Glen Powell defends 'Top Gun' dogfight football throws after Eli Manning trash talk Bryan Alexander, USA TODAYOctober 1, 2025 at 10:01 PM 0 Glen Powell accepted elite mentoring – and some Manningbrothers abuse – doing double quarterback duty in the Hulu sports comedy series "Chad Powers" (first epis...
- - Glen Powell defends 'Top Gun' dogfight football throws after Eli Manning trash talk
Bryan Alexander, USA TODAYOctober 1, 2025 at 10:01 PM
0
Glen Powell accepted elite mentoring – and some Manning-brothers abuse – doing double quarterback duty in the Hulu sports comedy series "Chad Powers" (first episodes now streaming).
Powell, 36, stars as both cocky college star Russ Holliday, who flames out on a nationally televised game, and as Holliday's goofy alter ego Chad Powers, who reboots the toxic career eight years later disguised with a wig and facial prosthetics.
Two-time Super Bowl champion Eli Manning, who created the Chad Powers character for a 2022 "Eli's Places" sketch, and ex-NFL QB brother Peyton Manning, added quarterback training to their executive producing duties for the six-part series.
But that expertise came with frequent mocking about Powell's football-throwing style seen in the famed dogfight football game in "Top Gun: Maverick."
"Eli wanted to make sure Glen looked like an elite college, pro-caliber quarterback," says Michael Waldron, who created "Chad Powers" with Powell. "And that meant busting Glen about his football throwing in 'Top Gun' a lot, probably to create a sense of insecurity."
Glen Powell throws the pigskin in Hulu's "Chad Powers."
Powell, who played high school football in Austin, Texas, accepted the Manning-ribbing. But he happily rattles off his slippery excuses about those shirtless "Top Gun" throws.
"First off, we were essentially throwing a Nerf football and it was covered in coconut oil," says Powell. "Because 'Top Gun' dogfight football was not about football, it was about flexing. Everyone knows that was not representative of my throw."
Even with the jokes, the quarterback play and the realistic football action are the biggest surprises about "Chad Powers." Powell polished his throwing mechanics with NFL superstar Patrick Mahomes' off-season training coach Nic Shimonek while the Manning brothers went "granular" in their training.
"I didn't expect them to be making comments like telling me, 'You weren't looking at the safety in that play,'" says Powell. "Eli was adamant that I had to take these things in, even something as small as honing my signature superstition before snapping the ball. Is he licking his fingers? I always ask 'why?' when playing a character. It was fun that the 'why?' came from the Mannings."
"Chad Powers" creators Glen Powell and Michael Waldron are aiming for a new season and more star cameos. "It's Taylor Swift or bust for Season 2," says Waldron.'Chad Powers' star Glen Powell scrambled from former NFL stars: 'Terrified'
In the show's opening Rose Bowl game, featuring University of Oregon Ducks star Holliday's total implosion, the football action coordinated by Game Changing Films is realistic, with former NFL players pursuing.
"The guys rushing me used to play for the Baltimore Ravens and were the biggest humans I've ever seen up close. They were moving at me with unfathomable speed," says Powell. "I was legitimately terrified. But it's an all-immersive sequence. That was one of the foundational aspects of this show, that people buy into the premise."
College football nut Waldron was "starstruck" working in Pasadena's Rose Bowl announcer booth for scenes with college football announcers Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler. The well-known duo calling Holliday's career-ending endzone fumble and ensuing on-camera meltdown add to the reality.
Eli Manning's cameo in a later episode, as an opposing coach watching Chad Power's lethal game, features an unlikely expletive from the wholesome commentator.
"I don't think we got any takes where Eli wasn't swearing," says Waldron. "He was totally game and funny. The original Chad Powers sketch was built on Eli's comedic ability, improvising while playing football."
Disgraced quarterback Russ Holliday (Glen Powell) drives a Tesla Cybertruck in "Chad Powers."Glen Powell does not miss Cybertruck: He will 'stick with my Ram truck'
After his total TV collapse, the cocky Holliday becomes even more of a jerk, wearing a beanie hat at Hollywood clubs with sad hangers-ons and driving a Tesla Cybertruck.
"We thought it was a funny car. And the more we wrote the funnier it got," says Waldron. "It's the perfect Russ Holliday vehicle, pure flash that he probably can't afford."
Powell was not impressed with the expensive electric ride.
"I'll say one thing about being in a Cybertruck for as long as I've been," says Powell. "I'm going to stick with my Ram truck."
Will there be 'Chad Powers' Season 2?
Holliday gets inspiration to change his identity to Chad Powers because his father Mike (Toby Huss) is a Hollywood prosthetics expert working on a Michael Bay version of the Davy Crockett story. With the ludicrous movie concept a running theme, director Bay gets lightly toasted in the series.
"I saw him a couple of nights ago, and he absolutely loves it," says Powell.
"The wheels are already in motion for a Michael Bay cameo should the world respond to 'Chad Powers,'" says Waldron. "We're setting our sites for cameos, it's Taylor Swift or bust for Season 2."
While Hulu has not greenlit a Season 2, Powell is intent on working the TV comedy into one of Hollywood's busiest schedules (next stop is the November release of the "Running Man" movie reboot).
"The 'Chad Powers' cameras are not rolling yet," says Powell. "But TV is a great democracy. If the people want it, we will serve it up."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Chad Powers' Glen Powell got Eli Manning training, 'Top Gun' bashing
Source: "AOL AOL Entertainment"
Source: ANIO MAG
Full Article on Source: ANIO MAG
#LALifestyle #USCelebrities