Glen Powell is a master of disguise (well, kind of) in new Hit Man trailer
Powell and director Richard Linklater's espionage rom-com finally hits Netflix June 7
Film News Glen Powell
You’d think that, by now, Glen Powell’s characters would have learned that adopting a false identity and lying to pretty much everyone you know never pans out well, but nope! The actor is trading being Sydney Sweeney’s fake boyfriend in Anyone But You for being the cops’ fake hired gun in Hit Man, and—based on the film’s newly released trailer—the latter deception ends up in a territory just as sultry and complicated as the former.
Directed by Richard Linklater and co-written by Linklater and Powell, Hit Man is loosely based on the true story of a “mild-mannered professor” named Gary Johnson who “lives alone with his two cats,” according to the 2001 Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth that inspired the screenplay. But Gary also has a secret: when he’s not teaching, he moonlights as a fake, highly sought-after hit man who’s actually working with the cops to arrest anyone who hires him. What could go wrong?
Apart from the fact that it’s hard to believe anyone would buy Powell as a glum, sad-sack professor—or a skeevy creature of the underworld for that matter—what goes wrong is… exactly what you’d suspect. Johnson is swept off his feet when he’s hired by a woman (Adria Arjona) seeking to off her husband, which makes things even more complicated when the husband is actually found dead a little while later. (As we see in one scene in the trailer, Gary can’t even properly aim a gun.)
As you may recall, Netflix somewhat controversially purchased the film’s distribution rights for $20 million last September. Critics and festival audiences had hoped to see the extremely buzzy movie get a wider theatrical release, a notion that feels like a complete no-brainer considering the fact that Powell’s Anyone But You brought in a whopping $219 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo), almost nine times the film’s budget. Netflix does promise a theatrical run at some point (details are still unclear on that), but in the meantime, it’s mostly just exciting that wider audiences will be able to experience this film in any capacity after months and months of hype.
Hit Man premieres on Netflix June 7.
15 Comments
i was one of those who was really disappointed this is going straight to netflix. saw this in a full house at tiff and the theatre was basically levitating. this is a very good movie, so i hope even with the netflix release it finds a real audience.
I watched Anyone But You twice, and am a certified rom-com fan (even went to Rom-Com Con 2024!), but I cannot understand the popularity of this movie. Sweeney and Powell have less than zero chemistry. It’s a slog.
Tits. Sweeney’s tits is why its popular.And to a lesser extent abs. Powells abs.
Ahem, that’s “are why it’s popular”
It was really stupid, I couldn’t finish it. The cast looked like they were having fun though.
it was just the right thing in the right place at the right time. also the younger generation this was a hit with didn’t get the opportunity to see many romcoms (or coms in general) theatrically, so a combination of ‘hey it’s pretty good’ word of mouth, nothing else playing, and the novelty factor all played into its success.i think they had as much chemistry as your average freddie prinze jr or josh hartnett movie did 20 years ago, we just used to get one of those every 6 weeks.(also, for as much press as sweeney’s boobs get, i saw it in a theatre and the woman were FERAL for powell.)
Yeah it’s a kind of movie there’s a market for but they are barely making them, or when they do it’s super-sanitized on Hallmark.
Please, world. Please always make room for Adria Arjona AND Eiza Gonzalez.
I once wrote a nice email to Skip Hollansdworth, the writer of the movie, over an article he’d written, and received a warm and kind reply which he did not need to do. Very nice guy and I’ve always kept an eye out for his pieces, which often rise to cinematic stories.
Whoever made this trailer needs to be fired because, apparently, this is a good movie, but that trailer makes it look awful.
That wig makes him look like a bad Professor Snape cosplayer. Also he may be talented (haven’t seen him in much) but every time I look at Glen Powell I just think he’s Dollar Store Ryan Gosling
REAL HITMEN DON’T NEED HAIR:
As long as there’s no Alex Jones cameo, I’m in.
Now I’m hoping for one!
A lot of the descriptions give me Bernie vibes, and that’s among my least favorite of Linklater’s work.