You never really know what you’re going to get from a Richard Linklater movie. It could be about a serendipitous romance, fun rock band shenanigans, or a gut-wrenching portrait of lost childhood innocence. Or it could be a stoner comedy. But Linklater’s latest film will give fans something they’ve never gotten before: a close look at Glen Powell’s show-stopping teeth.
Powell is the leading man in Linklater’s upcoming action comedy Hit Man. The movie was screened at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, where Netflix quickly snatched it up for a modest $20 million. Hopefully that should cover Powell’s dentist bill for a year or two.
Here’s everything to know about the upcoming Netflix release.
The film stars Powell as Gary Johnson, a philosophy professor with a cute cat (on trend) who moonlights as a police surveillance tech. On a short-staffed night, Johnson ends up covering for and impersonating an undercover hitman, and after he realizes he’s actually pretty good at this “hitman” gig, he begins to lean into the role, as every philosopher would do.
Hit Man is loosely based on Skip Hollandsworth’s 2001 Texas Monthly article of the same name in which the real life Gary Johnson worked undercover as a hitman in Houston.
While the story is inspired by Johnson, Linklater told Netflix that much of the plot is a fictional, exaggerated version of the story. The director said, “The real Gary did slight disguises, but not to the extent that we see in the film. I was like, ‘Should we really do a Russian accent?’ But Glen just pushed all of that to the max, and I love how it came out.”
Here is the official synopsis:
Inspired by the unbelievable true story, a strait-laced professor (Glen Powell) uncovers his hidden talent as a fake hit man in undercover police stings. He meets his match in a client (Adria Arjona) who steals his heart and ignites a powder keg of deception, delight, and mixed-up identities.
Powell not only stars in the movie, but he also co-wrote it with longtime collaborator Linklater. The director told Netflix, “I always bring the script to the actors and make revisions during the rehearsal process, but with this one, we wrote it during the pandemic and had plenty of time. We were talking almost every day, and at one point, I said, ‘Let’s save a step and just write this thing together.’”
The movie also stars Andor’s Adria Arjona, Parks and Recreation’s Retta, and The Walking Dead’s Austin Amelio. And a cat.
The movie will hit Netflix on June 7, but if you are looking to see Glen Powell’s shiny white teeth on a larger scale, Hit Man will be in select theaters on May 24, just in time for Memorial Day. The last time Powell starred in a Memorial Day weekend feature, it worked out pretty well.
Here is the official trailer:
