Richard Linklater’s Comedy Thriller ‘Hit Man’ Attracts Killer Reception in Venice

The in any other case unassuming determine of Richard Linklater was the star attraction on the Venice Movie Competition on Tuesday evening, because the beloved filmmaker’s newest function, Hit Man, held its world premiere on the Lido.

The movie — a darkly comedian thriller about an unlikely undercover murderer and starring a wildly charismatic Glen Powell and Adria Arjona (neither in attendance due to the SAG-AFTRA strike) — proved an enormous hit with the Venice pageant crowd, drawing a standing ovation of six minutes, with cheers from the viewers.

Based mostly on a true-crime journal article written by Skip Hollandsworth (with whom Linklater collaborated on his 2011 movie, Bernie), Hit Man tells the story of a real-life, mild-mannered psychology professor who moonlit as an undercover hitman for the New Orleans police. However when he breaks protocol to assist a determined lady making an attempt to flee an abusive boyfriend, the character finds himself changing into certainly one of his false personas, falling for the lady and flirting with turning right into a felony himself.

Chatting with The Hollywood Reporter forward of the world premiere, Linklater — the indie pioneer behind Dazed and Confused, Boyhood and the Earlier than trilogy of movies — revealed that it was truly his lead Powell (who starred within the director’s function Everyone Needs Some!! however was catapulted into the mainstream because of final 12 months’s High Gun: Maverick) who helped get the mission going.

“Once I learn the unique article, I assumed this materials can be a fantastic place for a darkish comedy to happen,” he stated. “I had a couple of conferences about it through the years, but it surely simply didn’t take off as a full story — till Glen Powell known as me up through the pandemic and stated, ‘Hey, I simply learn this nice article a few hitman.’” The 2 then co-developed and co-wrote the screenplay throughout an intense interval of collaboration through the pandemic.

Linklater additionally lamented the present challenges dealing with U.S. indie filmmaking.

“It feels prefer it’s gone with the wind — or gone with the algorithm,” he stated. “Typically I’ll discuss to a few of my contemporaries who I got here up with through the Nineteen Nineties, and we’ll go, ‘Oh my God, we might by no means get that accomplished at present.’ So, on the one hand, selfishly, you assume, ‘I suppose I used to be born on the proper time. I used to be in a position to take part in what all the time feels just like the final good period for filmmaking.’ And then you definitely hope for a greater day.”