#Richard Linklater’s Glen Powell Starrer ‘Hit Man’ Lands at Netflix

As the dual strike continues to chug along, the buzziest title of the fall festivals has found a home. The Richard Linklater-directed Hit Man, which was co-written by and stars Top Gun: Maverick break-out Glen Powell, has landed at Netflix after interest from multiply buyers, mostly the streaming services. Netflix landed it in a $20 million deal.

Hit Man tells the story of a real-life, mild-mannered psychology professor (Powell) who also posed as undercover hitman for the New Orleans police. But when he breaks protocol to help a desperate woman (played by Adria Arjona) trying to flee an abusive boyfriend, the character finds himself becoming one of his false personas, falling for the woman and flirting with turning into a criminal himself. The feature is based on a 2001 true-crime article from Skip Hollandsworth, who worked with Linklater on Bernie.

Out of the Venice Film Festival, Hit Man received positive reviews. The Hollywood Reporter review of the film reads: “Given the chemistry between the two leads that could restart a dormant nuclear power plant, viewers are likely to come away sated with pleasure after seeing this delightful work.”

Linklater and Powell have collaborated on several other projects, including Everybody Wants Some!! and Netflix’s Apollo 10 1/2. “Glen was a great creative partner. He’s a fucking smart guy and he’s so curious about stuff. We could just talk for hours and really dig into the story and details,” Linklater told THR in an interview ahead of the festival.

Other notable deals as of late include Netflix acquiring Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut, Woman of the Hour, out of the Toronto International Film Festival in a low eight-figure deal. (This movie did not have an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA.) While other TIFF deals have been slow to materialize, there are many conversations happening between buyers and sellers. As with anything in Hollywood at the moment, insider note, that potential sales are slow going due to the strikes.