Top Gun: Maverick’s Glen Powell says his joke tweet about losing role of Rooster may have helped him land Hangman

When Glen Powell found out he had lost out on the role of Rooster in Top Gun: Maverick, he tweeted a joke about the decision. Sharing a news article that Miles Teller had landed the role, he wrote: "I’m taking down all the Tom Cruise posters in my bedroom. Maybe, I’ll leave one. Two for symmetry. Okay, the posters are staying."

Reflecting on his joke tweet – that quickly went viral – he told Variety that he decided to tweet it hours after director Joseph Kosinski called him to tell him they’d cast Teller.

"Within an hour the press had gotten a hold of Miles’ casting and it was everywhere," Powell recalled. "So I made a joke, I said, 'I’ll just say something silly and funny.' Then the sadness hit the next day, so I’m really glad I got that tweet out before that. Then the experience of Tom Cruise calling me and pitching me this whole other thing and the back and forth with him and Jerry Bruckheimer and Joe Kosinski and Chris McQuarrie happened and I’m so glad it did."

When asked whether he thinks the tweet helped him land the role of Hangman, Powell replied, "You never know!" He continued: "In hindsight, it’s weird when you think back on what little things you were unaware of if that changed the course of your life. I didn’t even think about it at the time but you never know. I’m really glad I tweeted it, whether it got me the job or not."

The decision clearly worked out for the best as Top Gun: Maverick went on to break box office records. The legacy sequel picks up 30 years after the original movie when Cruise’s Mav returns to the Top Gun academy to coach a group of graduates through a seemingly impossible mission.

Top Gun: Maverick is available to buy digitally and arrives on Paramount Plus on December 22, 2022. For what else to stream, check out our guide to the best Amazon movies and best Netflix movies available now.