While Glen’s name had already started to break through a year earlier following his appearance in Top Gun: Maverick, his performance as Ben is undeniably what really put him on the map.
Which is why many fans were surprised to learn that 34-year-old Glen has actually been acting steadily since he was 13 years old, and you can actually see him in a whole bunch of huge movies and TV shows — including The Dark Knight Rises and CSI: Miami.
Glen also appeared in the 2016 Oscar-nominated movie Hidden Figures, where he played real-life astronaut and former US senator John Glenn. In case you didn’t know, the movie tells the true story of the three African American women who were pivotal in John Glenn’s historic 1962 launch into space.
And in a recent appearance on the Therapuss with Jake Shane podcast, Glen admitted that he literally threw up after he watched the first cut of the critically acclaimed movie because he genuinely feared that his performance had ruined it.
In fact, Glen went so far as to say that he was riddled with guilt for ruining the legacy of the real women the movie was about, as well as the hard work of the lead actors — Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson, and Janelle Monáe.
Discussing how awkward it can be to watch your performance back, Glen admitted to the host that it does “get in your head.”
He then shared: “I remember watching Hidden Figures for the first time, and that’s a movie that’s, like, an incredible Oscar-nominated movie, and I remember watching it for the first time on the Fox lot. This is before all the effects were done, the music was in, sound design — I literally left the movie, and I puked in the bushes. I thought I ruined this movie.”
“I was like, all these women put in these great performances, and it’s the legacy of these women. I was like, I literally ruined this movie. I literally walked out; I was like, oh my god,” Glen went on. “It feels like the most atrocious thing you can do as an actor is just be terrible in a movie about real-life people that need a real-life story.”
Thankfully, Glen was much happier with the “polished” final product, but his initial reaction has stuck with him.
He explained: “There’s no self-loathing like people that are actually doing it, because we all want to be good and we all want to service something greater. Nobody wants to be the weak point in a movie — especially when you’re talking about real-life stories.”
As mentioned, Hidden Figures was a huge success and received several accolades, as well as three Oscar nominations.
Meanwhile, Glen’s career continues to thrive off the back of Anyone But You, with his action movie Twisters due for release in July.