Exclusive: Director Richard Linklater Chats ‘Hit Man’ & Collaborator Glen Powell

Director Richard Linklater’s new movie, Hit Man is gearing up to premiere in select theaters and we got the chance to sit down with the director about the new movie.

During the chat, he talked how he came to be part of the project, collaborating with Glen Powell on it, how he stays grounded to his Texas roots, and so much more. Check out what he had to say below.

On how he got involved on the project: “I was so excited to get this call from Glen [Powell] because that story had been kicking around in my head. I had talked to Skip [Hollandsworth], I had had a couple meetings on it over the years, but it didn’t really work. It didn’t really work as a film because there was this repetition. It didn’t really go anywhere. So I told this to Glen, I said, ‘Yeah, I don’t think it really works’. He said, ‘Well, let’s talk about it.’ It’s the pandemic. What else are we gonna do? So work we did every day for a while. We would just have hours of conversations. And Glen kind of loosened the log jam I was in. He said, ‘What if we, deviate? You know, why does he have to stick to the facts?’ So once that floodgate opened, we were off to the races. We just started having these great ideas. The last two thirds of the movie kind of comes out of that.”

On his growing relationship with star and co-writer, Glen Powell: “It’s just wonderful. It’s relaxed. I think our big breakthrough was 10 years ago we were shooting Everybody Wants Some. Glen came in and auditioned. And I had a part that I thought would be very difficult to cast. He was really smart. He’s an athlete, yet he’s really smart and charming, and he’s kinda the team intellectual. I’d known Glen for about 10 years at this time. I’d worked with him when he was young, like a high school kid. But he came in and I knew what he was doing over the years. I saw him in movies and he’s out there making a go. But until he walked in the room and was this guy. He’s so smart. He’s so charming. It was just seeing this force of nature. But we had such a great creative time on that.”

On continuing their collaborations: “It’s really just a wonderful experience. I couldn’t wait to work with him again. And he did a day on another film I did, kind of as a favor to me. But like I said, when he called me with this, it was off to the races creatively. He is just fun to work with. He’s just got all that stuff. He’s funny and smart and, a great collaborator. So it’s a joy.”

On the text improv scene: “It hits me. It’s a good example of how we were never complacent, even on the page and in the rehearsal. It’s a good example of we get to what we think is perfection or good enough, and we just keep going. There’s gonna be a new layer revealed. We’re gonna find some new gesture, we’re gonna have a new good idea. So you don’t stop and get complacent. I think in movies, it’s all about craft. And I’m not worried that we’re gonna leave the performance in the rehearsal stage. That’s not what professionals do. So we got there and we kept going and we kept going till the very end. And that was it.

On how he stays grounded to his Texas roots: “What keeps you grounded is a low budget and a tight schedule. It keeps you very much grounded.”

Hit Man will be released in select theaters on May 24 and premieres on Netflix in select countries on June 7.

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Photo Credit: Brian Rondel / Courtesy of Netflix