Ahead of the cinema release of his black comedy ‘Hit Man’, Richard Linklater has said he cast ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ star Glen Powell as the main character as he thought he had a shy side that leads to him wanting to hide behind roles.
Richard Linklater cast Glen Powell in his new hitman film as he though the actor had the same type of shyness as its main character.
The 63-year-old ‘Boyhood’ director’s latest movie is action-comedy ‘Hit Man’ and got a hugely positive reception from audiences and critics when it was shown at this year’s Venice Film Festival, which wrapped up on 9 September.
It features ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ star Glen, 34, playing Gary Johnson, a college professor who secretly works for the New Orleans Police Department to expose assassination plots.
Gary poses as a hitman while the cops listen in, hoping that prospective clients hire him to pull the trigger on a target – leading to them being jailed.
It is based on a true story carried in Texas Monthly magazine in 2001, written by Skip Hollandsworth, 65, who also co-wrote Richard’s 2011 comedy ‘Bernie’ starring Jack Black, 54.
Gary adopts a string of disguises in ‘Hit Man’, making the film a metaphor for the process of acting, which Richard also said perfectly suited Gary’s real-life character.
He told NME: “We have it in the voiceover, where he goes: ‘I was too shy to go out for the school play.’
“So he found his audience (by pretending to be a hitman.)
“A lot of actors are shy and they’re hiding behind characters, and I thought, ‘Oh, there’s an element to Gary (like that.)
“So he finds that niche, stumbles into something he’s good at. It’s all about roles and acting and what is true. They’re all role playing. They’re all acting. But aren’t we all?”
Richard’s new film was screened in Venice as other hitman films were unveiled including David Fincher’s ‘The Killer’ and ‘In the Land of Saints and Sinners’ starring Liam Neeson.
The filmmaker said: “There’s a lot of hitmen movies in the world. I’d like to think mine kind of deconstructs the hitman thing a little bit. I don’t know if anyone noticed, but I’m saying they’re all kind of bulls***!”
On the same day that Glastonbury welcomed back Margate's adopted sons, The Libertines, Margate itself put on it's very own Leisure Festival as it...
Sheffield's very own all girl group Pretty Fierce are still on a high after the recent release of their debut single - 'Ready For Me'.
Three nights before the end of his current tour Will Varley returned to his home town of Deal to delight a sold out crowd in The Astor Theatre.
With only a few days to go before Portsmouth based songstress and producer WYSE releases her new single, 'Belladonna', we caught up with her to find...
Colorado raised, Glasgow educated and Manchester based Bay Bryan is nothing if not a multi-talented, multi-faceted artist performing as both...
Former Marigolds band member Keelan Cunningham has rediscovered his love of music with his new solo project Keelan X.
Wiltshire singer-songwriter Luke De Sciscio, formally known as Folk Boy, is set to release is latest album - 'The Banquet' via AntiFragile Music on...
Electronic music pioneer and producer Annie Elise says that the release of her first EP - 'Breathe In, Breathe Out' feels "both vulnerable and...
After hearing about the tragic death of his Marine son during his service in the...
Richard Linklater loosely follows on from two of his most acclaimed films with this lively...
Dazed and Confused was a cult classic movie and now its director, Richard Linklater writes...
Indie filmmaking is one of the best niches to find super-talented directors and writers; and...
Richard Linklater is well known in the film industry as one of the stand out...
By shooting this film over 12 years, writer-director Richard Linklater is able to explore family...
When Mason was an unwitting 6-year-old boy, he had no idea - like the rest...
It's been 18 years since Hawke, Delpy and Linklater introduced us to Jesse and Celine,...
Jesse and Celine return, though their love life is not what it once was. They...
Richard Linklater mixes comedy, drama and documentary to tell a frankly outrageous true story, and...
Bernie Tiede is a local mortician in a small town in Texas. He is a...