The Big Picture

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff sits down with
Hit Man
writer-director Richard Linklater in Austin, Texas.
Linklater discusses the real Gary Johnson, reuniting with lead Glen Powell, why he was the right man for the job, and how stars like him can influence the future of Hollywood.
Linklater also addresses the potential to turn
Dazed and Confused
and
Everybody Wants Some!!
into a trilogy, and more.

Texas-native filmmaker Richard Linklater is taking audiences back to his home state with his new action comedy, Hit Man. It’s a true story of sorts that reunites him with longtime collaborator and friend Glen Powell, of Top Gun: Maverick and Anyone but You fame, to play a bespectacled, mild-mannered man who lives alone with his two beloved cats. It’s an unusual one for Powell, but according to the writer-director, that may be just what we need. Not only does Linklater praise the movie star as a “great creative partner,” but he also believes the roles Powell takes on could help transform the industry for the better.

Inspired by Skip Hollandsworth’s true story in Texas Monthly, Hit Man allows Powell to embody a slew of characters, just as the job did for the real Gary Johnson, the man he portrays in the movie. In Linklater’s script, Professor Johnson’s quiet life is punctuated by his new position with the police department. Suddenly, he’s donning disguises and playing the part of a professional hit man, and he’s actually pretty good at it. That is until he meets his new target, Madison (Adria Arjona), who charms Gary, leading the two of them — or Madison and his persona Ron, rather — into a passionate affair.

While celebrating Hit Man’s premiere in Austin, Texas, Collider’s Perri Nemiroff was able to catch up with Linklater to discuss what makes this action-packed comedy so different from his previous films, like Dazed and Confused and the romantic Before trilogy. He also talks about teaming up with Powell again, and how his star power could affect the industry’s future.

Hit Man A professor moonlighting as a hit man of sorts for his city police department, descends into dangerous, dubious territory when he finds himself attracted to a woman who enlists his services.Release Date June 7, 2024 Director Richard Linklater Runtime 113 minutes Main Genre Romantic Comedy Studio(s) Aggregate Films , AGC Studios , BarnStorm Productions , Detour Filmproduction Distributor(s) Netflix

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‘Hit Man’ Was a New Challenge for Richard Linklater

Richard Linklater has been in the business for nearly four decades, whether writing, producing, or as a director for film and television. He’s been nominated for numerous Academy Awards for his original screenplays and direction on Before Sunset, Before Midnight, and Boyhood, which was a moviemaking feat all its own. But no matter how long he’s worked on movie productions, he tells Perri that “not much has changed, really,” in regards to his style. In other words, what you see is what you’re going to get with Linklater. “You’re sort of stuck with yourself,” he says. “This is my personality, this is how I like to work.” It’s a way of bucking the “volatile” nature of Hollywood, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of room for challenging one’s self on his sets.

To avoid resting on his laurels, Linklater advises, “Keep pushing yourself.” He went on to say, “I haven’t let up,” prompting Perri to ask what the greatest challenge of filming Hit Man was.

“It’s just what was required for the film to pull it off. The thing was so intricate. It was so plot-y. A little different for me. It was just how to paint these characters in a corner and get out of it. It was like a little trap, like Agatha Christie. Usually, I don’t do things so meticulously plotted, but to be effective, if I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna do it, and it’s gonna hopefully work. It was fun. I call it a trap how the walls were closing in on these two people we hopefully care about, and how the hell are they gonna get out of it?”

Having to adapt the real-life story of Gary Johnson meant Linklater and co-writers Powell and Hollandsworth had to condense a man’s life into a palatable runtime full of action and romance and hilarity. Johnson, who Linklater says was a complex man, led a remarkable life, but who was the true inspiration behind Hit Man?

Who’s the Real Gary Johnson?
Image via Netflix

In 2001, Skip Hollandsworth wrote an article about a Houston professor that would catch the attention of Linklater so vividly that he’d go on to make a feature-length movie about it, which would celebrate its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. According to the article, the real Johnson was a man content with his daily routines, but was on call 24/7 as a “staff investigator.” His job was to pose as a hit man for Houston residents who sought to have someone, well, taken care of, and then hand them off to police.

To Linklater, however, it was the decidedly unremarkable qualities of Johnson that made him the ideal main character for his next movie. It’s the perfect juxtaposition of that friendly, unassuming neighbor and the calculated personas he could adopt when necessary. During their conversation, Perri was curious about the unseen qualities of Gary Johnson’s life that may have informed Powell’s work in the movie, which prompted Linklater to share what it was about the man and the myth that allowed them to create such a full onscreen performance:

“He’s a complex, kind of beautiful person. He’s a complex person. A Vietnam vet. He’s been through a lot. He’s a fascinating guy. He was a great character for Glen and I to rally around because he contained multitudes. I talked to a lot of people who worked with him, like the DAs, and they’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, Gary was the best. By the time it came to trial, he had the best evidence so organized. Always a conviction.'”

The one thing about Gary’s personal life he would have loved to dig into more with Powell, though? Gardening. “He’s a big gardener,” he laughs.

What Made Glen Powell the Right Man to Play Multitudes?

Coming off a successful rom-com like Anyone but You where he shared the screen with Euphoria’s Sydney Sweeney, and still riding the jet stream of Tom Cruise’s epic legacy sequel Top Gun: Maverick, quiet and reserved aren’t necessarily the first things that pop into the audience’s minds when they think of Glen Powell. This partnership has been almost 20 years in the making, though, since Linklater cast Powell in his 2006 dramedy, Fast Food Nation, and the director had full confidence that Powell was the (hit) man for the job. They’d reunited previously for the sister sequel to Dazed and Confused, Everybody Wants Some!!, but this is post-Top Gun fame, and according to Linklater, nothing’s changed.

“I was so impressed with Glen’s focus and determination. He’s just such a great creative partner. He’s so funny, he’s smart, he’s a good guy. Like any movie star. What makes a movie star? Someone you kind of want to be around. Glen, I like being around him. For all those reasons, he’s just a great guy.”

In fact, it’s that very star power that gives Linklater hope for the future of Hollywood. Not only did his lead go “off the deep end” for this role, which he attributes to their ability to get so many fascinating personas on screen, but he also believes actors like Powell can shift the frontier of film and television.

“I always say if actors are more picky, if they really try to raise the bar into, like, adult filmmaking, or take on complex and good characters, you can have an effect. If Leonardo DiCaprio wants to do a movie, it might more likely happen than not. If Glen can be in that category, that’s good. That’s where good movies come from.”

Do Glen Powell’s movies make you hopeful for the ever-evolving cinema? Check out Hit Man for yourself in theaters on May 24 and find out. Curious if Richard Linklater plans to turn Dazed and Confused into a trilogy? Check out Perri’s full interview in the video at the top of this article for that and more. For Hit Man showtimes check out the link below.

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