Richard Linklater is back with ‘Hit Man’ alongside Glen Powell and Adria Arjona
Taking advantage of the premiere of ‘Hit Man’ in Mexico, we spoke with Richard Linklater, Glen Powell, and Adria Arjona about this film.
Since time immemorial, we have seen hitmen on the big screen. You know, these lonely, gun-savvy guys who get paid to kill people for hire. However, very few films have dared to rethink the concept of these characters. And in that list, we have ‘Hit Man’, one of the most interesting films of 2024.
After winning the Golden Globe for Best Drama Film in 2015 for ‘Boyhood’ and receiving several nominations the same year for this film, Richard Linklater worked on a lot of projects that led him to venture into different genres and styles. Among them, ‘Everybody Wants Some!!’, ‘Last Flag Flying’, ‘Where’d You Go, Bernadette’, and ‘Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood’.
In this film, we follow the story of Gary Johnson (Powell), a lonely college philosophy professor in New Orleans who has recently divorced and leads an ordinary life with his classes. Although yes, he works part-time as a computer consultant for the city’s police department.
However, everything changes for the protagonist when the police ask him to pose as a hitman. As part of an operation to stop those who try to hire these hitmen. To everyone’s surprise, Gary manages to accomplish the mission and shows a natural ability to create different types of assassins depending on each client. That’s where he creates a lot of characters with costumes, beards, and so on.
But things get out of hand when Gary meets Madison – a desperate woman who wants to kill her abusive husband – Well, he ends up falling in love with her and starting a relationship, where he tries to convince her to cancel her plans. Although in the end, in an impressive plot twist, the main character finds himself in the middle of a real crime and all evidence points to him being responsible. That’s more or less what it’s about ‘Hit Man’.
We talked with the director and the protagonists of this film!
It is thanks to that plot, the direction, and the performances that ‘Hit Man’ began to receive great reviews from critics. And after checking it, we can confirm that it is definitely one of the must-see movies of 2024 (it’s not for nothing that TIME magazine included it on its list of the best films so far this year), because in addition to seeing impressive action sequences and a lot of comedy, you will find a story that will leave you on the edge of your seat.
But taking advantage of the film’s premiere in Mexico, we had the chance to talk for a while with the protagonists of this story: that’s right, with Richard Linklater, Glen Powell, and Adria Arjona. And what do we talk about with them? Well then the director told us about the dissatisfaction within his filmography and in particular with Gary Johnson, but also about the idea of deconstructing the stereotype of hitmen in cinema.
Besides, Glen and Adria told us about their characters. In particular, the creative freedom that Richard gave them to develop Gary and Madison, but also the challenge that this was precisely, when it came to adding personality and different voices to what they had previously done. We talked about that and more with the protagonists of ‘Hit Man’ and below we leave you the complete interview.