Actor Glen Powell on Medal of Honor recipients: 'They are the best of us in the greatest way'

He's starred as Marine Corps aviator (and famed astronaut) John Glenn in "Hidden Figures." He's played Army Sgt. Chutsky in the Iraq War drama "Sand Castle." And he's back in the cockpit this fall as Lt. j.g. Tom Hudner, a real-life Medal of Honor recipient who was given the award of valor for his actions as a U.S. Navy pilot in the Korean War.

Despite his many turns as an American warrior – and extensive preparation for the parts – actor Glen Powell offers he's a bit nervous to be in the company of 34 Medal of Honor recipients when he comes to Knoxville this weekend to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor Society's Bob Hope Award.

"I'm looking forward to listening. Listening and taking it all in," Powell said. "That's for me what the room is about.

"I wouldn't know what else to do. I mean, I don't often get star-struck but I feel like in this room I'll probably be very quiet and humbled by it all, and just taking it all in."

Powell spoke to Knox News editor Joel Christopher on Thursday from the Toronto International Film Festival, where "Devotion" premieres Monday.  "Devotion" will be released widely on Nov. 23.

More details: 'Top Gun: Maverick' star Glen Powell coming to Knoxville for Medal of Honor Celebration's Bob Hope Award

Our history: World War I vet John Calvin Ward came home with the Medal of Honor, but never left the war

Powell, 34, is carving out time away from the premiere events to fly to Knoxville for Saturday's Medal of Honor Gala before returning to the film fest – his parents will join him in Knoxville to see him receive the award, and travel with him to Toronto for his film's premiere.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

CHRISTOPHER: You've been acting a long time and you've played a wide range of characters. You've played everything from romantic leads to astronaut John Glenn to the fictional pilot "Hangman" in "Top Gun: Maverick." What's driven you to choose the roles that you've chosen?

POWELL: That's a great question. You know, it's hard to define what gets you up in the morning, but I think at the end of the day when you're embodying any character, you have to really have some sort of emotional connection or some sort of fascination with them.

I mean, as far as military roles go, I think there was a large section of my young life when I thought about joining the military – I come from a military family.

And I think a lot of movies that I responded to, when I was younger, were military movies. I always just found it to be just a beautiful thing that someone's willing to put themselves in harm's way to protect the rest of us and those ideals and those freedoms.

So, yeah, I've always been drawn to those kind of characters. I feel like I've always been good at those kinds of characters because I feel like I surround myself, I have a lot of friends that have been in those worlds. And I have immense respect for it.

(Actor Kevin) Costner told me this really great thing when we were shooting "Hidden Figures," which is, "The movies you choose, the roles you play, they are your epitaph. It's a great privilege to make movies in which these things will live on after you're gone. Choose movies correctly.'

Choose movies, right? Because those are the ideas that you believe in, these are the things that will outlast you. And I think that's one of the things that I'm thinking about recently. What are the ideas that I want to put out in the world, and what's going to give people joy or make people think or make people feel?

CHRISTOPHER: You said you have military ties in your family?

POWELL: I do, yeah. One of my grandfathers was in the Marines and one was in the Navy.

CHRISTOPHER: Some of your roles have focused on aviation, including your upcoming role in "Devotion" as U.S. Navy pilot Tom Hudner. Tell me a little bit about what drew you to that role and what that film means to you.

POWELL: "Devotion" was a book that I read six years ago. I had a friend that had recommended it to me. I bought the book and then went on a fishing trip with my family to Alaska, and most of my family was reading the same book, and it's not like it's a well-known book, but we all just happened to have the same book on this trip and we all we're talking about, wow, this would make an incredible movie.

It's an incredible story that has a lot of similar DNA to "Hidden Figures," the fact that it's this incredible story that no one knew about. It's amazing, this huge moment, like "Hidden Figures" was about this great American moment that no one was aware of.

And it was this story of friendship that for me represents and embodies what it is to be a real wingman, a real ally. And the fact that no one really outside of the Navy knew the story, I thought, was a real shame. So I started putting the pieces together and kind of assembling a team to put this out in the world. And it's kind of surreal that this year –  Thanksgiving – the world's going to get to see it and I think it's really incredible.

I'm really proud of it. I think it says all the right things about humanity and where we are.

CHRISTOPHER: When you play a role, when you're portraying somebody who actually lived, whether it's John Glenn or Tom Hudner, tell me a little bit about what you do to really embody that character. That's got to be a real challenge.

POWELL: Absolutely. I mean, with John Glenn, I never had the opportunity to meet John Glenn. I did read through a lot of his debriefs and read books and watched as much footage as I possibly could.

But with Tom Hudner, who's a Medal of Honor recipient himself, it was a much greater weight on my shoulders knowing that this was the one shot someone would get to play Tom Hudner to embody what he was.

I met his family when I got the rights for his life story and when I got the rights to the book. I flew on Memorial Day, six years ago, to meet with his meet with Tom and his family and to make a promise to them that if they gave me the right to this story I'd make it right.

And that pressure, that weight on me, on this whole movie, I talk to my family about it. I don't think I've ever felt so much pressure in my whole life because you look someone in the eyes and you look their family in the eyes and say, "I'm gonna do this right."

And it really was throughout this entire process to try to embody who Tom was and what his relationship with (fellow aviator) Jesse Brown was. And why this moment, especially the Korean War, a war that not many movies are made about. No one's ever made a movie about this friendship and I just took it very, very seriously.

I read everything I possibly could and I talked to his family members and we did just tons and tons of research. And then putting J.D. Dillard, who directed the film – his dad is the second African American Blue Angel and he grew up on military bases and really has a special connection to this.

This story, it just all came together so beautifully. And I'm just really proud of it. But I would say that in terms of research to get this thing right, it was extremely thorough, and mostly out of fear of not getting it right.

CHRISTOPHER: Did you have much familiarity with the Medal of Honor before working on "Devotion," or was Tom Hudner really the vehicle that introduced you to to what it means and the significance for those men who have earned it?

POWELL: I feel extremely lucky that my parents and my family have a real reverence for men and women in uniform and what that means. We even have a coffee table book in our living room of all the Medal of Honor recipients and sometimes we page through it and read little excerpts. So there's always been a reverence for a Medal of Honor recipient and what that means, and the fact that I get to occupy a room full of them in a couple of days is just unreal to me.

CHRISTOPHER: Tell me how you learned about your selection for the Bob Hope Award, given to those in the entertainment industry who have distinguished themselves by outstanding service or positive portrayal of the United States military.

POWELL: I just got a call from my team and they said, "Hey, you're being honored with this award." And, you know, I was like, (laughs) "These people know I didn't actually save Tom Cruise and Miles Teller, right?"

I'm a little confused about why. But at the same time, immediately, I told my parents and they nearly cried.

There are a lot of awards that are given out to Hollywood by other folks in Hollywood, but rarely do you get something by a body of people that you respect so immensely. It means a lot to me, more than anything I've ever gotten.

And I'm just so humbled and honored that I get to speak on behalf of people making these types of movies and speak about a group of people I respect immensely and I just can't wait for them to see this movie.

CHRISTOPHER: You pointed out how few movies have been made about the Korean War, and I'm certain "Devotion" is going to really bring it to the forefront for a lot of people. Tell me a little bit about what you learned.

PHOTOS, VIDEO: Knoxville 2022 Medal of Honor Celebration lifts off with Black Hawk helicopters

POWELL: So many movies have been made about World War II and Vietnam and it's so interesting where we put our focus. Reading the book "Devotion" for the first time, one of the things that I was in awe of was the fact that we're coming to the aid of people we don't know, that don't know us, but we're there for them.

And that's really, for me, what defines what the American military is about, it's doing things not because it's necessarily in your best interest, it's doing things for the right reasons. And I found the Korean War to just be an embodiment of why America is so great.

The more you peel back the Korean War, the more fascinating it gets. I think people forget how horrible the conditions on the ground were. This war had very wild circumstances that I'm really excited for people to hear about – I just don't think people have any sort of connection to it. So I'm hoping we can kind of bring an emotional connection to that war.

And hopefully, the people that served feel recognized, they feel seen and appreciated.

CHRISTOPHER: Were you able to spend enough time with Tom Hudner before he died in 2017 to get a sense of the man and what his priorities were in allowing you to tell his story?

POWELL: Really, it was what this moment meant for him. It was not a thoughtless moment, it was a moment in which he was just doing what he believes is the right thing.

It's a moment that defined the rest of his life, and it weighed on him. Getting the Medal of Honor was obviously a huge honor. And at the same time, it was something that he never felt truly deserving of.

And it was just really interesting to meet him and see the man behind the medal, so to speak, and understand what it all meant for him and what that time in history meant. meant to him and meant to his family.

CHRISTOPHER: You hit on an interesting point there about how this single moment defines these men for the rest of their lives, even though most of them are about so much more than a single act. Did Hudner feel some conflict about that?

POWELL: I think he definitely felt grateful for the idea that he got to be someone who embodied what I think the Navy's about, and at the same time, I don't think he ever felt truly comfortable with what that medal represented within his life.

CHRISTOPHER: That's such a common theme from all these recipients. I think I've heard that probably five or six times in the last year as we've talked to people in the lead up to this. A lot of them really, as you know, don't like to be called heroes. A lot of times I'm sure that came through in some of the conversations that you had.

POWELL: That's exactly it. I think what really defines this medal and the people who receive it are the best of us in the greatest way. And yet they don't act like they are better than anyone else or would have acted differently than anyone else.

I'm just very, very honored to get to be in the presence of these people. Because when you walk in the shoes of a Medal of Honor winner, you get to kind of understand them in a different way and I feel like I get to be a part of the community and spirit.

CHRISTOPHER: I'm just wondering as you continue to immerse yourself in these kinds of roles, do you expect that you'll portray characters in this vein again?

POWELL: Absolutely. This is a community that I want to serve over the course of my career and whether I'm in the roles, whether I'm producing roles, writing and directing them, whatever it is, I want this community to be portrayed in the way they feel is right.

Though (laughs) I promised my agent I wouldn't play a naval fighter pilot for a while. I think I've overdone that this year, but at the same time, I do have a commitment to this community and I've promised to keep at it.

Joel Christopher is the editor of Knox News.
Twitter: @j_christo | Email: joel.christopher@knoxnews.com
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: 'Devotion' star Glen Powell talks about Medal of Honor recipients