Glen Powell Charms His Way Into Trouble in Official “Hit Man” Teaser

January 22, 2024

Netflix has just released the first official teaser for Richard Linklater’s Hit Man, which stars Glen Powell in a wild story that actually happened. This is not the first time the talented Linklater has poached an incredible true story and turned it into a cinematic feast, and, in fact, Linklater is once again riffing on the investigative work of Texas Monthly journalist Skip Hollandsworth, whose journalism first inspired Linklater to write his 2011 film Bernie, starring Jack Black as a caretaker who turns into a killer.

Hit Man is centered on Gary Johnson (Powell), a part-time teacher who works as a tech consultant for the New Orleans Police Department, helping them record sting operations. Without a nary a minute of training, Gary’s tasked with a last-minute assignment by the NOPD: go undercover and impersonate a contract killer. Let’s just say that Gary takes to the role. He’s good at pretending to be a killer. Too good? Perhaps. Soon, Gary becomes the NOPD’s go-to guy when it comes to impersonating the type of man who will kill for money. The desk jockey becomes an undercover agent, a dream many a dweeb can relate to.

Linklater’s film is based on a 2001 Texas Monthly article by the aforementioned Hollandsworth. With Powell, he’s got a rising star (and a standout in Top Gun: Maverick as the cocksure pilot Hangman), credibly playing a dorky guy who begins to live out his wildest fantasies without ever actually having to hurt anybody. The reviews coming out of Venice were very positive. When Gary meets Madison (Adria Arjona), a beautiful, bereft young woman who wants to off her abusive husband, things take a turn for the complicated. Gary plays the kind of man who can help Madison, but he’s not that guy, right?

Check out the trailer below. Hit Man arrives on Netflix on June 7.