s Twisters), and giving his apparent protégé ‘two and half hours’ of advice on being a bonafide action star and stuntman in the film. 

However, despite all of the Powell-Cruise comparisons, the younger star may have a little more in common with Schwarzenegger, since, like Arnie, he prefers action blockbusters with a twist, allowing him to parlay his natural, wry humour into something a little more experimental and weird. In fact, Powell and Schwarzenegger fit more comfortably into action films that actively play with genre, pushing its boundaries and demanding more than mere muscle of their stars. 

This brings us to The Running Man. A satirical dystopia based on a Stephen King novel, it sets the scene in an imagined not-so-distant future where the rich and poor are divided, and one of the only ways to make money is through degrading, even dangerous game shows on ‘The Network’. Ben Richards is desperate enough to sign himself up for The Running Man, a contest in which players are hunted down and killed in a sort of modern-day gladiator ring. In the remake, the hunt rages not only in the ring, but across the entire country with remote cameras closely following Ben as he fights for his life.

Both movies are action flicks shot through with self-referential satire. Although Wright’s take may be bigger, broader, more epic in scale, each one sends up their high-octane action sequences with knowing winks. And they require their heroes to be in on the joke. In the ’87 version, Schwarzenegger is almost a caricature of his typical hero, sending up his own famous ‘I’ll be back’ catchphrase from The Terminator and spouting out other comedic one-liners.

Consider his wide-eyed, joyful ‘give you a lift’ as he hoists up an enemy before tossing him over a balcony, or the pure cheese and utter commitment of ‘I live to see you eat that contract – but I hope you leave enough room for my fist, because I’m going to ram it into your stomach and break your goddamn spine!’  It’s utterly ridiculous – a silly, heightened spoof. Wright’s script takes a similar tone and Powell is up for the challenge, delivering his intense, glowering hero looks and equally over-the-top hero lines (‘I’m still here, ya shiteaters!’ and ‘Kiss my ass twice!’) with extra corny emphasis. 

But The Running Man films aren’t the only examples of Schwarzenegger and Powell playing with their established action-man personae. In James Cameron’s 1994 action-comedy True Lies, Schwarzenegger plays a secret agent on a globetrotting adventure, and is given an unironic romantic arc with Jamie Lee Curtis (who features as his wife, unaware of his espionage job). The film balances all three genres with surprising grace, as does Schwarzenegger, serving up brawny boldness, before flipping effortlessly into self-effacing comedy and then achieving full-on rom-com sweetness. The moment when he confesses his true identity to his wife is intimate, human and surprisingly moving. It’s a lot to ask of an actor in a single film.

Powell similarly showed his mastery over tone in 2023’s Hit Man, which, like True Lies, melds action, comedy and a love story. He stars as Gary Johnson, a dweeby professor turned suave faux contract killer, helping the police catch would-be murderers in the act. The role requires Powell to be sweet and simpering one moment then run, jump and shoot the next. He truly comes into his own as a romancer seducing Adria Arjona’s femme fatale, drawing on skills he finessed in Set It Up and Anyone But You (2023). Portraying this bad boy with a heart of gold, Powell dials up the danger, pulling a gun on his girlfriend’s ex with practised, sexy casualness.    

In The Running Man, Powell has shown himself to be a worthy successor of Schwarzenegger, because he has the same penchant for genre-defying, self-aware films that go beyond the predictable action playbook. Personally, I can only think of two actors who could carry off a death-defying action sequence abseiling down a building in nothing but a very well-tucked towel.

WATCH THE RUNNING MAN IN CINEMAS