NEED TO KNOW
Did Glen Powell’s teenage home video just secure him a new gig?
The actor hosted Saturday Night Live for the first time on Nov. 15, and as part of his opening monologue, revealed that he once filmed his own music video set to Fall Out Boy’s 2005 hit “Sugar We’re Goin Down.”
“When I was a teen, I directed some of my own films,” Powell, 37, said. “They were a little experimental, emotionally nuanced. I was watching a lot of French new wave at the time. I think you’ll see the influence, check it out.”
Powell was, of course, being facetious, as the low-quality videos featured the actor as a teen running and jumping in the street and lip-syncing to the song while wearing a yacht captain’s hat.
Still, Fall Out Boy gave The Running Man star their seal of approval.
“Want to direct the next fob music video @glenpowell?” the band — comprised of Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz, Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley —wrote on social media.
“Sugar We’re Goin Down” was the lead single off Fall Out Boy’s second album From Under the Cork Tree, and reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song does have a real, not-shot-by-Glen Powell music video, which features a man with deer antlers on his head falling in love with a girl in spite of her father’s disapproval.
Elsewhere in Powell’s SNL monologue, he revealed that he flew his UPS driver Mitch out to New York to watch his hosting debut, four years after he first told him he’d be hosting.
“I was actually supposed to host four years ago for Top Gun: Maverick,” Powell said, before explaining that he was on a porch with his family when he got the call about hosting, and as they were celebrating, UPS driver Mitch coincidentally arrived to deliver a package.
Jason Mendez/Getty
“He was like, ‘What is going on?’ and I was like, ‘I’m hosting SNL,’ ” Powell recalled. “And he was like, ‘Are you serious?’ And I was like, ‘Yep, Christmas episode, tune in!’ ”
But when Top Gun was delayed due to COVID, SNL rescinded the offer, and Powell didn’t get to host. He joked that for the next four years, Mitch thought the actor was a liar, and he’d asked his sisters for help tracking Mitch down so Powell could prove he was “not crazy.”
“[Mitch] thought it was a scam, but he still came and he is sitting in the audience tonight,” Powell said.
The star previously told PEOPLE that hosting SNL was a lifelong dream realized.
“I’m so excited. Hosting SNL has been a thing I’ve wanted to do my entire life,” he said. “It’s a really wonderful moment when your childhood dreams get to come true. I’ve been waiting to be on that stage for as long as I can remember.”
