Glen Powell revealed the cruel words he once received from Lorne Michaels as the Hollywood actor made his SNL hosting debut.
The 37-year-old star – who recently took on a leading role in the dystopian action thriller The Running Man – reflected on how he once had the chance to host SNL, but the offer was rescinded four years earlier.
During his opening monologue, Powell expressed how it was a ‘dream come true’ to finally be on the SNL stage.
‘And true story, I was actually supposed to host four years ago for Top Gun: Maverick and when I got the call I was on a porch with my family and we just all lost our minds. We were jumping up and down celebrating.’
However, the Anyone But You actor added that his ‘dream got taken away’ due to Top Gun being ‘delayed’ during the Covid-19 pandemic.
‘So, SNL had to take their offer back. Lorne Michaels literally called me and said without Top Gun – and these were his words, “No one will know who the f- you are,”‘ he recalled with a smirk.
Glen Powell revealed the cruel words he once received from Lorne Michaels as the Hollywood actor made his SNL hosting debut
The actor reflected on how he once had the chance to host SNL, but the offer was rescinded four years earlier; Lorne Michaels seen in 2024 in NYC
Powell also told the story about the moment he had been offered to host SNL four years earlier.
When he got the call while with his family, a UPS driver had been dropping off a package ‘at that exact same moment.’
The star continued, ‘And he was like, “What is going on?” And I was like, “I’m hosting SNL!” And he was like, “Are you serious?” And I’m like, “Yep, Christmas episode. Tune in.”‘
Powell shared that both he and his family took a selfie with the UPS driver ‘to mark the occasion.’
But since the star ended up not hosting at the time, it meant that the driver ‘was just going around saying Glen Powell is a liar.’
He explained that some of his family was able to track down the UPS worker and found his phone number.
‘I flew him all the way to New York,’ Powell revealed, causing the audience to let out cheers of excitement. ‘But I flew him here. He thought it was a scam but he still came. And he is sitting in the audience tonight.’
The camera jumped over to show the UPS driver sitting amongst the crowd and the actor called him up onto the SNL stage.
‘And true story, I was actually supposed to host four years ago for Top Gun: Maverick and when I got the call I was on a porch with my family and we just all lost our minds. We were jumping up and down celebrating’
‘So, SNL had to take their offer back. Lorne Michaels literally called me and said without Top Gun – and these were his words, “No one will know who the f- you are,”‘ Powell added
Powell shared that both he and his family took a selfie with the UPS driver ‘to mark the occasion’
But since the star ended up not hosting at the time, it meant that the driver ‘was just going around saying Glen Powell is a liar’
‘I flew him all the way to New York,’ Powell revealed, causing the audience to let out cheers of excitement. ‘But I flew him here. He thought it was a scam but he still came. And he is sitting in the audience tonight’
The pair then had a sweet moment as they took another selfie together live on television for a ‘full circle’ moment
The pair then had a sweet moment as they took another selfie together live on television for a ‘full circle’ moment.
‘Look, I had to wait my entire life plus four years to be here. But if I have learned anything, it is that the best things in life don’t happen overnight. And no one knows that better than UPS,’ Powell joked, concluding the monologue.
Powell had the chance to show off his comedic skills as he took part in a number of sketches during the latest SNL episode – with Olivia Dean the musical guest.
Shortly before taking on hosting duties, the Twisters actor told People that it all felt very ‘surreal.’
He expressed, ‘It’s a really wonderful moment when your childhood dreams get to come true. I’ve been waiting to be on that stage for as long as I can remember.’
While it was his first time hosting, the star made a brief cameo appearance on SNL last year when Sydney Sweeney hosted.
Powell’s new movie The Running Man recently hit theaters on November 14 – and is based on the 1982 Stephen King novel.
The book was previously adapted for the big screen in 1987 and had starred Arnold Schwarzenegger.
‘Look, I had to wait my entire life plus four years to be here. But if I have learned anything, it is that the best things in life don’t happen overnight. And no one knows that better than UPS,’ Powell joked, concluding the monologue
He expressed, ‘It’s a really wonderful moment when your childhood dreams get to come true. I’ve been waiting to be on that stage for as long as I can remember’; seen during SNL promos on Tuesday
Other cast members alongside Powell include Lee Pace, William H. Macy, Michael Cera, Emilia Jones, Josh Brolin and Colman Domingo.
The premise is: ‘A man joins a game show in which contestants, allowed to go anywhere in the world, are pursued by “hunters” hired to kill them,’ per IMDB.
During a recent interview with IndieWire, Powell reflected on working on the movie and immersing himself in the sci-fi genre.
‘It’s what makes sci-fi one of my favorite genres. It allows you to separate yourself and just kind of be on the ride watching the movie.’
He added, ‘People are on the edge of their seat watching this movie, taking it all in because it’s relentless. And then I’m getting these calls a day or two later, “We are living in The Running Man.” And I’m like, yeah.’
‘It’s what makes sci-fi one of my favorite genres. It allows you to separate yourself and just kind of be on the ride watching the movie,’ Powell said; seen above in The Running Man
The star also shared, ‘Talking to Stephen King after he saw the movie, he just lost his mind over it: “This is just a wall to wall, fun, adrenaline-filled action movie, but it’s also a movie of our time”‘; seen earlier this month in NYC
The actor also shared what Stephen King thought about the film.
‘Talking to Stephen King after he saw the movie, he just lost his mind over it: “This is just a wall to wall, fun, adrenaline-filled action movie, but it’s also a movie of our time.”‘
Powell continued, ‘It causes you to reckon with a lot. Where we are and how we ended up here.’
Schwarzenegger also ‘loved’ the film, with the star telling the outlet, ‘We talked to Arnold before the movie started and we talked to him about our way into the story, which is much more loyal to the Stephen King book.’
