For anyone out there thinking, “Good grief, why is Glen Powell bringing his dog around to all the Twisters promotion?” First of all, how dare you. Second, Glen’s rescue pup Brisket is an integral member of the Twisters family. It was while filming on location in Oklahoma last summer that Glen realized, “I just had the desire to be a father.” From there he laid eyes on Brisket up for adoption online, and he just knew: Brisket was the one. He took a week off from filming to pick Brisket up in LA, then whisked the then-two-pound floof back to crate train him on set. Glen fell quickly and he fell hard! And throughout it all, the Twisters cast and crew were cheering him on. Glen waxed on those emotional, early days of pup-parenthood with Entertainment Weekly. And yes of course, Brisket posed with him at the photoshoot.
Powell adopted the dog from the Labelle Foundation while filming the “standalone sequel” to the 1996 classic Twister. (“We’re on set, and I was like, ‘Are you sure you want to get a puppy right now?’ recalls Twisters director Lee Isaac Chung. “But he did, and everybody loved that dog.”)
Everybody including EW’s creative team, who couldn’t help but grab some outtake footage from our photoshoot and turn Brisket into a cover star.
“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’d been dating model Gigi Paris — tells EW. “It was something I thought about a lot, but it was somewhere in this coffee shop in Enid… I don’t even know how to describe it, I just had the desire to be a father.”
The actor says he was following a lot of dog adoption and rescue Instagram accounts (who isn’t?) and came across a picture of Brisket. Knowing the adoption process is difficult, he sought out any friends he knew who followed the rescue (or anyone associated with it) online and asked them to vouch for him.
“I literally messaged saying, ‘Please put in a good word for me,’” Powell shares. “I sent them a heartbreakingly depressing video of me why I needed this dog.”
It worked, and Powell took a weekend off filming to fly to Los Angeles and collect Brisket.
“Everybody knew how excited I was,” he says of the Twisters cast and crew. “I was like, ‘Guys, I’m going to pick him up!’”
Upon arriving on set, Brisket made his presence known. “He was crate training and all that stuff, so he was crying through the night,” says Powell. “I felt like literally a new father, where I wasn’t sleeping while shooting this movie. But Brisket would just kick it with every department head, and he would sit in my chair and just sleep. I had the most adorable picture of Brisket in my Twisters chair at the rodeo. But he really became sort of a set mascot on that movie. It’s just adorable.”
As “beautiful” an experience filming Twisters was, Powell says Brisket has been a “magical gift” because of “the way that he brings me so much joy, and brings everybody around me joy.”
“Sets can be very lonely places,” he continues. “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. There’s something wonderful about animals, about how they can bring our walls down a bit and expedite friendships and things like that. So yeah, Brisket’s been amazing. I consider him the best special feature of Twisters.”
You guys, I swear it’s taken me twice as long to write this because I just. Keep. Staring. At. BRISKET. Walking the red carpet — or more accurately, being carried across it — in his dapper bowtie was one thing, but landing an EW cover shoot? Complete with a wind machine going? It’s official, Brisket is a bone-ified star. He could be getting the next batch of American Riviera Orchard dog biscuits. Not for nothing, but Glen Powell’s press agents must be on cloud nine right now. Everything about this interview is perfect: he’s sappy in his sentiments, but it works because he’s also genuinely in love. And I get it; I was not on the lookout for a dog when I found My Girl, but like Glen, I knew with one look. She was malnourished, not opening her eyes due to an infection, and having episodes of PTSD. Now coming up on 11 years in my care, she’s fat, stares me down until I do her bidding, and is so chill she can’t be bothered by thunder or fireworks. And Brisket… she’s single! True, there’s an age gap, but you two have similar snouts so I think it could work. Call us!!
Photos credit: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon, IMAGO/Jeffery Mayer / Avalon
I used to have a cat that looked EXACTLY like Brisket in feline form. Identical color and markings and that same wispy, fluffy long hair. RIP Hannibal! 🐈
I’ve one too, he’s a cutie pie! 😻🐈
Glen Powell is one of those few actors that the more you read about them the more you like them, which doesn’t happen very often!
I like the part where he says he wanted to be a ‘father’, because that’s how my husband and I felt when we got our first kitty together ❤️
Brisket looks like a mini-Dodger.
Am I the only one not swept away by Glen Powell? Nothing against him. I just feel like there are other actors who have more magnetism? Brisket however, is adorable.
Brisket is cute, and I appreciate the fact that he was rescued and now has a loving home.
And yeah, GP is okay, but I’m now his target audience either.
Correction: Not. I’m not his target audience either.
Glenn Powell is very bland, but he’s slowly growing on me somehow. He just seems to be a really good guy.
I have to say I find him enchanting and totally relationship worthy. I’m here for Glen and Brisket. He seems like a genuinely nice, feeling, honest caring person. When’s the last time you heard a man talk about being lonely? Or talked about wanting to connect and bond with others? He is scrumptious and sweet. How is that boring? Give me straightforward Hottie, chiselled jaw, smarty over b.s drama and fear/ excitement any day. The thrilling dangerous bad boy isn’t so cute when a child or children are involved.
I live down the street from the RNC, and yesterday a crew of Columbus police officers patrolling an area adjacent to the “festivities” killed a homeless man who is survived by his dog, Isis. Brisket is exactly the content I need right now. More happy dog stories, please.
What a cute dog. We’ve got a rescue cat and love him dearly. It always warms my heart to hear pets finding a new home and blossoming there.
But I’ve got to say it: pets aren’t children. I really don’t see how having a pet makes you a father, that’s just hyperbolic. The word mother/father is also not used in the pet context in my mother tongue so it might be a cultural thing. But it’s something that bugs me: loving your pets and loving your kids is just not same level (neither is the responsibility).
I’m giving him a pass on that, because he doesn’t have an actual kid, but your point is well taken.
Sorry, totally disagree.
Pets are like children, particularly if you don’t have them.
They’re part of the family, you love them, you get mad at them, you grieve them when they pass away.
To be honest, I’ve known quite a fair share of horrible and cruel human beings in my life (including my father) but very few pets.
This idea we’re better than them should die a slow, painful death.
I’m not disputing that humans form a deep bond with their pets and that they play an important role. But to take up your point about grieving them: I’ve lost pets and I’ve lost people and it’s just not the same.
I do agree about the character point you raise: some people are truly horrendous and pets, when treated with love (and respect for their boundaries) are loyal and loving. At least that is what I tell myself as a cat owner (even though I’m fairly certain the cat thinks he owns me and most days, I have a feeling he’s onto something there). Back when I had a dog, I never doubted her affection, cats are just cats (love em anyway). But I digress. I don’t want to take away from people caring deeply about their pets, but it just doesn’t feel the same as being a mom to a human person.
Brisket is adorable and I love how sincerely Glen loves being a doggy dad. And dammit, I was going to write off Glen for being just a pretty face, but he’s getting too damn likeable! 😂
LOL, same! Don’t tell me this MFer is going to make me like him.
Same! I was trying to ignore him but the task is getting hard and harder!!
IMO this guy has charisma to burn.
He’s old school charming. And Brisket? Just the cutest.
It’s nice to have a feel good post.
This is one of the very best things I have read in almost a month. Thanks Kismet.
Brisket is loving life.
I love the dog and the fact that he adopted him, but this really smacks of PR. No real hype for the Twisters movie, so parade a rescue dog around for attention.
Love the PR. Don’t usually go for weather chaser movies. But now after seeing BARK AND STORMY with Brisket weathering the wind machine makes me want to see the movie.
I feel the same way about my rescue dog. She’s 7 now; we adopted her when she was a puppy. And we’re still completely besotted by her.
So I think this is sweet.
I have amazing kids who are the center of my universe, but love multiplies — it doesn’t divide — so there’s room in that center for our wonderful dog.
Cute dog, but this guy is so bland he puts me to sleep. He’s the new model in a series of identical beige corporate plants to satisfy the people that think movies are getting too brown.