Following rave reviews out of the Fall film festival circuit, Richard Linklater’s thriller-comedy “Hit Man” starring Glen Powell (“Top Gun: Maverick,” “Devotion”) has been acquired by Netflix for $20 million.
Based on a true-crime article, the story follows a mild-mannered psychology professor (Powell) who also posed as an undercover hitman for the New Orleans police.
When he breaks protocol to help a desperate woman (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.
Netflix beat out multiple buyers for the title which currently sits at an astonishing 98% (8.6/10) on Rotten Tomatoes with just a single ‘Rotten’ review from 42 reviews.
The movie played to enthusiastic crowds at Venice and Toronto film festivals and has been one of the few notable sales from this year’s Fall festival circuit along with Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut “Woman of the Hour” and the Colman Domingo-led “Sing Sing”.
Mike Blizzard, Linklater, Powell, Jason Bateman and Michael Costigan produced. Linklater adapted the screenplay with Powell from the Skip Hollandsworth-penned article, Hollandsworth having worked with Linklater before on “Bernie”
The film is expected to play in theaters before hitting the streamer.
Source: THR
