Glen Powell insists his new Hulu series, Chad Powers, is not a modern copy of Robin Williams’ Mrs. Doubtfire.
“Robin Williams was one of our great actors, but we’re not trying to dupe Mrs. Doubtfire here,” Powell, 36, exclusively told Us Weekly on Wednesday, September 24, while discussing the football comedy. “That’s why we show the Mrs. Doubtfire poster [on our series] to show, ‘Here’s our inspirations. We’re gonna hang a lantern on it, and then we’re gonna move past and kind of do our own thing.’”
Powell stars as the titular character, a former NFL player who reinvents himself with a new name and prosthetic makeup in order to join a college team. The premise seemingly nods to 1993’s Mrs. Doubtfire, where Williams’ single dad character, Daniel, dressed up like an elderly English nanny to spend more time with his children.
“Robin Williams was one of the greats. I’m never even I’m going to be in a league near Robin Williams, but I will say that that the thing that I always just loved about Mrs. Doubtfire is that I always pay attention to things that can make me laugh and cry,” Powell told Us of Williams, who died in 2014 at the age of 63. “I always love that feeling when I get to the end of a movie, like, ‘Wow, that had every flavor.’ That movie, for me at least, it’s just a guy who was not being a good father and who, by putting on the mask of a great housekeeper, he ends up learning how to be a great father.”
He added, “It’s really simple character math, and what’s really great is you see a real person struggling with an identity, but learning from these two identities, it’s a really complex, crazy thing, but it’s so fun to watch on camera, and the more you explore that lie at the center of it is, like, the more fun it gets.”
Powell’s Chad Powers costar Steve Zahn also told Us how they tried to make the wild transformation more realistic on their show.
“It’s so absurd, but if it’s done right, it’s totally believable,” Zahn, 57, said. “And that’s the challenge, and [on] our show, [it] is really believable.”
Robin Williams, Glen Powell. 20th Century Fox Film Corp ; Disney/DJ Delgado
Powell didn’t just let the hair and makeup tell the story but also got into the mindset of a football player by training with retired NFL legends Peyton and Eli Manning.
“They were super helpful. I mean, those were my quarterback coaches, which is crazy to say,” Powell told Us. “Every day I’d show up, I would go to this field … and they would have an entire offensive and defensive line ready to go, and receivers. I would get texts from Eli and Peyton, [saying,] ‘Hey, make sure your hands are in the right places for this snap. Make sure you’re taking in the safeties, like, I noticed you weren’t checking out.’”
He continued, “It’s all those things, and … Eli was like, ‘Hey, you gotta look at your fingers more, man, lick your fingers like that just to sell the entire thing.’ You practice all of it, and the footwork was the thing that was unexpectedly hard in terms of how you move around the pocket, but those things all sell.”
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Powell, an impassioned football fan in real life, knew the authenticity would make or break the show.
“As a football fan, you know what the real deal is and what isn’t,” the Top Gun: Maverick actor said. “To have [Peyton and Eli around to] safeguard all the football that happened onscreen was really important. It’s a lot of pressure.”
Chad Powers premieres Tuesday, September 30, on Hulu.
