Glen Powell, Topher Grace & Jessica Henwick on the Line Between Happiness and Ambition — Glen Powell Reveals He Eventually Wants to Start a Family
What better way to spend Valentine’s Day than sitting down with Glen Powell, Jessica Henwick, and Topher Grace to do a deep dive into A24’s latest dark comedic thriller How to Make a Killing, and what began as a standard cast interview quickly spiraled into a hilarious, oddly philosophical, and very on-brand discussion about crime documentaries, ambition, and the strange ways success can complicate life.
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I opened the interview by admitting just how much the film plays with your moral compass, and somehow the conversation flipped onto me and my crime documentary obsession, I honestly couldn’t tell if they were reacting with fear or humor!
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“I love this movie because it had me questioning myself—like, wait, is it really that easy to just kill off my family and get some money?”
That tone—half satire, half existential curiosity, set the stage for a conversation that mirrored the film’s twisted humor.
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Weird habits to inherit
The conversation soon shifted to lighter territory when the cast was asked what habits or skills they’d inherit from one another. Henwick didn’t hesitate to call out Powell’s seemingly superhuman stamina.
“Glenn has the most insane schedule. We’ll film a full day, he’s done Zooms in the morning, goes home and writes some random film with Judd Apatow in the evening, and he’s playing guitar in between. I don’t know how you have that.”
Powell laughed off the compliment with a very simple explanation:
“You see how many drinks I have here? It’s just caffeine.”
He added that the high energy might just be genetic.
“My family’s all kind of energetic. I feel like that’s a genetic thing.”
Meanwhile, Grace joked about Powell’s tendency to fill any silence—especially in elevators.
“If I’m in an elevator, I will feel the need to fill the silence and it’ll always just make the elevator the worst ride.”
The Film’s Core Question: When Is It Enough?
Beneath the humor, How to Make a Killing explores a deeper theme: the dangerous momentum of ambition, revenge and success. That led to a candid discussion about choosing between success and personal happiness.
Grace reflected on turning down opportunities to prioritize life outside of work:
“When you’ve been working real hard for years, and then to say, ‘I can’t do this project because I have other people I care about more than myself,’ that’s very hard to do.”
He pointed to wisdom he once heard from Eddie Murphy about what truly matters.
“What you really want is peace of mind. If you pray for anything, don’t pray for money… pray for peace of mind.”
Powell connected that idea directly to his character’s arc, noting how some people simply don’t know when to stop chasing the next milestone.
“There are certain people that just can’t do that. They don’t know when to quit.”
He added that he views life in chapters as he reflected on how his current nonstop pace isn’t meant to last forever, explaining that he sees life in chapters. Right now, he’s in a phase defined by work, creativity, and saying yes to opportunities—but he acknowledged that eventually his priorities will shift toward building a family and being present for it. He noted that there comes a point where constantly juggling writing, filming, meetings, and side projects has to give way to something more grounded, because, as he put it, you can’t be everywhere at once and still be the partner or parent you want to be.
“What chapter are you in right now? … Right now, it’s that phase.”
A Conversation as Unpredictable as the Film
Like the movie itself, the interview constantly shifted between outrageous hypotheticals and surprisingly sincere reflection. The cast’s chemistry—playfully roasting one another one minute, unpacking life philosophy the next—echoes the film’s balance of satire and introspection.
By the end, what started as a conversation about fictional schemes and dark humor turned into something far more relatable: a discussion about energy, priorities, and figuring out when success is actually enough.
And yes, we did eventually stop talking about crime documentaries. How to Make a Killing is scheduled for a wide theatrical release in the United States and Canada on February 20, 2026.
