Why Glen Powell Finds 'The Best Man's Ghostwriter' Podcast So ...

"The Best Man's Ghostwriter" star Glen Powell.

Following the success of Top Gun: Maverick, Hit Man and Twisters, Glen Powell has deservedly earned his pick of projects. What’s particularly exciting about the choices Powell is making now, though, is that his focus is set squarely on great storytelling, no matter what medium that story appears in.

As such, Powell is thrilled to be producing and starring in the Audible original podcast series The Best Man’s Ghostwriter, which debuts on Audible on Thursday. In a recent Zoom conversation, Powell told me he knew he was in for another thrilling experience since he previously starred in the leading voice role in the 2021 Audible original podcast series 10 Days.

“It was a fascinating experiment because I had never played in this space before, so I didn't really know how it translated,” Powell recalled. “I'm just fascinated by how something entertains anyone and it doesn't matter the medium or the form. I'm always fascinated by how you can change up storytelling and how it’s constantly evolving.”

Written and directed by comedian Matthew Starr, The Best Man’s Ghostwriter is based on Starr’s real-life work as a best man speechwriter. Powell stars in the podcast series as Nate, a speechwriter-for-hire whose main objective is to keep every best man he helps before a wedding from embarrassing himself—and ultimately the groom and the bride—by tailoring the perfect best man’s speech.

ForbesGlen Powell On Seeing History Unfold While Making ‘Blue Angels’ DocumentaryBy

Nate’s advice is relatively straightforward. He tells his clients to never bring up the groom’s exes, to never share stories that are rated R and to always tell lighter stories instead of downers.

The best man’s ghostwriter is suddenly challenged, though, when he’s hired to help Dan (Succession star Nicholas Braun). An awkward and clueless yet well-intentioned individual, Dan is feeling the pressure of delivering the best man’s speech at the high-profile wedding of a big social media influencer.

Meanwhile, Nate is feeling the heat on the personal front because he’s getting married to the woman of his dreams, yet he needs to confront the strife that tore apart the friendship of the buddy he wants to be his best man.

Powell said one of the biggest things that appealed to him about The Best Man’s Ghostwriter was how the story was so relatable. After all, even if you haven’t been a best man or a groom, most people have at least witnessed a best man’s speech at a wedding—and oftentimes it feels like you’re watching a high-wire act without a net.

“I'm going to a million weddings these days and I've seen a lot of best man speeches—bad and good—it's a high-pressure job,” Powell said. “It’s a moment that everyone recognizes. It's a moment that everyone feels and has witnessed from different perspectives, but it's a moment that's loaded with just a lot of pressure and stakes and heart and sometimes heartbreak, so it was ripe for exploration.”

"The Best Man's Ghostwriter" star Glen Powell.

Glen Powell said a big part of the fun of acting in The Best Man’s Ghostwriter was that the podcast required him to concentrate solely on his voice to convey his emotions. Ultimately it’s a challenge that’s a lot tougher than it seems, Powell noted.

“I started realizing it's sort of like a play, but because you only have audio at your disposal, that's your instrument,” Powell explained. “It’s the only thing you have to play with and what it ends up doing is it causes you to really analyze things and think, ‘How can I convey this emotion to the audience? How can I bring people into this moment? And what's the tonality when you don't have production around you or all the bells and whistles?’

“It puts a different—not pressure—but I would say that it puts a different focus on how you can get the most out of that one instrument and it's pretty cool,” Powell added. “I found it to be very challenging.”

Among the biggest challenges, Powell said, was to make sure he didn’t didn’t go overboard with his vocal performance.

“It's a very interesting thing because you would assume without all the bells and whistles around a performance that you'd have to project more or sell things more that the audience wouldn't pick up on,” Powell said. “It's actually the opposite because you're already in listener’s heads and you find that subtlety and nuance that actually works way better. It's way more powerful.”

"The Best Man's Ghostwriter" cover art.

Of course, another actor’s tool that Glen Powell employed during the recording of The Best Man’s Ghostwriter was the power of imagination.

In some ways, Powell said, there’s some crossover from what he does as an actor on the big screen to what he does as a voice actor. For example, Twisters had Powell using his imagination to make audiences believe that ominious storm clouds and massive tornadoes were winding his way throughout the film.

“[Acting for a podcast] is definitely about imagination but it’s also imagination at a very rapid pace … [On a movie set] there are all these big crews around you that kind of complete that fantasy for the audience,” Powell explained. “On something like [The Best Man’s Ghostwriter], you don't have those things at your disposal.”

But in the podcast space, Powell noted, the voice can be a very powerful instrument when conveying everything from exhilaration or exhaustion to even something as simple as being out of breath.

“You have to have a real control of your instrument,” Powell said. “That's what I like about this. It's different and I challenge every actor to do it. I think it's really challenging but it’s really fun.”

Also starring the voices of Ashley Park, D’Arcy Carden, Lance Bass and Zach Braff, The Best Man’s Ghostwriter is new on Audible on Thursday.

ForbesGlen Powell On How He Became ‘The Blue Angels’ Documentary’s WingmanBy

N0te: Portions of the quotes in this interview were edited for clarity.