Glen Powell is starring in a new erotic thriller called ‘Homewreckers.’
It’ll adapt a short story by Neil M. Paik.
Various studios are vying for the rights to produce it.
Though his star has been rising for some time –– partially thanks to a big breakthrough in ‘Top Gun: Maverick,’ 2024 can be said to be the year of Glen Powell.
And it looks like it’s ending on a positive note, as a film he’s attached to star in is now at the center of a bidding contest between various studios.
The movie in question is an adaptation of a Neil M. Paik short story called ‘Homewreckers,’ which has been recently picked up by Legendary Pictures.
Paik’s story –– an unpublished three-chapter tale –– is being kept under wraps for now, at least outside of those who are trying to buy the movie project.
Legendary, Lionsgate, New Regency, Sony and Warner Bros. are among the companies making offers and in the mix for the project, which was unveiled to the town earlier this week.
Paik is one of those authors who has developed a talent for turning his short stories into coveted projects: ‘Reawakening,’ published by Six by Eight Press, was set up at Amazon as a series with ‘The Chi’s Lena Waithe overseeing it, also after a competitive situation. Another short story, ‘Rainbowfish,’ was set up at Warners.
With Powell aboard this one, it has an even better chance of making it through development, though obviously needs a writer and director attached.
What else has Glen Powell been seen in?
Glen Powell as Tyler in ‘Twisters’, directed by Lee Isaac Chung.
As mentioned, Powell is having a great year –– he began with ‘Anyone But You’ (technically released at the end of 2023 but a box office sensation by the time 2024).
It continued thanks to ‘Hit Man,’ the Netflix romantic comedy thriller, which he also co-wrote and produced.
That landed strong reviews and earned him a Golden Globe nomination earlier this week. And he starred in ‘Twisters,’ Universal’s update to the 1990s tornado flick. It proved popular with summer audiences, whipping up more than $370 million worldwide.
mDXG2lt1ito40nvany2aY4
Despite taking some time out to complete college courses, Powell shows no sign of slowing down, having shot TV series ‘Chad Powers’ and comedy thriller movie ‘Huntington.’
Jenna Ortega as Cairo Sweet in the Psychological Thriller film, ‘Miller’s Girl,’ a Lionsgate release. Photo courtesy of Zac Popik.
Preview:
Jenna Ortega is reportedly in final talks for J.J. Abrams’ new film.
Glen Powell is making his own deal to star.
Warner Bros. is backing the new movie.
If we know anything about J.J. Abrams, it’s that the man loves a mystery. In fact, he became famous for his “mystery box’” filmmaking as both a director and producer.
It’s perhaps not shocking then, that much about his next movie –– his first as a director since 2019’s ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ –– is being kept under wraps.
But according to Deadline, we are at least learning –– assuming it all works out –– who could end up starring, as both Jenna Ortega and Glen Powell are reportedly making deals to appear.
Can the polar bear from ‘Lost’ be far behind? Okay, probably not, but you can already sense Abrams’ old friend and frequent cinematic lucky charm Greg Grunberg waiting to see how he might be included.
(L to R) Composer Michael Giacchino and director J.J. Abrams on the set of ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.’ Photo courtesy of Michael Giacchino’s Twitter.
As we mention above, this one is a big ol’ mystery. No plot details have emerged (there was some chatter about it being a time travel tale, but that has since been denied) and the title remains locked in a vault somewhere.
Abrams wrote the script for the new movie and his Bad Robot company is naturally involved to produce. It’ll be released by Warner Bros’. but beyond that… your guess is as good as ours.
What else are Jenna Ortega and Glen Powell working on?
Glen Powell as Tyler in ‘Twisters’, directed by Lee Isaac Chung.
Ortega is in high demand of late thanks to her star-making turns in the recent ‘Scream’ outings and Netflix’s ‘Wednesday’.
Next up for her in terms of release date is a reunion with ‘Wednesday’ director Tim Burton for ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’, with the supernatural comedy sequel due to premiere at the Venice Film Festival ahead of its September 6th arrival.
uLTv9GLrkBg9Jyg4AV3il3
She’s also part of the cast for Taika Waititi’s sci-fi pic ‘Klara and the Sun’ and Alex Scharfman’s comedy ‘Death of a Unicorn’ which also stars Paul Rudd and Will Poulter. Finally, she’s been busy shooting a second season of ‘Wednesday’.
As for Powell, he’s enjoying success on screen with ‘Twisters’, which is doing solid business. The actor has been working on comedy thriller ‘Huntington’ and will star for Edgar Wright in a remake of ‘The Running Man’ and John Lee Hancock’s legal true story ‘Monsanto’. Plus, he’s been talking of late of having been told the date he’ll need to be ready to shoot another ‘Top Gun’ movie.
When will the new Abrams movie be in theaters?
Among the many details that Abrams and co. are keeping quiet for now is any potential release date for the movie. We have to assume that someone at Abrams’ level can demand not to lock down a date until he’s ready to commit to something, though Warners will no doubt hope this can hit cinemas as soon as possible.
Jenna Ortega attends the world premiere of Netflix’s ‘Wednesday’ on November 16, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Presley Ann/Getty Images for Netflix.
Richard Linklater has cast his next film, ‘Blue Moon’.
Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley and Andrew Scott are all aboard.
Linklater will film in Dublin, Ireland this summer.
While some directors would be content to rest on their laurels after a successful recent release (the Glen Powell-starring Netflix smash ‘Hit Man’), that really isn’t Richard Linklater’s style.
He already has ‘Nouvelle Vague’, about the production of Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Breathless’ in the editing stage and is also still shooting footage for his decades-in-the-making film version of musical ‘Merrily We Roll Along’).
Deadline reports that the busy filmmaker has secured backing for his next movie, ‘Blue Moon’, which follows the highs and lows of a real-life songwriting partnership and has locked in an interesting cast.
Written by Robert Kaplow, author of the novel ‘Me and Orson Welles’ (which inspired the Linklater film of the same name), ‘Blue Moon’ profiles the final days of Lorenz Hart, part of the hit songwriting team Rodgers & Hart –– who wrote ‘Blue Moon’ itself.
The movie is set primarily in New York’s Sardi’s Restaurant on March 31, 1943, the opening night of ‘Oklahoma!’, which marked Richard Rodgers’ first collaboration with Oscar Hammerstein II as Hart’s replacement.
Who will appear in ‘Blue Moon’?
Ethan Hawke stars in ‘The Black Phone,’ directed by Scott Derrickson and opening in theaters on June 24th.
Linklater has rounded up quite the cast for this one, which will be anchored by his ninth collaboration with Ethan Hawke.
(L to R) Adria Arjona as Madison, director and co-writer Richard Linkletter, co-writer Glen Powell as Gary Johnson, and director of photography Shane F. Kelly. Photo: Brian Rondel / Courtesy of Netflix.Cr. Brian Rondel / Courtesy of Netflix.
Sony Pictures Classics will be financing the film after developing it for the past few months, with parent company Sony distributing it around the world. Linklater is aboard to produce alongside Mike Blizzard and longtime manager John Sloss.
This was the official statement from Sony Pictures Classics:
“Almost a year ago, Rick, Ethan, and John reached out to us with Robert Kaplow’s amazing script ‘Blue Moon’. Helping them over the following months to bring it together has been incredibly exciting and now, on the verge of production, with this fantastic cast and crew in place and Rick at the helm, we are thrilled to finally announce it and bring the film to audiences everywhere in the world.”
Here’s what Linklater had to say:
“Robert, Ethan, and I have been developing this story for over a decade and are excited and grateful that the time has come to bring this to life.”
There is no release date for ‘Blue Moon’ just yet.
(L to R) Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, director Richard Linklater and Sanjay Rao for ‘Hit Man’. Photo: Netflix.
Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ ‘Criminal’. Photo: Image Comics.
‘Criminal’ adapts the sprawling graphic novel series created by Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips.
The adaptation is being described as the interweaving saga of several generations of families tied together by the crimes and murders of the past.
Hunnam will, according to Deadline, play main character Leo, a brilliant master thief who sees all the angles, and specializes in plans with no guns and no violence.
Like a chess player, Leo thinks three moves ahead. Other crooks think he’s a coward, especially compared to his father Tommy, who went to jail for murdering the most feared man in the city, Teeg Lawless.
Arjona will bring to life Greta, a sharp-tongued top-level car thief and driver and the widowed mother of Angie.
Ever since her husband died in a bank job gone bad, Greta has been battling with herself about how to escape the only life she’s ever known – and the only place she’s ever thrived. The problem is, she’s good at this. She’s looking for a big score, a lump of money she can use like a gun to shoot her and Angie out of this life and into another one.
Who else is in ‘Criminal’?
(L to R) Richard Jenkins and Sally Hawkins in ‘The Shape of Water’. Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Richard Jenkins (‘The Shape of Water’) was reported as joining the series last week, and he’ll play a character called Ivan, Leo’s dad’s best friend, who has always been an uncle figure to him. He used to be a robber and criminal but is now currently suffering from dementia. Leo is trying to care for him but realizes he’s more work than he can handle.
Who is making ‘Criminal’?
Brie Larson as Carol Danvers in 2019’s ‘Captain Marvel.’
Brubaker is closely involved with the show –– he wrote the pilot script and will run the show alongside Jordan Harper, a veteran of shows such as ‘The Mentalist’, ‘Gotham’ and ‘Hightown’.
On the directing side of things, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (who made ‘Captain Marvel’) are handling the first four episodes of the show.
This was Brubaker’s comment when the show was originally announced:
“Sean and I have been building this world in our books for over a decade, and now to be able to bring it to life for Amazon is just incredible. And to have Amazon support the project the way they have and show so much faith in my and Jordan’s vision for the show is even more incredible.”
Here’s what Amazon/MGM’s Nick Pepper had to say about the new developments:
“‘Criminal is a beloved graphic novel created by the most iconic team in the history of comics. I know our global Prime Video customers will immediately embrace this story, and I look forward to working with Ed, Jordan, and the team to bring it to the screen.”
When will ‘Criminal’ be on screens?
Despite the cast coming together, we wouldn’t expect this one to be shooting much before later this year, so later in 2025 would seem to be the earliest likely release slot.
Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ ‘Criminal’. Photo: Image Comics.
Premiering in 2023 at the Venice and Toronto film festivals before being scooped up by Netflix for a reported $20 million, ‘Hit Man’ – kind of like the recent ‘Challengers,’ but very different – is a breath of fresh air: an adult-oriented genre mash-up of rom-com, crime thriller and comedy that’s all the more astounding because it’s partially based on a true story.
Directed by Richard Linklater (‘School of Rock’) with a verve that’s been missing from some of his recent work, and starring Glen Powell in another star-making turn as a humdrum academic who rediscovers his passion and confidence by pretending to be a smoldering assassin, ‘Hit Man’ is smart, sensual, character-driven, and highly entertaining.
Story and Direction
(L to R) Adria Arjona as Madison, director and co-writer Richard Linkletter, co-writer Glen Powell as Gary Johnson, and director of photography Shane F. Kelly. Photo: Brian Rondel / Courtesy of Netflix.
‘Hit Man’ is based partially on an article of the same name, written by Skip Hollingsworth, that appeared in Texas Monthly magazine in 2001. It told the story of Gary Johnson, a college professor who moonlighted with the New Orleans police department first as a surveillance tech and then as an undercover agent himself, part of a sting operation set up to nab people looking to hire a hitman to off someone who had become an irritant in their lives.
What Johnson discovered is also what his screen counterpart, played by Glen Powell, discovers: that he has a genuine knack for not just undercover work, but inhabiting different personalities according to what he thinks the target will respond to. As the film begins, Johnson – lonely, divorced, boring his students and, whether he wants to admit it or not, boring himself – is thrust into his first undercover role when the usual front man, Jasper (a slippery Austin Amelio), is benched after beating on some alleged perps. Much to his surprise, Gary gets into the ‘tough guy’ persona he comes up with on the spot – and the head of his team (Retta) is pleased enough to recommend he keep doing it.
As Gary moves forward, he begins donning different costumes for each sting: in one of the movie’s funniest ongoing gags, they reference everyone from Christian Bale’s Patrick Bateman in ‘American Psycho’ to Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh from ‘No Country for Old Men.’ But while disguised as a cool, suave, and yes, sexy assassin named Ron (Ron wears black tank tops under shirts open halfway down his chest, his hair swept back, while Gary dresses in flannels, khakis, and glasses, his hair flopping over his face), Gary meets a woman named Madison (Adria Arjona), who is looking to have her abusive husband killed.
Gary, as “Ron,” talks Madison out of going forward with her plan, surprising both himself and the members of his team listening in. But no one is more surprised than Gary when he – or rather, “Ron” – reconnects with a newly-separated Madison and begins a steamy relationship with her. From that point on, the story takes multiple twists, and no one – least of all Gary, who is finding it increasingly difficult to figure out where he ends and “Ron” begins – is exactly what they seem.
Linklater directs all this with a sure hand, confident in the material, the characters, and his actors but adding a little flash here and there with a comic montage or two. What works best about ‘Hit Man’ is its unpredictability: the movie shifts from romance to crime caper to psychological exploration without ever feeling like it’s taken too jarring a turn, which is a credit again both to the balancing of tone in both Linklater’s direction and the script by him and Powell.
There is perhaps one false note at the end of the picture – a bit of moral ambiguity that is not quite resolved – but in the final analysis, it works within the context of the rest of the story and, if anything, adds a nice touch of subversion to a movie that already lightly subverts some well-worn genre tropes.
Glen Powell has obviously been around for a minute (he’s worked with Linklater several times already), but his breakout work in ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and his leading man turn in last year’s ‘Anyone But You’ has positioned him as one of Hollywood’s next big things. Frankly, he deserves it: ‘Hit Man’ features Powell at his most winning, with Gary a complex, compelling, and attractive protagonist who is empathetic and believable from the get-go even as his personal situation becomes more trying. His evolution from nerdy, existentially fuzzy Gary to confident, even swaggering Ron – and then fusing the two from there – is organic and expertly portrayed.
He and Adria Arjona have instant, off-the-chart chemistry from the start, an ingredient that helps make their love scenes in ‘Hit Man’ more sensual than some of the other screen romance we’ve seen in recent times. We last saw Arjona in a thankless role in 2022’s forgettable ‘Morbius,’ and here she’s much more alluring, sparkling, and funnier. But the character of Madison is somewhat undercooked: she goes from a relationship in which she has absolutely no agency to one in which…she kind of has no agency, waiting in her apartment for “Ron” to come around so they can get busy. There are some subtle reveals to the character later that help flesh Madison out, but she doesn’t come quite as fully to life as Gary.
The supporting cast is gold, led by Retta as the no-nonsense Claudette and Austin Amelio as the calculating, untrustworthy Jasper. And let’s not forget to mention the parade of suspects that Gary gets locked up through the sting operation – sure, some of them are no more than easily recognizable archetypes, but they each get a funny moment or two.
Light and sure on its feet, ‘Hit Man’ also touches on some heavy questions: Who are we and how many different layers are there to our personalities? Are we really the best version of ourselves and if not, how do we get there? These musings are sprinkled liberally through the film, but the philosophical underpinnings don’t slow down what is still essentially a romp, bolstered by well-drawn characters and a powerhouse lead turn. If a movie like ‘Hit Man’ finds it harder to exist in movie theaters, the industry is truly having an existential crisis of its own.
‘Hit Man’ receives 8 out of 10 stars.
3WV3kq1grzX4AP9d4UV4W3
What is the plot of ‘Hit Man’?
New Orleans college professor Gary Johnson (Glen Powell) moonlights for the police department as a fake hitman, using multiple disguises to catch people looking to have someone in their lives killed off. But after he talks a beautiful woman (Adria Arjona) out of ordering a hit on her husband — while disguised as a smoldering hitman named Ron — Gary gets caught in an identity crisis that leads him to wonder just who he really is.
(L to R) Retta, Adria Arjona, Glen Powell and director Richard Linklater for ‘Hit Man’. Photo: Netflix.
‘Hit Man’ is a new comic thriller coming to Netflix on June 7th after a limited theatrical run on May 24th. Directed by Richard Linklater (‘Boyhood’) and co-written by Linklater and star Glen Powell (‘Top Gun: Maverick,’ ‘Anyone But You’), the film is based on a 2001 Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth about a man named Gary Johnson, a New Orleans college professor who moonlights with the Big Easy’s police department as a surveillance tech expert.
In the film, as in real life, the unassuming Johnson (Powell) is working with a team of detectives conducting a sting operation to catch people who want to hire a hitman to kill a spouse, business partner, or anyone else they want to get rid of. When Johnson must suddenly pose as the fake hitman, he discovers he has a knack for it – as well as a talent for disguising himself as a different type of person for every potential customer.
But while posing as a suave, cool, and sexy assassin named Ron, Gary meets a woman named Madison (Adria Arjona, ‘Andor’), who wants to off her abusive husband. “Ron” talks her out of it, and soon he and Madison begin an affair of their own — with Madison not knowing who “Ron” really is — while Gary finds himself entangled in an escalating combination of identity crisis and deception.
Co-starring Retta (‘Parks and Recreation’), Austin Amelio (‘The Walking Dead’), and Sanjay Rao, ‘Hit Man’ is a crackling, inspired mix of noir, crime thriller, and rom-com that’s hard to pin down to one genre and even more difficult to believe is based on a real person. Powell, Linklater, Arjona, and Retta all recently participated in an online press conference for the film, and here are 10 things we learned there, edited for clarity and length.
1. Glen Powell Discovered the Story During The Pandemic
Glen Powell stars in ‘Hit Man’. Photo: Netflix.
Glen Powell says it was early in the pandemic when he first discovered the true story of Gary Johnson and was fascinated by it.
Glen Powell: Immediately, it was so clear there was such a compelling character there. If you look at the real-life Gary Johnson, he was a psychology professor who actually moonlighted with the police department, did AV equipment, was an ornithologist, Zen Buddhist. It was just such an incredible character piece, but I didn’t really know where it went. All I knew is that there was a fascinating guy here, and they called him the Laurence Olivier of fake hitmen because he approached the job differently. Instead of just becoming the hitman for hire across from someone who is trying to kill their husband or their wife or their business partner, he embodied their fantasy of what a fake hitman is, because hitmen don’t exist. So he took this skillset to a whole new level and started putting on these disguises and all these different things. It was just a fascinating idea…So I called up Rick and I said, I just read this amazing article called ‘Hit Man.’ And Rick said, “Yeah, I read that article when you were in 7th grade.”
2. Powell Helped Linklater Crack the Story of ‘Hit Man’
(L to R) Adria Arjona as Madison, director and co-writer Richard Linkletter, co-writer Glen Powell as Gary Johnson, and director of photography Shane F. Kelly. Photo: Brian Rondel / Courtesy of Netflix.
Richard Linklater says he had been thinking about making a movie out of ‘Hit Man’ for years but that working with Glen Powell finally unlocked the story.
Richard Linklater: I was so excited to get this call from Glen because that story had been kicking around in my head. I had talked to Skip, I had had a couple of meetings on it over the years, but it didn’t really work. It didn’t really work as a film because there was this repetition. It didn’t really go anywhere. So I told this to Glen [and] he said, ‘Well, let’s talk about it.” I was like, “Oh, wow, it’s the pandemic. What else are we going to do?” So talk we did, every day for a while. We would just have hours of conversations. And Glen kind of loosened the logjam I was in. He said, “Well, what if we deviate? Why do we have to stick to the facts?” So once that floodgate opened, we were off to the races. We just started having these great ideas, and the last two thirds of the movie kind of comes out of that. The genres kick in and it becomes this thrill ride. But it was grounded in Gary Johnson’s life reality…[he] was a real person, [with] a real job, the strangest occupation anyone could ever have.
3. One Paragraph in the ‘Hit Man’ Article Became Half the Movie
In the movie, Gary Johnson meets with a woman who wants to put out a hit on her abusive husband. Gary, disguised as a suave assassin named Ron, talks her out of it, persuading her to take control of her life instead. The two later begin their own relationship, which drives the second half of the film.
Glen Powell: The story wasn’t revealing itself in a natural way, but then there was this paragraph about this woman that the real-life Gary Johnson sat down with. She was approaching him to get him to kill her husband. And instead of sending her to jail like he did with everybody else, he didn’t believe that she was capable of this thing. He sort of believed in the best of her and talked her out of it. It was the first time that ever happened, and there was a relationship that developed from that. But all of a sudden the article just sort of moves on, and Rick and I were like, well, what if we pull at that thread? We have so many questions about what that relationship is and how they reengaged with each other. Did he stay as the fake hitman? So really that was a big breaking point because that was when we started thinking about, [what] if he got stuck in this identity as this fake hitman?
4. Not Just Another Femme Fatale
Adria Arjona stars in ‘Hit Man’. Photo: Netflix.
Adria Arjona’s character, Madison, reveals more layers to her personality as the film goes on, which is something Arjona wanted to happen.
Adria Arjona: She’s a woman that’s coming from a traumatic relationship, this weird kind of dark relationship, and she’s desperate for reinvention. I think we all do that in life, where we’re all always trying to find sort of a different version of ourselves. She’s sort of playing that. She’s kind of looking at Ron and going, what would Ron like? What would a bad boy like Ron want in a woman? So I don’t see Madison as a femme fatale. I see a woman trying to play the illusion of a femme fatale. That was really fun to play with. I just had so much fun crafting that with them, and it felt a little bit more grounded. That was something that I could do. I wasn’t interested in just being the femme fatale.
5. Retta Didn’t Find Out She Had Her Role For, Like, Forever
Retta stars in ‘Hit Man’. Photo: Netflix.
The ‘Parks and Recreation’ star auditioned for the role of Claudette, leader of the undercover New Orleans police sting operation for which Gary first does surveillance and then acts as a fake hitman.
Retta: I got an audition from my agent and I was like, oh, it’s Rick and Glen. I didn’t know Glen wrote. So I was like, “Look at you, fancy.” So I put myself on tape and didn’t hear anything for a long time. Then Glen and I happened to be at [a party] and Glen is talking to me as if I was hired. He was like, “We’re going to make that movie. We’re going to have so much fun.” I was like, “Dude, did I get the job?” I literally went home that night and texted my manager and I was like, did someone not email me to let me know that I booked this gig? But I know Glen from 10 years ago; we did a movie together [‘Sex Ed’]. I know Rick from 20 years ago; we did a pilot together. So I know them personality-wise, and I was like, “Oh, this is going to be a very calm environment.”
6. How Retta’s Role Changed From Claude to Claudette
As is often the case, the role of Claudette was supposed to be a man (Claude), but Retta took it over with few changes and not a lot of research.
Retta: It was written originally as a guy. So I just chose to be me if I were a detective. Those are the choices that I made. I was me saying those lines as a detective in that space. It wasn’t much more than that. I didn’t study anything. We met some detectives that told us how things go, but that was about it for me. I don’t watch a lot of true crime. I listened to some podcasts and they used to scare me, so I stopped. I like to problem-solve. So that’s why I was like, I feel like he said this, so I feel like we need to do that.
7. Richard Linklater Was Very Happy to Work With Glen Powell Again
(L to R) Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, director Richard Linklater and Sanjay Rao for ‘Hit Man’. Photo: Netflix.
Richard Linklater previously directed Glen Powell in 2016’s ‘Everybody Wants Some!!’ with the latter playing Walt “Finn” Finnegan.
Richard Linklater: Kind of the greatest thing about getting to do this over the years and decades is when you work with someone you like and if the planets align, you get to work with ’em again. It’s just wonderful. With Glen, I think our big breakthrough was 10 years ago we were shooting ‘Everybody Wants Some!!’ Glen came in and auditioned. I had a part that I thought would be very difficult to cast. He’s an athlete, yet he’s really smart and charming, and he’s kind of the team intellectual. I was like, oh, this is a small little target, who’s going to do this? I’d known Glen for about 10 years at this time. I’d worked with him when he was young, like a high school kid…But he walked in the room and was this guy. I was like, when did Glen become so amazing? He’s so smart. He’s so charming. I was just seeing this force of nature. I was like, oh my God, he solved my problem. I got my guy to play this thing. But we had such a great creative time on that…when he called me with this, it was off to the races creatively, because he is just fun to work with. He’s funny and smart and a great collaborator.
8. Glen Powell to Richard Linklater: Right Back Atcha, Pal!
Glen Powell explains why he enjoys collaborating with Linklater and would like to keep it going.
Glen Powell: The wonderful thing about writing with Rick is that your conversations become wonderful pages and friendship and work blend together in this kind of effortless way. It’s what I think makes him magical as a filmmaker. He’s never attacking a story. He sort of lets the story reveal itself. And when he casts people, he really allows them to come into the process. There’s sort of this wonderful room for life that he gives everything. I think it makes that ecosystem very different and very fruitful. So I’d love to keep doing this till our fingers just freeze up on the keyboard.
During one crucial, showstopping scene late in the movie, Gary (Powell) guides Madison (Arjona) through a fake argument by texting her what to say and how to act, even as the other members of his police team are listening to them talk.
Adria Arjona: We spoke about that scene so much between the three of us. It was that scene that we just never gave up on. There were so many different iterations of how we might do it… So when we first heard that first “action,” all of a sudden I start seeing Glen kind of guide me through this scene in such a seamless way. My job really was to follow his lead as much as I could. It was one of those scenes where we didn’t stop looking at each other. I looked at every gesture that he did, and it triggered something in me. So I feel like it’s a scene where teamwork was so important and so crucial. I don’t think I’ve done that before in any movie. You aspire to be the best listener you can. I mean, that’s what acting is all about. But everyone has their own motives. You’re playing your own characters. For this scene, we had to be symbiotic for it to work. It was also so much fun.
10. What a Surprise: The Studios Didn’t Get ‘Hit Man’
According to Powell, no Hollywood studios were interested in backing ‘Hit Man.’ The movie was financed and filmed independently, then played at the Venice and Toronto film festivals in 2023 – with Netflix purchasing it at the latter for a reported $20 million.
Glen Powell: We took this movie out and no one got it. We took this script out. We were so proud of it. We were so excited about what it said about identity and passion. We thought it was so universal and exciting. It was going to be an audience movie. And then it was just crickets. No one got it. Nobody responded to it because I don’t think it fits into one box. We were trying to do something original, and I think the town always wanted it to be something else. I think what I’m just really proud of is we got to make this movie independently, and make the movie that we wanted to make. It doesn’t subscribe to any genre. It doesn’t fit into any box. I think the reason it’s a really great audience movie, and the reason people are responding to it, is you can’t get out in front of it. You can’t predict it because it’s all the things.
3WV3kq1grzX4AP9d4UV4W3
What is the plot of ‘Hit Man’?
A part-time staffer (Glen Powell) with the New Orleans Police Department stumbles into the role of posing undercover as a reliable hitman with the goal of arresting those trying to hire him. He discovers he has a talent for theatrically matching the expectations of his suspects with often-humorous costumes, accents, and mannerisms, which makes him especially adept at his work. He meets with a woman (Adria Arjona) who wants a hitman to kill her husband, but he falls for her at first sight and saves her from getting entrapped. Later she bamboozles her way into his life and murders her husband for the insurance money. The story explores how far will a person go for infatuation, love, and personal happiness.
