There’s something delightfully absurd about Glen Powell becoming the face of “the American man” in the October issue of GQ USA. Photographed by Bobby Doherty, the shoot leans hard into humor, but what Powell brings is less parody and more sincerity. He is self-aware, playful, and quietly aware of his own good looks. The images are fun, but the backstory is where you really see the man taking shape.
When Powell was in his twenties, still starving for a break in Hollywood, he did something that feels almost embarrassingly earnest: he wrote a letter to Sylvester Stallone. Stallone was casting The Expendables 3, a film that threw together a roster of aging action stars. Powell, then unknown and hungry in every sense, told Stallone about growing up in Texas, where his basement doubled as a shooting range, his uncles taught him to fight, and his childhood was a blur of dodging danger. It reads like Americana by way of summer camp, but Powell wasn’t embellishing. This was his origin story.
The film industry, he says, moves like a pendulum. Or, in his own words: “Hollywood, for the most part, is kids on a soccer field chasing a ball.” Until fairly recently, Powell wasn’t even on the field. Back in 2008, the cultural obsession was with Twilight—brooding vampires and waifish male leads who looked like they hadn’t eaten a proper meal in months. “Robert Pattinson was probably the prototype,” Powell recalls. It was the era of tortured romantic heroes, not brash Texas boys writing letters to Rocky.
That’s what makes this GQ spread feel important. It’s not just about showing skin or flexing muscle; it’s about reclaiming an archetype. Powell embodies the American man not as myth, but as personality. He’s wry, confident, and willing to laugh at himself, which is exactly why he works here.
Credits:
Photography by Bobby Doherty
Styling by Tobias Frericks
Grooming by Larry King at A-Frame Agency
Special effects by Tilda Mace
Set design by Josh Stovell for Lalaland
Production by Rosco Production
