Richard Linklater Unmasks Glen Powell In "Hit Man"

The New Yorker

The director dissects a pivotal scene in his noir-inspired screwball comedy, which is loosely based on the real-life story of a fake hit man who helped detectives bust people soliciting murderers.

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Richard Linklater, and this is my director's commentary.

00:04Hitman's the film noir meets screwball comedy,

00:07but kind of under the umbrella of a Hitman movie.

00:10Gary Johnson is this college teacher, introverted, intellectual loner,

00:17but then he gets pulled into being the resident fake Hitman

00:21for these undercover operations and finds out he's really good at it.

00:24My name is Gary Johnson, and I'm a fake Hitman.

00:31This movie just keeps going. It goes way out there.

00:34We gave ourselves permission.

00:36I realize not everyone fantasized about the same Hitman.

00:40Every sting operation was a performance.

00:43This whole world is fake. You know, it's fake Hitman.

00:46They don't exist at this retail level that people think they do

00:50when they're soliciting the murder of a spouse or a business partner for whatever reason.

01:01What are we doing? I got no notice. I got no research.

01:05I feel like I'm going in naked.

01:07He's summoned to do his job really quickly.

01:09There's a guy who seems in a bit of a hurry.

01:12All right, we did not get much on him.

01:15We didn't even have time to get a Title III warrant, so it's audio only.

01:19His name is Mike. He's already in there waiting, and he seems a little volatile.

01:23This is getting scary.

01:25Do we even know what this guy looks like?

01:27Do we even know what this guy looks like?

01:29No, but he said he'd be the guy sitting alone reading Catcher in the Rye.

01:32Which, historically speaking, is never a good sign.

01:35As he walks up outside, he sees the guy reading Catcher in the Rye,

01:38and he realizes, wow, that is my girlfriend's husband,

01:43and I think I know why I'm here.

01:46The view from the side was through tainted glass, kind of a partition.

01:57We see him walking there, and that was a piece that was in the actual restaurant.

02:01I said, oh, that's cool. I like that shot.

02:04They're almost abstract figures.

02:06Mike?

02:07Yeah, Judd?

02:08Eyes forward. It's for your own protection.

02:10People tend to listen to whatever the official hitman tells them,

02:14because they're now in a world of professionals,

02:17so it's amazing what the real Gary Johnson could get away with them believing.

02:22So tell me, Mike, how can I help you?

02:26So you're—

02:27I am.

02:29It's always kind of intuitive what to shoot, but I like that they can't see each other,

02:34so by shooting them on each side and not, let's say, doing a lot of camera movement,

02:39tying them together, I was trying to reinforce kind of how it felt from their perspective.

02:43I think that's what the camera should largely do.

02:46At this point, we're so into his mind.

02:48I just wanted—you know, this is all about the human face at this point.

02:52So tell me what you're thinking.

02:54How she came here for the pancakes.

02:57My wife.

03:03I—we're going through a divorce right now.

03:07Some of the humor in it we found in rehearsal.

03:11And so in the middle of this life-and-death conversation, it kind of just goes—

03:16So you're not technically divorced yet?

03:21What's it to you?

03:23A little digressive little bit like that wasn't in the script, you know, initially.

03:29You know, when you spend a few hours talking about it and running through the scene,

03:32you just get new ideas.

03:35The main thing we're trying to achieve is a little propulsive energy moving forward.

03:40It ratchets up Gary's entire metabolism about what kind of world he's in.

03:44He's been in a fake world of hitmen.

03:46But now he knows someone is really out to kill someone he loves.

03:51I want her to know why.

03:54Right before you do it.

03:56Just look her in the eye and say,

03:59this is from your loving husband.

04:04I want that to be the last thing she fucking hears.

04:14You know what? Maybe I'll throw in the boyfriend for free.

04:19What the fuck?

04:21What? It's very simple.

04:23You give me the money, I'll take care of it.

04:27I'll take care of this shit myself.

04:31Maybe I'm delusional, but I've never shot a film or even left a day of shooting

04:35and thought, OK, that wasn't very good.

04:37You know, I'm just going to work really hard and try to make it feel good.

04:40By the end of the day, I feel like, oh, you know, we achieve what we set out to do

04:44or we at least maximize it.

04:45If there's a fault there, it's mine.

04:47What I refuse to have on a movie is to be driving home after shooting and going,

04:51oh, I should have told him this.

04:53No, we've explored all that.

04:55We've already explored all that.

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