There are Glen Powells everywhere for those with the eyes to see — at least according to the lookalike contest held earlier today in the Top Gun: Maverick star’s hometown of Austin, Texas.
According to Fox 7 Austin, hundreds of people gathered at Auditorium Shores in Town Lake Park on Sunday, including Powell’s mother and aunt, who helped select the winner from a pool of several contestants (featuring Powell iterations from Hit Man to Twisters, as well as Austin-founded chain Torchy’s Tacos’ red devil mascot and a dog that resembled Powell’s famed rescue pooch Brisket).
While Powell didn’t make an appearance in person, on account of filming Edgar Wright’s forthcoming remake of The Running Man in England, he did FaceTime into the event and send a message to organizers promising something money can’t buy: a cameo in his next movie.
The minute-and-a-half-long clip opens with Powell joking about the contest being for actor Justin Hartley’s lookalikes and that he has assembled attendees to pull off a heist: “And we don’t need a masks because we all have the same face: It’s the perfect crime. They can’t get all of us because we are one — a criminal Glen-terprise. Also, I know it’s November, but if no one is shirtless for no reason, then this whole thing is a sham and, obviously, no one is committed to the bit.”
The Set it Up star continued, explaining what the Powells in attendance had to lose — or gain: “I know there is some cash and a hat at stake here, but I just wanted to say that the winner of today’s contest gets a personal prize from me. Now, you may know that my parents make a cameo in every movie I make, but today, the winner of the Glen Powell lookalike contest wins their parents or any family member of their choice a cameo in my next movie. I am completely serious. This is a cash-value prize of $6 billion.”
Powell concluded: “Take a pic together for me, enjoy my favorite city in the world, keep Austin weird, hook ’em Horns and see ya around, every time I look in the mirror.”
Per the Austin American-Statesman, the event was organized by Kate Carpenter and won by Max Braunstein, who received a cowboy hat, free Torchy’s queso for a year, a monetary prize and the aforementioned cameo.
The viral phenomenon of the celebrity lookalike contest first began with an innocuous competition for Timothée Chalamet, held in New York City at the end of October, which drew hundreds of fans, resulted in the arrest of a couple doppelgängers and featured a surprise appearance from the Dune star himself. Since then, iterations of the lookalike contest have spanned cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco and international locales like Dublin and London, beckoning twins for the likes of Harry Styles, Paul Mescal, Dev Patel, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist (as Patrick and Art from Challengers specifically) and Rachel Sennott, as well as other figures like Peso Pluma, Shohei Ohtani and even Shrek.