MAKING OF HIT MAN
ROMANCE
Richard Linklater teams with Glen Powell and Adria Arjona for Hit Man – a raucous, sexy, dark comedy based on a stranger-than-fiction tale. Total Film goes undercover to talk demythologising hitmen, multidimensional female characters and the resurgence of the Hollywood leading man.
Certain things only exist on the silver screen. Explosive car crashes where heroes walk away without so much as a sore neck; romcom protagonists waking up from a night of passion with perfect hair; academics who fight the forces of evil in their downtime, rather than marking homework. But even if we know to watch films with a heavy pinch of salt, the team behind Hit Man have been met with shock, confusion and even disappointment when audiences learn that, unlike in the movies… hitmen don’t really exist.
The dark comedy from Richard Linklater – co-written by and starring Glen Powell alongside Adria Arjona – bills itself as ‘a somewhat true story’, based on a 2001 Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth (co-writer of Linklater’s Bernie) about how an unassuming man called Gary Johnson became Houston’s most sought-after professional killer. But Johnson worked for the police, who would rush in and arrest those who ‘hired’ him.
The existence of hitmen that can be called to take out an annoying co-worker or a loathed ex may seem plausible as they’re so culturally ubiquitous but… Think about it. Why would anyone risk the electric chair for a relatively small payout from a stranger? And if hitmen were advertising their services to the general public, wouldn’t the authorities have noticed?
Linklater – the celebrated director of Boyhood, School of Rock and the Before trilogy – has had the existence (or lack thereof) of hitmen on his mind for years. ‘I’ve been fascinated with this for decades. I read true crime and I remember even buying “How to be a Hitman” and these manuals written by Southern California housewives, but it’s all bullshit!’ he laughs. ‘When I read Skip’s article, I remember calling to ask him and he goes, “There’s no record ever of a hitman at this level.” Rationally, of course there isn’t.’
Linklater admits many people ‘feel duped’, like they are hearing the tooth fairy isn’t real, but as the director points out: ‘We should all be super relieved that there aren’t real hitmen, shouldn’t we? That your sworn enemy can’t win the lottery and, just as a side note, bump you off for something you said 20 years ago. It’s really good news there’s not that.’
His co-writer Powell stars as Gary, the titular ‘hitman’ who is not actually a hitman, but a mild-mannered divorcee and professor who moonlights with law e
