Limato died two years later, leaving Powell without an advocate.

It was a rough time for the young Texan, who supported himself through coaching community sports and small acting jobs (a Dockers commercial, an episode of “The Lying Game,” a cable series). The William Morris Endeavor talent agency had dropped him, and he began to question whether superstardom was even achievable anymore. Hollywood, undercut by video games and YouTube, has long wondered the same thing itself.

Michael B. Jordan might say yes. But Garrett Hedlund, Taylor Kitsch, Taylor Lautner, Ansel Elgort, Ryan Phillippe, Zac Efron, Alex Pettyfer, Eric Bana, Ben Barnes, Armie Hammer, Alden Ehrenreich, Charlie Hunnam, Miles Teller and Jai Courtney might beg to differ.

Powell regained his footing, first with “Scream Queens” and then with small but notable roles in “Hidden Figures” and Linklater’s “Everybody Wants Some!!”

“Glen is methodical in his thinking,” Linklater said. “He’s actually pretty cerebral.”

Not long after Powell moved to Los Angeles, Limato introduced him to Lynda Obst, a fellow Texan and a producer of hits like “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” “Contact” and “Sleepless in Seattle.” She hired Powell as an intern, a job that involved reading scripts (two or three a day, when he wasn’t popping out for auditions) and giving feedback. It was how he learned how Hollywood runs.

“He was adorable — charm off the charts,” Obst recalled. “But that is not what impressed me, and it’s not why he is succeeding.”

“Actors can turn on charm but they can’t turn on intelligence,” she said. “Glen is smart and learned about developing scripts and the structure of movies. It made him independent and wily.”