Glen Powell received advice about running on-screen from his mentor Tom Cruise before filming his upcoming action movie The Running Man.

When the star was cast in Edgar Wright’s new version of The Running Man, he called his Top Gun: Maverick mentor Cruise, who is well known for running in films.

“So when I was cast, Tom was my first call… to learn how to run. He said, ‘Film yourself running as soon as possible. You don’t look as cool as you think.’ And we did,” Powell recalled at CinemaCon, reports Deadline.

“And, as you talk to these running coaches (they say) there’s, like, only one actor that knows how to run on screen. It’s Tom Cruise.”

The Anyone But You actor put his newfound film-running skills to the test in the chase thriller, in which he plays Ben Richards, who becomes a contestant on a violent reality TV show called The Running Man.

Powell insisted that he took the action requirements seriously and got into “bulletproof shape” so he could take some hits and falls.

“When that camera rolls between action and cut, you have one shot to give it all you’ve got for an audience to be thrilled all around the world, and it’s a really big responsibility. It’s really cool. It’s one that I didn’t take lightly,” he said, before joking, “So look, I don’t have the insurance plan to be Tom Cruise. I’m not trying to be Tom Cruise, but I will say I learned so much from him on how to properly do an action movie.”

Explaining why he did some of his own practical stunts, the 36-year-old continued, “You know when you’re falling and you’re hitting the ground and you’re really doing it, the audience feels that. You know, when the explosions are real and you’re jumping through it, it’s a different sort of experience. The audience invests more.”

Powell reunited with Cruise on the red carpet at CinemaCon on Thursday as the action star was at the Las Vegas trade show to promote Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

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