Glen Powell Recounts Being Kicked out of VIP Afterparty for His Movie by a Bouncer: "I Got Hit"

Glen Powell, now a famous Hollywood star, recently reflected on a saddening experience from the early days of his career. During an interview with Hollywood Reporter, Powell shared a bizarre and somewhat embarrassing incident from 2014, when he starred in The Expendables 3. At the time, Powell was still a rising actor, having landed the role of Thorn, a highly trained hacker, in the star-studded action film. The movie featuring Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Antonio Banderas, Wesley Snipes, and Jason Statham, made him feel like an outsider among the legendary cast.

Reflecting on the same, Powell shared, "I'm in Cannes for the Film Festival, we're driving tanks down the Croisette. They have all these character banners that are draped on the Carlton Hotel. I did the movie ‘Expendables 3’ — it’s like Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Antonio Banderas, Wesley Snipes, and Jason Statham. Somehow I’m the random guy who snuck in. So, I’m like the only unknown person in a cast of legends. I got kicked out of the VIP section of the Expendables 3 party. It got kind of physical. There was a large bouncer who was convinced that I shouldn’t be in the VIP section, so it kind of turned into a physical altercation where I got hit in the face...cause no one recognized me even though there was a banner in the party, of my face.” Powell quipped, “Just because you’ve got a banner doesn’t mean you’re getting in the party.”

Fast forward a decade, and Powell’s career has taken off. He gained widespread acclaim for his role in the 2022 blockbuster, Top Gun: Maverick and the 2023 hit romantic comedy, Anyone but You, alongside Sydney Sweeney. As per HuffPost, the film’s grand success solidified his status as a leading man in Hollywood. His on-screen chemistry with Sweeney in the movie sparked rumors of a real-life romance, although both have denied the speculations. Sweeney remains happily engaged to her fiancé Jonathan Davino, while Powell recently split from his girlfriend, Gigi Paris.

As per The Sun, an insider revealed, "To be honest, we thought they were already a couple. That’s what it looked like to most of us. And to some of the extras as well. There was talk about it during production breaks that they seemed close from day one." Earlier, in an interview, Powell remarked, "Sydney and I want to get back in the trenches together on all of it."

He explained, "It's when you find somebody that you have a great creative partnership with, somebody that you can trust, somebody that treats the crew and their co-stars well...She's such a smart businesswoman, you wanna just keep doing that. There's no reason to do it any other way." Reflecting on his journey, Powell remains grateful for the opportunities and experiences that have shaped his career.