Hit Man

1. The film is inspired by a true story reported in a 2001 Texas Monthly article about Gary Johnson, a real New Orleans professor who operated as an FBI hitman impersonator for years. Richard Linklater and Glen Powell discovered the article and became obsessed with adapting it long before the film entered production — spending years developing the project through various phases of screenwriting and collaboration before it reached its final form.

2. Glen Powell co-wrote the screenplay with Richard Linklater — a creative collaboration that grew out of extensive conversations during their developing professional relationship. Powell's authorial investment in the character of Gary Johnson gave him an unusual depth of ownership over the role, and critics consistently described the resulting performance as the work of an actor who understood the character from the inside out rather than approaching it as a hired performer.

3. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September 2023, where it played to enthusiastic audience response before Netflix acquired it for a 2024 release. The theatrical window that preceded the streaming launch allowed the film to build significant critical word-of-mouth among festival audiences and cinephiles, creating a foundation of enthusiasm that amplified the streaming debut when it reached Netflix's global subscriber base.

4. Adria Arjona was cast after an extensive search for an actress who could sustain Hit Man's tonal complexity simultaneously. Madison needs to be convincing as a woman in genuine danger, compelling as a romantic lead in a comedy, and strategically ambiguous in ways the film's structure requires the audience not to fully resolve until late in the story. Arjona's chemistry with Powell and her ability to navigate all three registers were essential to the film's success.

5. Linklater filmed Hit Man on location in New Orleans, making extensive use of the city's architectural character, heat, and social texture. Much as he has consistently used Texas settings to give his stories authentic regional specificity — in films from Dazed and Confused to Boyhood to Bernie — Linklater used New Orleans's physical distinctiveness as an active element of the story, with the city's laissez-faire social atmosphere contributing to the film's permissive moral atmosphere.

6. Gary Johnson's real-life career as an FBI undercover operative spanned an extraordinary number of sting operations, making him arguably one of the most experienced hitman impersonators in American law enforcement history. Linklater has described struggling with audiences not believing the story's real-world foundation despite the "based on a true story" framing — a testament to how implausibly cinematic Johnson's actual career was, requiring no significant embellishment for the story's comedic and dramatic purposes.

7. Hit Man received widespread critical praise as among the most enjoyable American genre comedies in years, with multiple critics naming it among the best films of 2024. The consensus described it as a showcase for what American genre comedy can accomplish when handled by filmmakers who love and understand the traditions they're working in — a film that earns its plot mechanics through character rather than imposing them from outside, and that respects the intelligence of its audience throughout.