In the film, Johnson eventually finds himself romantically involved with one of the prospective clients, leading to a strange situation in which he must keep up the hitman persona or risk losing his new love interest \u2013 which understandably leads to some tense and unintended consequences.<\/p>\n
But is the film based on a true story? Read on for everything you need to know, including exclusive insights from Linklater himself.<\/p>\n
Is Hit Man based on a true story?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\nYes \u2013 albeit only partially<\/strong>. The film is loosely based on a 2001 Texas Monthly<\/a> article written by journalist Skip Hollandsworth about a real man named Gary Johnson who really did work both as a part-time teacher and an undercover fake hit man.<\/p>\nOriginally from rural Louisiana \u2013 where he began his law enforcement career as a sheriff\u2019s deputy in the 1970s \u2013 he went on to work as an investigator for the district attorney\u2019s office after relocating to Houston, and it was here that he began taking part in sting operations and posing as contract killers in 1989.<\/p>\n
After working on over 100 cases, Johnson passed away in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I read this article, on Gary Johnson, the undercover fake hitman, that was in 2001,\u201d Linklater told RadioTimes.com<\/a> of his first encounter with the story. \u201cSo I read that article back then and I was so intrigued with that character of like, \u2018Oh, wow\u2026 What an interesting guy. What an interesting job.\u2019<\/p>\n\u201cI thought, this is about the weirdest job I\u2019ve ever heard of. So there was just something there in that kind of true crime world, there was something there, but the film, at that point based on the article, was just kind of the same thing \u2013 where he would meet a client, some colourful client, and then they\u2019d get arrested. And it was just that [that] happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Glen]( "\\"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 Adria Arjona as Madison in Hit Man.<\/span><\/figcaption> Brian Roedel\/Netflix<\/i><\/span><\/div>\nWhere the film strays into fictional territory is the story of Gary\u2019s relationship with a prospective client, played in the film by Adria Arjona. This aspect of the movie was entirely made up by Linklater and Powell \u2013 although it does still have its roots in a real case featured in Hollandsworth\u2019s article.<\/p>\n
\u201cToward the end of that article, [Johnson] does let one young woman off,\u201d Linklater explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s trying to have her husband killed. And he\u2019s like, you know, you just need to get therapy, get a divorce, you know, get your life together. He lets her off. And so I think Skip was kind of humanising Gary a little bit, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cIt 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.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cSo once we did that, we were off to the races with this idea like, well, \u2018What if she got back in touch with him? What if she kind of asked him out? What if they started dating?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s trapped in his hitman persona \u2013 it becomes kind of a story of identity and self. And 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>
Of course, there are other aspects of the film that, although drawn from details in the article, are exaggerated for the screen \u2013 including the elaborate nature of some of the disguises Johnson wears while posing as different hitmen tailored to each individual client.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe real Gary Johnson did that,\u201d Linklater said. \u201cHe 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 Glen 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was fun to see him so obsessed with it, but it\u2019s an important element to the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the film also includes a couple of references to some of the real cases in which Gary Johnson was involved: for example, there really was a teenager who wanted to pay him in video games.<\/p>\n
So, the short answer is that Hit Man has its roots in a real story, but much of what we see unfolding in the film is completely fictional.<\/p>\n
Hitman is streaming on Netflix from Friday 7th June 2024 \u2013 sign up from \u00a34.99 a month<\/a>. Netflix is also available on\u00a0Sky Glass<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Virgin Media Stream<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\nCheck out more of our\u00a0Film<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>\u00a0to find out what\u2019s on.\u00a0<\/strong>For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to\u00a0The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The crime flick has just arrived on Netflix. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":52843,"template":"","categories":[6],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/06\/is-hit-man-based-on-a-true-story-director-richard-linklater-explains.jpg",1920,1280,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/06\/is-hit-man-based-on-a-true-story-director-richard-linklater-explains-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/06\/is-hit-man-based-on-a-true-story-director-richard-linklater-explains-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/06\/is-hit-man-based-on-a-true-story-director-richard-linklater-explains-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/06\/is-hit-man-based-on-a-true-story-director-richard-linklater-explains-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/06\/is-hit-man-based-on-a-true-story-director-richard-linklater-explains-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/06\/is-hit-man-based-on-a-true-story-director-richard-linklater-explains.jpg",1920,1280,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The crime flick has just arrived on Netflix.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/52842"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Originally from rural Louisiana \u2013 where he began his law enforcement career as a sheriff\u2019s deputy in the 1970s \u2013 he went on to work as an investigator for the district attorney\u2019s office after relocating to Houston, and it was here that he began taking part in sting operations and posing as contract killers in 1989.<\/p>\n
After working on over 100 cases, Johnson passed away in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I read this article, on Gary Johnson, the undercover fake hitman, that was in 2001,\u201d Linklater told RadioTimes.com<\/a> of his first encounter with the story. \u201cSo I read that article back then and I was so intrigued with that character of like, \u2018Oh, wow\u2026 What an interesting guy. What an interesting job.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI thought, this is about the weirdest job I\u2019ve ever heard of. So there was just something there in that kind of true crime world, there was something there, but the film, at that point based on the article, was just kind of the same thing \u2013 where he would meet a client, some colourful client, and then they\u2019d get arrested. And it was just that [that] happened.\u201d<\/p>\n Where the film strays into fictional territory is the story of Gary\u2019s relationship with a prospective client, played in the film by Adria Arjona. This aspect of the movie was entirely made up by Linklater and Powell \u2013 although it does still have its roots in a real case featured in Hollandsworth\u2019s article.<\/p>\n \u201cToward the end of that article, [Johnson] does let one young woman off,\u201d Linklater explains.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s trying to have her husband killed. And he\u2019s like, you know, you just need to get therapy, get a divorce, you know, get your life together. He lets her off. And so I think Skip was kind of humanising Gary a little bit, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cIt 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.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cSo once we did that, we were off to the races with this idea like, well, \u2018What if she got back in touch with him? What if she kind of asked him out? What if they started dating?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s trapped in his hitman persona \u2013 it becomes kind of a story of identity and self. And 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> Of course, there are other aspects of the film that, although drawn from details in the article, are exaggerated for the screen \u2013 including the elaborate nature of some of the disguises Johnson wears while posing as different hitmen tailored to each individual client.<\/p>\n \u201cThe real Gary Johnson did that,\u201d Linklater said. \u201cHe 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 Glen 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was fun to see him so obsessed with it, but it\u2019s an important element to the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the film also includes a couple of references to some of the real cases in which Gary Johnson was involved: for example, there really was a teenager who wanted to pay him in video games.<\/p>\n So, the short answer is that Hit Man has its roots in a real story, but much of what we see unfolding in the film is completely fictional.<\/p>\n Hitman is streaming on Netflix from Friday 7th June 2024 \u2013 sign up from \u00a34.99 a month<\/a>. Netflix is also available on\u00a0Sky Glass<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Virgin Media Stream<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Check out more of our\u00a0Film<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>\u00a0to find out what\u2019s on.\u00a0<\/strong>For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to\u00a0The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n The crime flick has just arrived on Netflix. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":52843,"template":"","categories":[6],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/06\/is-hit-man-based-on-a-true-story-director-richard-linklater-explains.jpg",1920,1280,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/06\/is-hit-man-based-on-a-true-story-director-richard-linklater-explains-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/06\/is-hit-man-based-on-a-true-story-director-richard-linklater-explains-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/06\/is-hit-man-based-on-a-true-story-director-richard-linklater-explains-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/06\/is-hit-man-based-on-a-true-story-director-richard-linklater-explains-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/06\/is-hit-man-based-on-a-true-story-director-richard-linklater-explains-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/06\/is-hit-man-based-on-a-true-story-director-richard-linklater-explains.jpg",1920,1280,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The crime flick has just arrived on Netflix.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/52842"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Glen](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2024\/06\/HM16963R-ef839a1.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"Glen")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"