{"id":52812,"date":"2024-06-06T20:00:03","date_gmt":"2024-06-06T18:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=2052059"},"modified":"2024-06-06T21:26:38","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T19:26:38","slug":"richard-linklater-on-hit-man-the-algorithm-of-the-modern-world-doesnt-lean-toward-complexity","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/richard-linklater-on-hit-man-the-algorithm-of-the-modern-world-doesnt-lean-toward-complexity\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Linklater on Hit Man: \u201cThe algorithm of the modern world doesn\u2019t lean toward complexity\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The acclaimed director talks his acclaimed new Netflix film, Glen Powell’s rise to movie stardom and School of Rock at 20. <\/p>

By Patrick Cremona\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 06 June 2024 at 18:00 PM<\/p>

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In 2001, an article appeared in Texas Monthly that told the unlikely story of a man named Gary Johnson \u2013 a Houston-native who, over a 10 year spell, had been privately hired to kill more than 60 people.<\/p>\n

Except there\u2019s one very important detail: Johnson wasn\u2019t actually going through with the murders. Instead, he was working undercover for the cops, who were on standby to arrest his clients as soon as they had handed over cash and admitted on tape that they wanted someone dead.<\/p>\n

This story of a fake contract killer has now been adapted into an acclaimed film by Richard Linklater \u2013 who co-wrote a fictionalised script with the film\u2019s star Glen Powell. Hit Man arrives on Netflix this weekend following a brief theatrical run, and so ahead of the streaming debut RadioTimes.com<\/a> caught up with the director to chat about the project.<\/p>\n

Linklater had first read the article many years ago \u2013 and collaborated with its writer Skip Hollandsworth on the 2011 film Bernie \u2013 but it wasn\u2019t until Powell approached him during the pandemic that the idea for Hit Man really began to take shape.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018this is about the weirdest job I\u2019ve ever heard of\u2019,\u201d he said about his first time reading the article. \u201cSo when Glen Powell called me over the pandemic, he says, \u2018Oh, I read this article\u2019 and I said, \u2018Glen, I\u2019ve been thinking about that article for years \u2013 I read that when you were, like, in seventh grade!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it was great,\u201d he adds. \u201cI had a creative partner all of a sudden and it was Glen who kind of pushed me. He\u2019s like, \u2018Well, what if we just kind of kept going, you know. What if you can do something that didn\u2019t really happen in the real world? Let\u2019s take this character and go on a wild ride.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Adria\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Adria Arjona as Madison and Glen Powell as Gary Johnson in Hit Man.<\/span><\/figcaption> Brian Roedel\/Netflix<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

And so Linklater and Powell created a fictional story jumping off from the real tale of Gary Johnson \u2013 crafting a love story that pondered what might have happened if he had become romantically involved with one of the clients whose arrest he\u2019d been tasked with securing.<\/p>\n

The end result is a film that follows Gary as he falls head over heels for a woman named Maddy Masters (Adria Arjona) after he talks her into walking away from her abusive husband rather than going through with her initial plan of having him murdered.<\/p>\n

Some time later, the pair bump into each other again and begin an affair. Only, things are somewhat complicated by the fact that Gary must continue adopting the fake hitman guise he had used on their first encounter \u2013 which, unsurprisingly, leads to a couple of issues later down the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt becomes kind of a story of identity and self,\u201d Linklater explains. \u201cAnd it put us in some genres and kind of deepened the stakes of the movie in a certain way \u2013 and deepened the character.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the things that especially intrigued Linklater about Hollandsworth\u2019s article \u2013 and which he felt was important to reflect in the film \u2013 was the idea of the \u201cmyth of the retail hitman\u201d.<\/p>\n

He explains that most people don\u2019t realise that the job of professional assassin doesn\u2019t actually exist in the real world \u2013 at least, not in the way that it is presented in cinema. What\u2019s more, he\u2019s found that when people discover this, they can unexpectedly feel a little let down.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been in books and movies and stuff, but it\u2019s just not true,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a complete pop culture myth \u2013 I think the movies invented the hitman. It goes so well in movies and it\u2019s been perfected in different cultures over time, and it\u2019s a fascinating kind of sub genre of movie. But it\u2019s just not real. It never has been \u2013 it doesn\u2019t make any sense. It\u2019d be so easy to catch them and trap them!\u201d<\/p>\n

He continues: \u201cI think that\u2019s good news for all of us. That you can\u2019t just go hire somebody to kill someone so easily. But people are a little disappointed, I\u2019ve noticed! [I\u2019m] like: do you want them to be [real]? Do you want your enemy to have gotten a raise at work and bump you off so easily?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people are strangely empowered with this notion that they could hire a hitman. It\u2019s really a funny phenomenon and this movie\u2019s deconstruction of that myth isn\u2019t going to stop hitman movies. They\u2019re just too fun as characters.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Glen\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Glen Powell as Gary Johnson and Bryant Carroll as Walt in Hit Man.<\/span><\/figcaption> Brian Roedel\/Netflix<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Linklater and Powell certainly had a lot of fun building a variety of different hitman personas for this movie.<\/p>\n

For the first half of the film, Gary takes on a variety of different disguises tailored to each individual client \u2013 and although these were partly inspired by the real Gary Johnson\u2019s story, the creative team gave themselves plenty of leeway to lean into overly comedic territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was so fun,\u201d Linklater recalls. \u201cAnd the real Gary Johnson did that \u2013 he kind of adjusted his appearance a little bit, but nowhere near what we do in the film.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, it\u2019s a comedy, and Glenn went totally off the deep end into these characters, the wigs and the accents. He was studying those accents and reading books on like, body language and just really working out these characters. It was fun to see him so obsessed with it, but it\u2019s an important element to the movie.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Glen\u2019s a great collaborator; he works very hard and has a lot of good ideas. It was perfect to work with someone like that, who brought so much to it. Ultimately, he\u2019s the actor and I\u2019m the director, but while we were writing it we never really talked about performance. We were just trying to crack the story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between his supporting part in Top Gun: Maverick, his leading turn opposite Sydney Sweeney in the hugely successful romcom Anyone But You and an upcoming starring role in summer blockbuster sequel Twisters, Powell\u2019s star has been rapidly ascending in recent years, to the point that he\u2019s now being positioned as one of Hollywood\u2019s big movie star hopes.<\/p>\n

\"Anyone\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Anyone But You.<\/span><\/figcaption> Sony Pictures Releasing<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Given that Linklater has been working with him for so many years \u2013 beginning with a minor role in his 2006 mockumentary Fast Food Nation while Powell was still a teenager \u2013 what does he think of the hype?<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I think everyone who\u2019s known Glen the last 10 plus years has known this is kind of inevitable,\u201d he says. \u201cHe does have that star charisma, that star quality, it was just a matter of getting the right parts. They say Hollywood doesn\u2019t really produce stars the way they used to, because they just don\u2019t have adult dramas that create stars.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re in some superhero franchise the actor doesn\u2019t really get the credit \u2013 the star is like the character from the Marvel Universe or whatever. So everybody tells Glen \u2018Oh, you\u2019re born in the wrong era, you know.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019ve seen stars emerge and I don\u2019t think anyone\u2019s surprised. It was just a matter of getting those parts, and it just seems like Glen has worked really hard. I\u2019m just excited Hollywood sees him as a leading man. I mean, Glen\u2019s smart, he\u2019s gonna make good movies, and we\u2019ll all be better off for him getting movies made that he wants to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout his long and varied filmmaking career Linklater has often made films that ask questions about the changes people go through \u2013 whether that be over a long-period of time as in Boyhood or the Before trilogy or in a more sudden fashion, as in the case of Hit Man.<\/p>\n

This idea \u2013 of how much we have the ability to modify our personalities \u2013\u00a0 is key to the new film and is something the director describes as \u201cone of these eternal questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

He explains: \u201cIt\u2019s the kind of thing I read about \u2013 I read the latest studies \u2013 and I\u2019m intrigued\u2026 you know: are we stuck with who we are? Can we change? To what degree can we change?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had that in other movies. And this seemed like, once it really focused on identity, it was one more area to explore. There has been some recent research [that suggests] you really can change. It takes a little effort, but I was like, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s interesting. Let\u2019s have a guy who kind of wills himself to change.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems very modern the idea of you can be whoever you want to be. It\u2019s very empowering. So that\u2019s what we see happen before our eyes in this movie \u2013 he\u2019s playing these roles. But then in his own life there\u2019s a trajectory there, he\u2019s not the same guy at the end that he was in the beginning. It\u2019s really a study about how he goes from a dispassionate person to a passionate one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Big RT Interviews:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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