Glen Powell Rick Kern/Getty Photos for Netflix
For Glen Powell, being part of The Blue Angels documentary after starring within the blockbuster Prime Gun: Maverick was a real full-circle second.
“I keep in mind as a child going with my grandfather, my mother and my aunts and my cousins and all of us had the identical kind of expertise,” Powell, 35, solely recalled to Us Weekly. “From all ages group, everyone was trying on the sky with that very same kind of reverence.”
Powell referred to as the pilots, who took footage and signed autographs once they got here again to the bottom, “actual meta” characters who “represented the very best of the Navy and the very best [of] america.”
“It’s virtually not possible to look at a Blue Angels present and never be simply fully awestruck by what’s taking place and the way it’s even doable,” he advised Us.
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Powell famous that The Blue Angels, which is the elite naval flight demonstration squadron, are an “entry-point” for a lot of of these fascinated with aviation. Powell speaks from firsthand expertise — he stored a poster of the squadron in his bed room till he left for school.
“I simply felt like they’re simply such an inspirational and aspirational group,” Powell mentioned. “For me, clearly, attending to develop up with that on my bed room wall is one factor, however to additionally make Prime Gun and to make Devotion and fly with the Blues and really feel just like the aviation neighborhood has actually been such an necessary a part of my life.”
After starring in 2022’s Prime Gun: Maverick as Lt. Jake “Hangman” Seresin and 2022’s Devotion as Tom Hudner, each of whom had been fictional pilots, Powell ventured into nonfiction. He produced the brand new IMAX documentary The Blue Angels alongside J.J. Abrams and others. The doc follows the Navy and Marine Corps flight squadron via a 12 months of coaching with never-before-seen footage filmed particularly for IMAX, the place it began solely taking part in on Friday, Might 17.
“I simply really feel prefer it was such a privilege to kind of put these heroes on the display on this,” Powell mentioned, including that the Blue Angels are “an incredible staff.” He famous that there’s a “degree of belief between these guys that’s so extraordinary.”
Powell — who was just lately on the large display within the blockbuster romcom Anybody However You — even had an opportunity to fly in a Blue Angels present within the No. 4 airplane, which he referred to as a “actually loopy dynamic place.” Whereas Powell thought issues went “good,” he returned to the bottom and there was nonetheless extra work to do.
“They broke down your complete present by way of footage and errors they made and the way there was room for enchancment, and it all the time reminds you, identical to with an incredible sports activities staff, within the pursuit of perfection, it’s by no means achieved,” he mentioned. “There was this kind of humility in these nice athletes.”
He famous that “these guys are pushing their our bodies to the brink” and but they’re “by no means happy with the established order.”
“They’re all the time pushing to be higher and that’s what it takes to maintain one another secure up there, by no means getting complacent,” he mentioned. “So to actually get a way the human ingredient in that airplane was a extremely cool a part of this that I feel makes this documentary actually completely different.”
The Blue Angels is solely in IMAX theaters via Might 22 and can begin streaming Thursday, Might 23, on Prime Video.
With reporting by Andrea Simpson
