Summary
Hit Mandirector Richard Linklater explains why the true story of Gary Johnson is clarified in the Netflix movie’s credits. The real-life Johnson did indeed work undercover for the police as depicted in Linklater’s new film, posing as a contract killer and helping to bust over sixty people. But in the fictionalized version of the story,Hit Manstar Glen Powell’s Johnson goes further than just pretending to kill people, becoming involved in actual murder alongside Adria Arjona’s Madison.
The real Johnson did not murder anyone,despite what the movie shows, a point that is clarified by an amusing card in the credits proclaiming that the filmmakers “made up” the killings, and director Linklater has explained what prompted him to include the clarification. Check out his remarks below (viaTudum):
“I noticed from an early screening, people were asking questions: ‘Well, if it’s based on a true story and there’s this murder, did he get away with it? Is he a murderer?’ And it’s like, ‘Oh no, we made that up,’ but I realize you can’t say that to every audience member.”
Why It Was Important To Clarify That Hit Man Is Fictional
Gary Johnson didn’t actually murder anyone
Linklater and co-writer Powell used aTexas Monthlystory by Skip Hollandsworth as the basis for theirHit Manscript, which Linklater admits goes far beyond the source material,casting Powell’s Gary/Ron and Arjona’s Madison as lovers who end up conspiring to murder two people and cover up their crimes.Johnson, who passed away in 2022, may not have been entirely happy with the version of his life placed on-screen, as Linklater himself admitted recently in an interview withComicBook.com:
But I think he’d be bemused by this movie where we took it far beyond his own life. I mean, the article about him ends when he lets [Madison] off. So everything from then on is this little thrill ride we take you on. So I don’t know, it’s pretty funny. But yeah, we’re all here for him in a way, you know.
Linklater realized early on the confusion that his fictionalized version of events was creating, and so remedied the situation with a quick credits disclaimer assuring viewers that Johnson did not, in fact, resort to real murder. This was important not just to keep the audience from becoming mixed up about the real nature of Johnson’s story, but becauseJohnson himself is now deceased, and according toLinklater, might not have entirely liked the version of his life presented byHit Man.
Linklater and Powell’s “thrill ride"version of Johnson’s life, with all its creative twists and turns, has gone over well with critics, as reflected in its 97% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Filmmakers are under no obligation to stick to the facts when they present fictionalized versions of people’s real lives, and Linklater and Powell did not stick to the facts in this case. Linklater is a conscientious filmmaker, however, and wanted there to be no doubt in viewers’ minds that Johnson did not murder anyone.Hit Manmay bend the truth, but it does so in entertaining ways, andthe end result is a film that builds upon reality to craft a clever and engaging, though far-fetched, story.
Hit Man
Cast
Hit Man centers on a mild-mannered professor involved in police sting operations as a fake hit man. His life spirals into chaos when he unexpectedly falls for a potential client, initiating a series of unforeseen complications and dilemmas.
