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Glen Powell has revealed the reason he decided to adopt his dog Brisket, who has been accompanying him on the press tour for his forthcoming film, Twisters.
The Top Gun: Maverick star, 35, is set to star in the sequel to the original 1996 film Twister – set for UK release on 17 July – alongside Normal People’s Daisy Edgar-Jones, as a social media star stormchaser who attempts to track tornadoes for the thrill.
Powell’s dog Brisket walked the red carpet with him at the film’s premiere in Los Angeles and even makes a cameo in the Lee Isaac Chung action movie alongside the rest of the cast.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Powell revealed it was relationship trouble that had initially prompted him to adopt Brisket from the animal rescue charity Labelle Foundation, as filming for Twisters began.
“I was going through a breakup at the time and was in the middle of Enid, Oklahoma, and I had always wanted a dog," Powell – who had been dating the model Gigi Paris for around three years before their split – said.
“It was something I thought about a lot, but it was somewhere in this coffee shop in Enid,” he added. “I don’t even know how to describe it, I just had the desire to be a father.”
The Scream Queens actor admitted he had been following a lot of dog adoption accounts on Instagram and one day saw Brisket while he was scrolling through his feed on the app. He then asked friends who also followed the Labelle Foundation to vouch to the organisation that he’d be a good owner.
“I literally messaged saying, ‘Please put in a good word for me,’” Powell said. “I sent them a heartbreakingly depressing video of me [explaining] why I needed this dog.”
Powell then took a weekend off from filming Twisters to head back to Los Angeles and collect Brisket from the foundation.
Although the film’s director was initially sceptical of the actor adopting a dog in the middle of shooting, he allowed Powell to bring Brisket to set and sleep in Powell’s chair while the actor was in front of the camera.
“He really became sort of a set mascot on that movie,” Powell said, adding Brisket has been a “magical gift” because he “brings me so much joy, and brings everybody around me joy”.
“Sets can be very lonely places," the actor admitted. “And it’s interesting when you see a dog that’s just filling you up with love, how it brings a cast together even more.”
Although neither Paris nor Powell had publicly confirmed their breakup last year, there was speculation that they had ended their three-year relationship when the model seemingly alluded to the split reports on Instagram, where she posted a video of herself walking down a street along with the caption: “Know your worth and onto the next.”
