The Running Man actor Powell addressed both his reluctance to discuss politics and Paramount's handling of the film's marketing in a new Esquire cover story.
Powell said politics rarely came up at his family's dinner table growing up, even though his mother, Cyndy Powell, worked in the U.S. Treasury Department under the Reagan administration. "Thank God," he said of the lack of political talk at home.
Reflecting on why he avoids political discourse, Powell said he has come to believe "over time" that "politics divide people. People trying to prove their point — for me, it's the worst version of a conversation. I genuinely do not like the discourse. It's not as healthy as it once was." He added that engaging in political conversations was "not presently possible" for him, saying, "I applaud people for jumping into those things and fighting for what they believe in. If I were a political person, I would be talking about it. For me, my calling is elsewhere."
Powell's Anyone But You co-star Sydney Sweeney made similar comments in a Cosmopolitan cover interview in January, following backlash over her viral American Eagle jeans ad. "I've never been here to talk about politics," Sweeney said, adding, "I'm not a political person. I'm in the arts. I'm not here to speak on politics. That's not an area I've ever even imagined getting into. It's not why I became who I am. I became an actor because I like to tell stories, but I don't believe in hate in any form. I believe we should all love each other and have respect and understanding for one another."
Not every actor has taken the same approach. Last November, Jennifer Lawrence questioned whether she should speak out against Trump, having been outspoken about her political views during his first term.
Elsewhere in the Esquire profile, Powell addressed The Running Man's disappointing box office performance, which he attributed partly to Paramount's internal upheaval. "They let go of an entire marketing department a month before our movie came out in the middle of a merger," he said. The Running Man was released on Nov. 14, 2025. On Oct. 29, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Paramount had begun a series of staff cuts affecting roughly 1,000 jobs. THR reached out to Paramount for comment but had not received a response by the time of publication.
Photo: Toglenn, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
