Richard Linklater And Glen Powell Reunite For Action Comedy Based On A True Story, Hitman

You heard it right, Richard Linklater is directing a 12-year epic chronicling the coming of age story of a hitman. Or, was it about a hitman who spends one intellectually and sexually stimulating night falling in love with his victim in Vienna? I mean, it's neither of those things but it would be really funny if it was. If you are a true blue Linklater fan though, you should be getting excited because the man is working on another movie and it sounds like it will be a little different than his usual fare.

According to Variety, Linklater (the director behind films like "Before Sunrise," "Boyhood," and "Waking Life," you probably already know that though) is co-writing and directing an action drama titled "Hitman," which is based on a story that was originally reported in Texas Monthly magazine. There's a lot to unpack here, but the gist is, journalist Skip Hollandsworth (which is an incredible name) wrote a longform story about a man in Texas whose job was to pretend to be a hitman in order to bait people who were (surprise) looking to hire hitmen. 

The fake hitman worked with the police for years pulling off this charade, but did break protocol at least once to help out a woman who was a victim of domestic violence. Instead of incriminating her, he referred her to some agencies who could help. Linklater's movie seems to focus on that one special circumstance where the fake hitman tried to help, but who knows how it will play out on the big screen. Maybe Linklater will make it darker by having the hitman finally go through with one real murder, or maybe he'll pull it into a wacky comedy of errors. You never know with that guy, he could still factor in a train ride to Vienna somewhere in that script.

"Hitman" will star Glen Powell ("Top Gun: Maverick") who is also co-writing the script along with Linklater and has worked with him previously on movies like "Everybody Wants Some!!" among others. Powell will play the hitman against Adria Arjona ("Pacific Rim: Uprising"), who plays the women trying to hire him.

Besides Powell, Arjona, and Linklater, the "Hitman" team includes producers Michael Blizzard, Michael Costigan and Jason Bateman, although Linklater and Powell will be producing as well. The film will get its sale launch at the market at Cannes, so who knows who it will end up with, but it's definitely a fascinating story with a weird darkness around the edges.