Glen Powell stays booked and busy, this time teaming up with Barry Jenkins
The reign of Glen Powell continues. This time, he’s going to be working with If Beale Street Could Talk director, Barry Jenkins!
The Natural Order is going to be based on the unpublished manuscript by Matt Aldrich, which will be released as his first novel. But the news comes with the information that this is something that Jenkins and Powell have been working on. It will also mark the first film under Powell’s new production label, Barnstorm.
In an exclusive to Deadline, the plot (which is very much under wraps) was described as an “elevated sci-fi thriller revolving around the pursuit of eternal life.” The studio just got the rights recently and it will be the first collaboration for Powell’s production company and Universal Studios since their deal. He has worked with the studio in the past as an actor with films like Twisters. But it is the first for Powell and his producing partner, Dan Cohen.
Outside of Jenkins being in talks to direct, there isn’t much we know about the project. But it does join a long line of Powell led projects in the work. He also has the A24 film Huntington from director John Patton Ford as well as the movie Homewreckers. Point being that Powell has a lot of work he’s been putting in and the line-up of films and television shows (like Hulu’s Chad Powers) coming our way is exciting!
I love that Powell continues to work with visionary directors
Since his categoric rise to fame in the last few years, Powell has been working with a series of directors who have made projects that feel like something we’ve been missing. He kicked of 2024 with the release of Will Gluck’s Anyone But You. The film harkens back to Gluck’s previous work with films like Easy A but was also a return to rom-coms in general.
Then, he worked with Richard Linklater again on the Netflix film Hit Man, which Powell also co-wrote. He finished out his year in film with Lee Isaac Chung’s Twisters, bringing back the disaster movie genre. Currently, Powell is filming Edgar Wright’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Running Man and moving on to an untitled project with J.J. Abrams. Then, he will have The Natural Order with Jenkins.
Each new project announced for Powell (and there are a lot of other upcoming projects) is a fasinating look at not only Powell’s “in demand” nature as an actor but also his own love of film and filmmaking. Each director he has chosen to work with has work that has been career defining and it is nice to see Powell’s dedication to continuing to make movies that challenge audiences or bring back genres and ideas we’ve missed in cinema.
For now, we don’t know much else about The Natural Order but for a first picture for his own production company, getting Barry Jenkins on the team is a huge deal and I cannot wait to see what this team brings us!
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