Netflix has today released the official trailer for Richard Linklater‘s (School of Rock, Bad News Bears) noir comedy Hit Man, which arrives on the streaming platform next month.
Co-written by and starring Glen Powell (Set It Up, Top Gun: Maverick), and loosely based on an extraordinary true story, Hit Man straddles a number of genres ranginh from noir to screwball comedy to thriller. Powell stars as Gary, a straight-laced professor who suddenly discovers a hidden talent as a fake hit man. He starts assuming false identities to entrap criminals for the local police, but things take a sharp turn when he meets his match in a client who steals his heart and ignites a powder keg of deception, delight and mistaken identities.
As for the real-life story on which the film is based, the inspiration comes from a Texas Monthly story by Skip Hollandsworth, and Powell’s character, the now-deceased Gary Johnson, was a real person who worked as a fake contract killer for the police, but Linklater’s film makes it perfectly clear that its major plot twists are purely fictional.
Co-starring alongside Powell are Adria Arjona (6 Underground, “Andor”), Austin Amelio (“The Walking Dead”), Retta (The Greatest Hits, “Parks and Recreation”), Sanjay Rao (Bad Romance), Molly Bernard (“Younger”), Evan Holtzman (Phobias).
Commenting on his latest project, Linklater said Hit Man is, “about identity and self and passion. But on a plot level, it’s just a guy who gets in a little too deep. His passions lead him in a direction where he’s deceiving someone he’s in love with, and being someone else. They have to deal with those repercussions.”
Powell added, “The fantasy of a Hit Man occupies a place in our brain because it feels like a simple solution to life’s complicated problems.”
Hit Man will release on Netflix in select countries* Friday, June 7, with a limited theatrical release prior.
*United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam
