I Cannot Get Over How Shook Josh Brolin And Lee Pace Were When They Learned Glen Powell Is Actually In College Right Now

Glen Powell, Lee Pace and Josh Brolin are all having huge years, and it’s a big time for them right now with the release of The Running Man right around the corner of the 2025 movie schedule. However, arguably, the Top Gun: Maverick star is the busiest of the bunch, because not only is he starring in multiple projects, he’s in school too. His co-stars didn’t know that, though, and when they found out he was enrolled in college right now, they were shook.

As Powell, Pace and Brolin were promoting The Running Man's November 14 release, they played a “how well do you know each other” game with Variety. One of the questions during it was “What is Glen’s major in college?” The Foundation and Weapons actors seemingly didn’t pick up on the present tense of the question. And after it was revealed that Powell switched his major from economics to radio, television and film, and he told them he went to the University of Texas, he asked:

That led to Josh Brolin questioning whether his colleague had enough credits to graduate or if he was getting an honorary degree. Considering how common it is for actors to get honorary degrees, that was a logical line of questioning. However, Powell will graduate with a "proper" degree, and this back and forth between them made that clear:

• Josh Brolin: Are you serious?
• Glen Powell: Yeah, spring of '27.
• Josh Brolin: Are you serious?
• Glen Powell: I'm serious.
• Josh Brolin: Do you have enough credits or are they honoring you?
• Glen Powell: No, no. I have enough. I'm finishing properly. I'm not doing the honorary degree.

The guys were shook by this. They couldn’t believe the Twisters star was actually going to school while also having a full (and very busy) career as an actor. I was personally the most entertained by Lee Pace’s reaction to the news, as he said:

I also have that question. However, it hits harder coming from guys like Lee Pace and Josh Brolin. This year alone, Pace released Season 3 of Foundation and the movie After This Death. He was also working on Practical Magic 2, which wrapped earlier this fall. Meanwhile, Brolin released Weapons to great reviews and will release Wake Up Dead Man this month. So, they know how to handle busy, but Glen Powell is operating on another level.

This year, Glen Powell will have released Chad Powers on the 2025 TV schedule (you can stream it with a Hulu subscription) and The Running Man in theaters. So, he’s been promoting those, and he's been filming J.J. Abrams' new movie, Ghostwriter, with Jenna Ortega this year. That’s a lot to do without getting a degree on top of it. However, that’s what the Set It Up star is doing, and his fellow actors were baffled as their conversation continued like this:

• Glen Powell: I'm taking six credits a semester. So, I will finish in spring '27.
• Josh Brolin: Wait, you're taking six credits a semester for every semester?
• Glen Powell: Right now. Like I'm taking it right now.
• Lee Pace: You're doing it right now? You're the busiest person I know.
• Glen Powell: I am enrolled at the University of Texas right now. Yeah, it’s been nuts.

Six credits typically amounts to two classes, so that does seem like a reasonable workload for someone who is also working another job. However, considering just how busy and well-known Glen Powell is, it is shocking to learn that he’s getting a college degree while also becoming a movie star.

Josh Brolin was so shocked by all this that he didn’t even know how to react, as the conversation ended with him and Powell saying:

• Josh Brolin: I don't even know how to react to that.
• Glen Powell: I'll throw a graduation party if you guys want to tear it up in Austin.
• Josh Brolin: Absolutely, man.

Well, I hope Josh Brolin and Lee Pace mark their calendars for the spring of 2027, because that’s when Glen Powell plans on graduating.

In the meantime, I’m sure many more fans and co-workers alike will get to be surprised by the fact that Glen Powell isn’t just a hard-working actor, he’s a hard-working student too.