When you’ve starred in a billion dollar movie with Tom Cruise and revived the theatrical romantic comedy with Sydney Sweeney, what do you do next?
For Glen Powell, the answer is simple: go back to school.
In addition to promoting his latest film “Twisters” — which topped the box office with its $80 million opening weekend — and shooting director Edgar Wright’s remake of 1987’s “The Running Man”, Powell is making time to finally get his degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
Powell attended his hometown University as a teenager, but dropped out to pursue his dream of making it in Hollywood. Over the years, he has taken classes to get the credits he needs to graduate. Initially he had planned to graduate this past spring, but things were delayed when his career took off.
“I kept telling my friends I was going to throw the grad party of the century,” he told the Hollywood Reporter in May.
Now, however, Powell is making it work. As he prepares to shoot his newest movie in London, Powell is fitting classes into his schedule.
“Edgar [Wright] has been very nice about letting me finish my degree in the middle of his massive movie,” he said in an interview with IndieWire this week.
“I’m not going to be sitting in class with other students on the regular,” Powell explained. “But I am going to be going back for proctored exams. So, they’re letting me figure it out [with] distance learning. And I’m obviously going to be Zooming in for classes and whatnot.”
For Powell, graduating from UT Austin is about more than the degree. In the keynote address he delivered last year at the university’s Moody College, the Texas native said he learned the school’s famous “Hook ’em Horns” gesture before he could walk.
“No matter where I am in the world, I have never missed watching a Texas-OU game,” he said. “My grandparents met on this campus. My parents are both Longhorns. My sister’s a Longhorn. My cousins are Longhorns.”
With just a few credits separating him from joining the rest of his family as a UT alumnus, Powell isn’t going to let Hollywood stardom stop him.
“I think it’s really important to my mom and it’s more of an emotional thing for me,” he told THR. “Plus, I’m so close I can taste it.”
Want to stop worrying about money? Sign up for CNBC’s new online course Achieve Financial Wellness: Be Happier, Wealthier & More Financially Secure. We’ll teach you the psychology of money, how to manage your stress and create healthy habits, and simple ways to boost your savings, get out of debt and invest for the future. Start today and use code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 30% off through September 2, 2024.
Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.
