Richard Linklater Unmasks Glen Powell In "Hit Man"

Hi, I'm Richard Linklater

and this is my director's commentary.

Hit Man is film noir meets screwball comedy,

but kind of under the umbrella of a hitman movie.

Gary Johnson is this college teacher,

introverted intellectual loner,

but then he gets pulled into being the resident fake hitman

for these undercover operations

and finds out he's really good at it.

[Gary] My name is Gary Johnson and I'm a fake hitman.

[dramatic music]

This movie just keeps going. It goes way out there.

We gave ourselves permission.

[Gary] I realized not everyone fantasized

about the same hitman.

Every sting operation was a performance.

Because this whole world is fake, you know?

It's fake hitmen.

They don't exist at this retail level

that people think they do when they're soliciting the murder

of a spouse or a business partner for whatever reason.

[smooth music]

What are we doing? I got no notice, I got no research.

I feel like I'm going in naked.

[Richard] He's summoned to do his job really quickly.

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

All right, we did not get much on him.

We didn't even have time to get a Title III warrant,

so it's audio only.

His name is Mike.

He's already in there waiting

and he seems a little volatile.

[Officer] Ooh! This is getting scary.

Do we even know what this guy looks like?

No, but he said he'd be the guy sitting alone

reading Catcher in the Rye.

Which historically speaking is never a good sign.

As he walks up outside,

he sees a guy reading Catcher in the Rye

and he realizes, Wow, that is my girlfriend's husband,

and I think I know why I'm here.

The view from the side was through tinted like glass,

kind of a partition.

We see him walking there.

And that was a piece that was in the actual restaurant.

I said, Oh, that's cool. I like that shot.

They're almost abstract figures.

[Gary] Mike?

Uh, yeah. Judd?

Eyes forward. It's for your own protection.

People tend to listen

to whatever the official hitman tells them,

'cause they're now in a world of professionals,

so it's amazing what the real Gary Johnson

could get away with them believing.

So tell me, Mike, how can I help you?

So you're... I am.

It's always kind of intuitive what to shoot,

but I like that they can't see each other.

So by shooting them on each side

and not like, say,

doing a lot of camera movement tying them together,

I was trying to reinforce

kind of how it felt from their perspective.

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

At this point, we're so into his mind. I just want to...

You know, this is all about the human face at this point.

So tell me what you're thinking,

unless you came here for the pancakes.

My wife.

But we're going through a divorce right now.

[Richard] Some of the humor in it we found in rehearsal,

and so in the middle of this life-and-death conversation,

he kind of just goes...

So you're not technically divorced yet?

What's it to you?

A little digressive, a little bit like that.

Wasn't in the script, you know, initially.

You know, when you spend a few hours talking about it

and running through the scene, you just get new ideas.

The main thing we're trying to achieve

is a little propulsive energy moving forward.

It ratchets up Gary's entire metabolism

about what kind of world he's in.

He's been in a fake world of hitmen, but now he knows

someone is really out to kill someone he loves.

I want her to know why.

Right before you do it, look her in the eye and say,

This is from your loving husband.

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

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

[Mike] What the fuck?

What? It's very simple.

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

[Mike] I'll take care of this shit myself.

Maybe I'm delusional, but I've never shot a film

or even left a day of shooting and thought,

Okay, that wasn't very good.

You know, I'm just gonna work really hard

and try to make it feel good.

By the end of the day, I feel like, oh, you know,

we achieved what we set out to do

or we at least maximized it.

If there's a fault there, it's mine.

What I refuse to have on a movie

is to be driving home after shooting and going,

Oh, I should've told him this, I should've...

No, we've explored all that.

We've already explored all that.