Summary
Gary Johnson is a college professor who works as tech support with the New Orleans Police Department on the side inHit Man. While helping out on a sting operation, the usual undercover officer is unavailable and Gary is thrown in the deep end when he must fill in for him pretending to be a hitman. Gary becomes the go-to fake contract killer for the New Orleans Police, but when a young woman, Madison Masters, attempts to hire him, he goes off script suggesting she make a different choice for her future. This choice leads Gary down a twisted path of deception, love, and death when his future becomes entangled with hers.
Glen Powell wore many hats on this project, not only starring inHit Man, but producing and co-writing the script with director Richard Linklater.Hit Manis based on the Texas Monthlyarticle of the same name written by Skip Hollandsworth which shed light on the work of the real Gary Johnson.Hit Manplays with genre, beginning as an action comedy, toeing the line with noir before shifting gears into a romantic comedy full of heart and comedy with touches of darkness from playing in the crime and noir genres.
All 9 Aliases Glen Powell Uses In Hit Man Explained
Richard Linklater’s Hit Man stars Glen Powell as a fake contract killer who employs several aliases throughout the film’s hilarious events.
Screen RantinterviewedHit Mandirector Richard Linklater about his new action romantic comedy. He discussed talking with the real Gary Johnson and how Powell pushed him to take the story beyond the real life it is based on. Linklater also explained how the movie plays with multiple genres inHit Manand collaborating with Powell.
Glen Powell Was Richard Linklater’s “Creative Partner On This All The Way”
Hit Manwinds through genre as the story progresses, touching on action, crime, noir, and romance. However, a constant throughline is the comedy tone, with Powell, Adria Arjona, Retta, and Sanjay Rao being key actors to the humor in the movie.
Richard Linklater: We were in numerous genres kind of colliding here, but we just started out with a character study, this Gary thing. It was only as it evolved and got bigger, I was like, Oh, this is kind of norish, a little crime. Oh, this is a little screwball comedy if she’s not a black widow setting him up in the old film noir tradition.
If they’re meant for each other, that puts us in screwball. And then hovering over everything is the hitman sub-genre in the crime film area. So it’s kind like, all these things. There’s artifice to all of them that we kind of ran with, had fun with, but hopefully in a fairly realistic way.
Linklater reflected on collaborating with Powell as a creative partner. He praised his skills as an actor and explained why Powell is someone everyone wants to work with.
Richard Linklater: [Glen Powell] was my creative partner on this all the way, but so was everybody else who worked on it for sure. But Glen’s a unique cat that way. He’s really smart, good collaborator, and someone you want to work with.
He’s all those things, in addition to having that damn star quality, charisma thing that works so well. It was just finding Adria who came in and made Madison very real and believable and everything she needed to be, to have this be believable. It was fun working with those two.
Hit Mangave Powell an opportunity to show off both his depth and breadth as an actor playing countless characters. Some he played very briefly, while others he had to show distinct differences for long periods in the movie. Linklater credited Powell’s imagination when crafting these characters.
Richard Linklater: I think each of those little hitman figures that are Gary’s imagination that he cooks up for his clients, each of them could be their own character in a movie or something, but it’s all myth. It’s all make believe. It’s something he’s creating for what he thinks his clients want.
So when you’re in that fake world, you can really push the boundaries of that. We’re making a comedy, but the real Gary Johnson did that to some degree, but not as much as we did in the movie. Glen kind of went off the deep end there, but it was a fun thing to watch.
Richard Linklater Explains How Hit Man Was Made In The Real Gary Johnson’s Honor
Linklater and Powell fleshed out the story of Gary Johnson to add comedy, romance, and even elements of noir to the story. However, while it isn’t strictly based on the reality of Johnson’s life Linklater did talk with the real Johnson about the movie.
Richard Linklater: I did talk to [the real Gary Johnson] on the phone a number of times, and just when he was going to come, he passed away. Over a short amount of time, he had gotten ill, and it was sad.
Yeah, I was hoping he’d come to set or get to know everybody and stuff. So it was a real loss for all of us, but we sort of do it in his honor now. I think just the fact that he was a real guy, we felt very grounded and the real world. That was him. That was his life.
Linklater broke down howHit Manstands out from his other projects based on real people where he usually tries to stay as true to reality as possible. That wasn’t the case with this movie. Hit Man expands beyond the original story based on Powell’s suggestion which is how they began playing with genre.
Richard Linklater: Other times I’ve made movies based on real people and facts. I’ve always really just stuck to those facts as closely as possible. I never really deviated much. I wanted to be able to say, Oh, it’s really authentic. This is exactly, as much as you can, how it happened. But no one really rewards you for that. There’s no prize at the end of the thing. You just have the story you wanted to tell.
I give Glen some credit for pushing me like, “What if we deviated from the story?” Because I was saying, “There’s not enough story there to make a movie.” “What if we did [this]?” I said, “Well, if we’re going to do that…” Once we lowered the floodgate, then we found ourselves in genre territory. It got really fun.
It’s just the way the movie does, it sort of takes off there. That’s analogous to our experience with it. Oh, you could have these fun ideas, bring ‘em in, and see if they would work. It got really creative, really fun, really fast when we did that.
About Hit Man
Inspired by an unbelievable true story, a strait-laced professor discovers his hidden talent as a fake hit man. He meets his match in a client who steals his heart and ignites a powder keg of deception, delight, and mixed-up identities.
Check out our otherHit Maninterviews with:
Hit Manwill have a limited theatrical release on May 24 before debuting on Netflix on June 7.
Hit Man
Cast
Hit Man centers on a mild-mannered professor involved in police sting operations as a fake hit man. His life spirals into chaos when he unexpectedly falls for a potential client, initiating a series of unforeseen complications and dilemmas.
