Netflix: Is Glen Powell's 'Hit Man' based on a true story?

After starring in hits such as “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Anyone But You,” Glen Powell is back with “Hit Man,” an action romantic comedy in which he stars opposite Adria Arjona. The film, directed by Richard Linklater, is also co-written by Linklater and Powell, and it tells a really crazy story… Which is actually true?

“Hit Man,” originally premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, and it was praised by critics, who agree that Powell’s performance and Linklater’s direction are remarkable. With a small theatrical release, it’s expected to become one of the biggest movies for Netflix when it arrives on the platform this Friday (June 7).

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Netflix: The true story behind Richard Linklater’s “Hit Man”

According to Tudum, the movie is loosely inspired by a true story first published in an article by Skip Hollandsworth on Texas Monthly in 2001 about the late Gary Johnson, who worked as a fake hit man for the police. However, the film tells a fictionalized version of the story, with the plot twists being a total invention of the screenwriters.

Speaking to Tudum, Linklater explains that Powell came up with the idea of “those false identities that Gary creates for each of his cases.” The director said that Gary did “slight disguises, but not to the extent that we see in the film.”

Also, Linklater says that part of the fantasy of the film, as well of the story, is that hitmen actually “don’t exist at the retail level, and they’d be so easy to entrap and arrest,” however, the director says that “we enjoy believing in it.”

The director, who is also known for other titles such as “Boyhood” and the “Before” trilogy, said that ultimately the movie is about “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.”