Glen Powell is coming into the prime years of his career. Thanks to a memorable performance as Jake "Hangman" Seresin, he's finally become the household name he always sought to be.
Recently, Glen stopped by The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon to discuss his newfound friendship with co-star, Tom Cruise and revealed the truth behind a terrifying skydiving incident that nearly took his life.
Glen was able to land brief cameos in several blockbuster films early on in his career — including The Dark Knight Rises and The Expendables 3. But it wasn't until he played Chad Radwell in Ryan Murphy's horror/comedy series Scream Queens that people truly began to take notice. Now, thanks to his memorable role as Jake "Hangman" Seresin in Top Gun: Maverick, Glen has finally become a household name.
Tom saw Glen's love of flying begin to develop as filming progressed, and decided to gift him flying lessons as a Christmas present. After his final check-ride in the licensing process, Glen arrived back on the ground and got to the hangar to find a note from Tom that said, "Welcome to the skies." The note also just so happened to include a certificate for stunt driving lessons.
Speaking of skydiving, Tom also arranged for Glen's first jump, which coincidentally took place on the second date Glen had with his current girlfriend. Tom wasn't there but he left specific instructions that Glen wasn't to jump with anyone — he had to do a solo dive. Everything started off fine, but as soon as Glen jumped out of the plane, he discovered that the pull tab to eject his parachute was missing.
After a few more seconds passed (hours to Glen), he was finally able to find the cord and release his parachute — far below the suggested altitude for ejection. He came in hot and the landing was a little rough but stuck it nonetheless. The entire experience was so exhilarating that Glen decided he wanted to go again and went up in the plane for a second jump — leaving his poor girlfriend on the ground, looking up to the sky in horror.
