‘Hit Man’ Review: Glen Powell Co-Writes And Stars In A Smart, Sexy, Delightful Richard Linklater Comedy Tailored To His Talents [Venice]

Manchester United got back to winning ways with a 1-0 win over Vincent Kompany's Burnley in the Premier League fixture at Turf Moor. A fabulous first-half goal from United captain Bruno Fernandes, assisted by 35-year-old defender Jonny Evans, secured the three points for manager Erik ten Hag.

How’s this for a big pick-up in an otherwise quiet sale season on the Fall film festival circuit? Variety reports that Netflix bought the rights to Richard Linklater‘s latest film “Hit Man” after it screened at the Venice Film Festival and TIFF to rave reviews. It’s Netflix’s second significant purchase out of TIFF, the other being Anna Kendrick‘s directorial debut “Woman Of The Hours.” READ MORE: ‘Hit Man’ New Look: Richard Linklater Says His New Genre-Bending Movie Is “All About Identity” Based on a true story (but taking liberties with the source material) “Hit Man” stars Glen Powell as Gary Johnson, a part-time teacher who moonlights as a fake hitman for the local Texas police department.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix closed a $20 million deal on Hit Man, making the biggest deal at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and of the year for that matter. After the Richard Linklater-directed noir comic thriller debuted to raves at Venice, the film was expected to fetch the biggest deal of the fall festivals so far. Hit Man did not disappoint. Hit Man stars Top Gun Maverick’s Glen Powell and Adria Arjona (Andor) playing the most unlikely romantic partners, in performances that will boost each of their careers. Especially Powell, who co-wrote with Linklater what will be a major star turn for him. Netflix got US, UK, Australia/New Zealand, India, South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, and Iceland. There is also a theatrical component to the deal, I’ve heard.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Netflix shelled out $20 million for global rights to “Hit Man,” a (sort of) true crime comedy from director Richard Linklater and star Glen Powell. The movie, which played to enthusiastic audiences at Telluride and Toronto film festivals, follows Powell as Gary Johnson, a mysterious gun man for hire.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Bosnian director and screenwriter Danis Tanović, whose “No Man’s Land” won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, has been selected as the president of the Official Competition Jury at the 45th edition of the Cairo Film Festival. As well as the Oscar, “No Man’s Land” won best screenplay at Cannes in 2001.

Jaden Thompson Director Richard Linklater expressed his admiration for Greta Gerwig’s record-breaking “Barbie” in a recent interview with NME. He specifically praised the musical numbers in the fantasy comedy, which include “I’m Just Ken,” performed by Ryan Gosling. “I liked the musical numbers,” Linklater said.

School Of Rock, saying it “didn’t feel like a hit” when he first approached the project.Starring Jack Black as a struggling guitarist who poses as a substitute teacher, the comedy film grossed over $130million worldwide on a $35million budget when it released in 2003. It’s since spawned a stage adaptation and a TV spin-off on Nickelodeon.Speaking to NME about the film, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, director Linklater said: “I loved working on that movie and I loved Jack, and the whole process.

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Christopher Vourlias At its latest edition, which takes place parallel to the Helsinki Intl. Film Festival — Love & Anarchy, the Finnish Film Affair will again host its well-received Nordic Flair training program, an initiative designed to offer career development for film professionals from across the Nordic region. After a 2022 edition that focused on sales agents, distributors, buyers and broadcast commissioners, this year’s event will host actors working in one or more of the Nordic countries.

Clean, green Switzerland, land of chocolate, cuckoo clocks and direct democracy, is revealed to have a history of racial abuse as ugly as any other in Giorgio Diritti’s rolling epic Lubo, showing in competition at the Venice Film Festival. German actor Franz Rogowski plays the title character, a street performer and paterfamilias who is part of Switzerland’s community of Jenisch, a nomadic people originating in Germany. Lubo’s story is a dramatically terrible one – his wife is killed in a spat with heavy-handed police and his children are taken away, all while he is being marched off to serve time in the army – but it speaks to the truth.

A new publicly-funded podcast series has launched as part of a campaign to tackle gender-based violence. The #IsThisOkay? podcast features men from Greater Manchester talking about unacceptable behaviours faced by women.

Love Island star Laura Anderson has welcomed her first child with Gary Lucy.

Morfydd Clark is set to headline a biopic, titled “Making Noise,” about Evelyn Glennie, a deaf woman who became the world’s premier solo percussionist. Multi-Grammy winner Glennie, who hails from Scotland, experienced profound hearing loss as a child. But instead of giving up on her dream of making music, she instead went on to become a global star, performing with artists including Bjork, Underworld and Mark Knopfler.

Chris O’Dowd is penning a Sky comedy-drama starringChristina Hendricks andPaddy Considine about a Hollywood production that disturbs the peace in a fictional town in Ireland.

Carole Horst Richard Linklater’s “Hit Man” stars Glen Powell as Gary Johnson, a milquetoast philosophy professor who moonlights as an undercover cop set on flushing out people who hire contract killers. One day, Johnson gets the call to pose as a killer for hire, and proves he has a real talent for impersonation — and arrests. He dons different contract killer personas for different stings.

Richard Linklater brought his Hit Man to the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday, world premiering the comedy thriller out of competition to a six-minute ovation inside the Sala Grande.

Ellise Shafer Richard Linklater’s “Hit Man” received a spirited five-minute standing ovation on Tuesday night, as the director handed out high fives. The action comedy, which stars Glen Powell, received cheers from the beginning, with the crowd clapping throughout the film during various scenes. During the standing ovation, Linklater looked overwhelmed by the applause, mouthing “thank you so much” and holding his hand to his heart.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic Is it something in the air? At this year’s Venice Film Festival, the unofficial theme appears to be hit men. David Fincher’s “The Killer” is all about an icy methodical professional executioner. Woody Allen’s “Coup de Chance” turns on an act of murder-for-hire.

It was 22 years ago that Skip Hollandsworth wrote a Texas Monthly article about Gary Johnson, a school teacher who moonlights as a hit man who doesn’t kill people. Now if that doesn’t sound like the formula for a hit movie, you may understand why it has taken so long for Gary’s story to make it to the silver screen, so long in fact that its subject passed away before he could hit the red carpet of the Venice Film Festival where the film is having its World Premiere tonight. Nevertheless Glen Powell never forgot the story and has teamed with Richard Linklater to finally tell it, but it is only “loosely” based on the article. Certain details in the screenplay co-written by Linklater and Powell are made up, and those are the details that actually help make this a hilarious winner, as well as perhaps Linklater’s most commercial movie since School Of Rock. Its quirky true crime element also has a bit in common with Linklater’s Bernie which starred Jack Black. The director seems drawn to this kind of offbeat tale, with some level of truth to it.

On its surface, a comedy about a college professor who becomes a phony hitman for the police department to catch criminals hoping to whack a stubborn spouse or bothersome business associate might seem an odd fit for a European festival noted for heavy dramas and extended runtimes. It helps, of course, that Hit Man, which premieres at Venice Film Festival this evening, is directed by Richard Linklater, a noted master of independent filmmaking for more than 30 years, and that initial reactions to it have been universally effusive.