The actor stars in the ‘Boyhood’ filmmaker’s latest film.
Despite having been presented in the 2023 Venice Film Festivalthe latest from the filmmaker Richard Linklater It is taking a strangely long time to reach theaters and no, it is not at all a question of professional criticism. hitman It landed with grace and glory in the Serenissima, supported by a flattering unanimity response from the specialized press. However, the days of waiting are numbered and to liven it up, Netflix has shown a new trailer that is not useful for getting to know this fake hitman played by Glen Powell.
Described as “a surprising neo-noir», hitman centers on Gary Johnson (Powell), a college professor who sometimes acts as a decoy killer for the police. However, that position and his morality begin to blur when begins to fall in love with Madison (Adria Arjona), an attractive young woman linked to the criminal world. However, the life of this accidental murderer will become an escalation of deceptions and risks where even his own life will be in danger.
‘Hitman’: a script based on real events
As they always say, sometimes reality is stranger than fiction and that saying sums up very well what the story of hitman. The script It is signed by Linklater and Powell himself and, although it may not seem like it, it is based on real facts. A plot that at one point takes off towards crime and crazy comedy, focusing on the dynamics of its two protagonists and with a protagonist who adopts different characters and identities. The official synopsis is as follows:
«Gary Johnson is the most wanted professional killer in New Orleans. For his clients, he is the ideal hitman. But if you pay him to take out a cheating spouse or an abused boss, you better watch out, because he works for the police. When he breaks protocol to help a desperate woman trying to flee an abused boyfriend, he becomes one of her false characters, falling in love with the woman and blurring the legality in which he had apparently always lived. .
Apart from Powell and Arjona, the cast is completed with Austin Amelio, Retta, Molly Bernard, Mike Markoff, Ritchie Montgomery and Jo-Ann Robinson.
Linklater is one of the best filmmakers
Richard Linklater has been one of those American directors who has managed to shine in independent cinema, thanks to key works, which usually have the charm of capturing their own temporal atmosphere. Precisely Over time It is one of the great themes of his cinematography. Something appreciable in the love between the characters of Celine (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke) in the trilogy that began with Before dawn or broadly speaking of production that triggered a film of the stature of Boyhood. A film that covered the 12 years of Mason’s (Ellar Coltrane) growth, both in fiction and in real life, since Linklater used the same performers to narrate this ode to the transition to adulthood.
However, his work as a director has never been awarded by the Academy. Of course, he was nominated in the Best Adapted Screenplay categories for Before sunset in 2005 and by Before nightfallin 2014. The following year he would enter all the pools on his own Boyhood, getting a nomination for Best Original Screenplay and Best Direction. After six nominations, the film only won the award for best supporting actress for Patricia Arquette. After the premiere of hit manthis 2024 will also premiere a musical with Paul Mescal titled Merrily We Roll Along and a documentary miniseries for HBO called God save Texasin which Linklater will direct one of the episodes.
A new collaboration with Powell
hitman It is not the first collaboration between the director and Powell. Before playing Gary Johnson, the American actor had supporting roles in we all want something and Apollo 10½. A trust placed in the actor when he still did not have the fame he has recently acquired thanks to Top Gun: Maverick and romantic comedy Anyone but you.
This 2024 we will also be able to see Powell in the new version of Twisters and in reviewing the Stephen King adaptation, Pursued. hitman will arrive in some American theaters on May 24, while in Spain, unfortunately it will not have that entry in theaters and can be seen directly on Netflix starting on May 24. June 7th.
