Top Gun' Star Glen Powell Talks Returning to the Skies for 'Devotion'

“Top Gun: Maverick” actor Glen Powell is relocating from Los Angeles to his home state of Texas.

While his move is largely to be with family, he also wants to escape the “fake world” of Hollywood.

Powell, 35, talked about about his decision during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, noting that the perk of “getting to this point in Hollywood is that I can now leave Hollywood. It’s like I’ve earned the ability to go back to my family.”

He said his move was driven by wanting to spend more time with family and to finish his college degree.

“I think it’s really important to my mom and it’s more of an emotional thing for me,” he said.

E! News noted that the actor left the University of Texas after his freshman year to pursue his career and is just a few classes from graduating.

“I’m so close, I can taste it,” he said.

Why Glen Powell Is Leaving Hollywood Behind to Move Back to Texas

Solidifying his decision to move were words by fellow actor Matthew McConaughey, also a Texan.

“He’s like, ‘Hollywood is the Matrix, man. You plug in and it’s all fake world,'” Powell said. “He’s like, ‘Then I go to Austin and I unplug. It’s all real. Those are my friends, that’s my family, my actions matter there.’ And he’s right. If you’re here, you live in the Matrix all the time, there’s no separation of those worlds. And for me, especially as my parents get older and my niece and nephew are growing up, I want a separation of those worlds.”

Commenting on Hollywood, Powell said there are things he was happy to leave behind, including that “fishbowl feeling” he gets when he is photographed by people with phones. But he also admitted to being torn.

“The thing that makes me feel in conflict with some parts of this moment is that I like choosing when I’m out in front,” he said. “And I’m more than happy to be on a press tour. I love it. I love going on a Jimmy Fallon — you walk out, you sign autographs, you do the whole thing.”