Richard Linklater Interview: Hit Man Is the Breakout Film Glen Powell Deserves
61Continuing his silver screen stride, co-writer Glen Powell stars in Hit Man, the latest from filmmaker and Academy Award-nominee Richard Linklater (Boyhood). To discuss his dark comedy, Linklater stopped by Collider’s studio at the Cinema Center by MARBL at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival and sat down with Editor-in-Chief Steve Weintraub.
Far removed from his suave Top Gun: Maverick role, Powell flexes his comedic range as Gary Johnson, a timid philosophy professor who moonlights as a staff investigator for undercover cops. When one of the officers impersonating a hitman is placed on leave, it’s Gary’s time to shine. Because he most resembles the officer, Gary is asked to step in for the operation, and it’s undercover as a killer that this professor blossoms. While meeting with a possible client, the charismatic hitman, “Ron,” hits it off with Madison (played by Adria Arjona), a woman looking for a way to escape her abusive relationship. When Gary steps out of bounds and starts meeting up with Madison, he begins to fumble his juggling act with all his new personas, and someone truly does wind up dead.
During their sit-down, Linklater discusses reuniting with Powell for this foray into the “film noir genre and the screwball comedy,” how they landed on this idea, and collaborating together on the story. He talks about the outrageous looks Powell dons for the movie, how a coffee date signaled Arjona was their perfect Madison, and the more technical side of movie magic. Linklater also touches on the impact of Dazed and Confused, more Before Sunrise films, and “shapeshifting” in the editing room.
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