Tom Cruise left co-star Glen Powell speechless with one brutal truth about his running

Hollywood's biggest action star just delivered some tough love.

Glen Powell thought he was ready for anything after surviving Top Gun: Maverick.

But Tom Cruise left co-star Glen Powell speechless with one brutal truth about his running.

Tom Cruise schools Glen Powell on how not to die

Glen Powell has quickly become Hollywood's go-to action star after Top Gun: Maverick catapulted him to A-list status.

But when it came time to film dangerous stunts for The Running Man, Powell knew exactly who to call for advice.

Tom Cruise didn't disappoint.

What Powell expected to be a quick 10-minute phone call turned into a marathon 2.5-hour masterclass on survival.

"Tom rang me to give me the low down and, what I thought would be a 10-minute call, lasted two and half hours — he basically told me how not to die!" Powell revealed on The Graham Norton Show.¹

The Mission: Impossible star shared detailed insights from his decades of death-defying stunts, including hanging off airplanes and scaling the world's tallest buildings.

Cruise has broken bones, endured countless injuries, and pushed the limits of what's physically possible on camera.

His track record speaks for itself — at 62, he's still performing stunts that would terrify actors half his age.

For Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Cruise dangled from an upside-down plane and drove a motorcycle off a 7,000-foot cliff.²

Powell was facing his own brutal challenge: abseiling down eight stories of a building in freezing conditions while half-naked.

"I had to abseil down eight stories of a building in freezing conditions half naked and wearing a harness which cinched me — believe me nothing looked good," Powell explained.³

The stunt required multiple takes while a crew member's only job was preventing Powell from accidentally kicking windows.

That's when Cruise delivered his most humbling piece of advice.

The running reality check that stung

Cruise wasn't finished schooling Powell after the safety lecture.

The seasoned action veteran had one more brutal truth to share.

"He also gave me running lessons. He said, 'You should film yourself running because you don't look as cool as you think you do.' He was so right," Powell admitted.⁴

That stung.

Powell thought he had the action hero look down pat after Top Gun: Maverick made him one of Hollywood's hottest stars.

Cruise quickly burst that bubble with trademark honesty.

The advice reflects Cruise's obsessive attention to detail when it comes to on-screen authenticity.

Every movement, every gesture, every sprint needs to look believable to audiences who've seen decades of action movies.

Cruise has spent 30 years perfecting his craft, training like a high-performance athlete for each role.

"I went from going, 'Oh, I'm an actor on a movie,' to 'I'm a high-performance athlete,'" Powell explained about his Running Man preparation.⁵

The transformation required months of intensive physical training to handle the demanding action sequences.

The Running Man puts Powell through a gauntlet of practical stunts that would challenge even veteran action stars.

The mentor who changed everything

Cruise's relationship with Powell goes far beyond casual Hollywood friendship.

The mentorship began when Powell originally auditioned for Bradley Bradshaw's role in Top Gun: Maverick but lost out to Miles Teller.

Most movie stars wouldn't bother calling the guy who didn't get the part.

Cruise isn't most movie stars.

"No movie star calls the guy that doesn't get the role," Powell noted about Cruise's unexpected follow-up call.⁶

That conversation convinced Powell to take the Hangman role instead, a decision that transformed his career.

Since then, Cruise has become Powell's go-to resource for navigating Hollywood's biggest challenges.

When Powell needed prosthetic makeup advice for his Chad Powers series, Cruise was his first call because of his Tropic Thunder transformation.⁷

"I definitely always use him as a resource. He's kind of played every character in the book," Powell explained.

The relationship represents something rare in Hollywood — genuine mentorship between established stars and rising talent.

Cruise doesn't just offer advice; he invests hours helping younger actors avoid career-ending mistakes.

"He's such a great friend and such a great mentor and it's been such a special part of my life," Powell shared.⁸

Powell has applied Cruise's lessons beyond stunt work, using the veteran's approach to project selection and character development.

The mentorship even extends to managing sudden fame, with Cruise warning Powell that "the world's going to become really loud" after success hits.⁹

The Running Man hits theaters November 14 and early reactions suggest Powell successfully absorbed Cruise's training.

https://twitter.com/_filmcrave/status/1988306081836397011

Critics are calling it "action-packed" and praising Powell's "emotionally grounded performance" in what could be his breakthrough leading role.¹⁰

Stephen King himself called the film a "bipartisan thrill ride" after seeing Edgar Wright's faithful adaptation of his novel.¹¹

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¹ Tom Cruise and Glen Powell, "The Graham Norton Show," Fox News, November 9, 2025.

² The Hollywood Reporter, "13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts," May 25, 2025.

³ Fox News, "Tom Cruise tells Glen Powell 'how not to die' in lengthy stunt safety call," November 9, 2025.

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ CBR, "Tom Cruise Had to Convince Glen Powell to Do Top Gun: Maverick," September 9, 2025.

⁶ The Hollywood Reporter, "'Top Gun' Star Glen Powell on Tom Cruise and NAVY Pilot Training," May 27, 2022.

⁷ The Hollywood Reporter, "Glen Powell: Tom Cruise Was First Call for 'Chad Powers' Prosthetic Advice," September 26, 2025.

⁸ E! News, "Glen Powell Details Friendship With Mentor Tom Cruise," July 12, 2024.

⁹ CBS News, "Glen Powell reveals advice 'Top Gun: Maverick' co-star Tom Cruise gave him," June 7, 2024.

¹⁰ CinemaBlend, "The Running Man Has Screened, And The First Reactions," November 5, 2025.

¹¹ Screen Rant, "Stephen King's Review For The Running Man Remake Finally Revealed," November 6, 2025.