Glen Powell credits Chris Pratt with major change in Hollywood’s leading men standard

Glen Powell has praised Chris Pratt for changing the landscape of Hollywood leading men.

In a new GQ magazine cover story, Powell said Pratt’s breakout role in Marvel’s 2014 film Guardians of the Galaxy marked a shift in how studios viewed male stars, moving away from the dominance of “brooding or dark” actors such as Christian Bale and Robert Pattinson.

“I remember when Chris Pratt broke out in Guardians of the Galaxy,” Powell recalled. “There’s no doubt it really helped — not being brooding or dark. Like, I’m not Christian Bale. Christian Bale has a gravitas and a weight, and Pattinson had his thing. And when Pratt kind of appeared on the scene where he was doing things that were a little more silly and buoyant, that’s where I feel most at home.”

Powell, who had a small part in The Expendables 3 the same year Guardians was released, said Pratt’s example showed Hollywood that “sillier” and more “buoyant” performances could succeed.

He now sees himself as part of that change, adding: “I feel like I had a gear that is a necessary flavour in terms of Hollywood, and not a gear that a lot of guys can play.”

Now considered one of Hollywood’s rising stars, Powell has appeared in Anyone but You and Twisters, and will headline Edgar Wright’s The Running Man in November.