Glen Powell Credits Hoda And Jenna For Getting Him ‘Twisters’ Role

Did Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager help Glen Powell land his latest film role? Sort of.

The rising star stopped by TODAY’s fourth hour July 17 to discuss his experience playing a rodeo star-turned-tornado chaser in the new film “Twisters.” During the interview, Jenna couldn’t help but playfully remind Powell that she met him before all of his “crazy success.”

“I remember at that dinner all of your friends were like, ‘He’s going to be huge!’ And you kind of were like, ‘OK, guys, shh.’ And they were like, ‘Book him on your show!’ And we did and we’re thrilled that the director of (‘Twisters’) watched our show and then hired you because of it,” she said.

Powell also remembered the moment with fondness and played along, saying, “The biggest reason that I’m in ‘Twisters’ at all is because of you guys.”

The actor went on to recall the interview, which took place in 2022 on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna.

“We had a great segment where I think I was promoting ‘Devotion’ at the time, and I got to bring my parents on. And we had this great conversation,” he said. “And (the director of ‘Twisters’) watched that interview and said, ‘This is the guy.’”

Lee Isaac Chung, who is known for his work on “Minari” and “The Mandalorian,” directed “Twisters.”

Jenna marveled at the fateful series of events and said, “I mean, that’s crazy.”

Earlier on in the conversation, Hoda had teased Powell, saying that Jenna had DMed him on Instagram the night before and asked for his phone number, per the urging of her co-workers. Even though Jenna noticed that he was “active” on the social media platform and logged in, Hoda said he hadn’t sent her his phone number by the time she went to bed.

Jenna explained that her co-workers put her up to it so they could “FaceTime you on the show,” and Powell later confirmed that he had replied to her, just after she went to sleep.

Powell then jokingly said, “I really feel bad about this number thing, now.”

“You owe me a DM. I go to bed before 9:50, but thank you for sliding in (to my DMs),” Jenna said.

(“Twisters” comes from Universal Pictures which is part of our parent company, NBCUniversal.)