Gary Johnson’s just a local college professor looking for a side gig in Hit Man, out June 7 on Netflix. His entire life changes when he becomes a fake hitman for the police department, tasked with catching people looking to off their enemies. Gary transforms into different guises for each case, completely immersing himself in a new identity.
One of those identities is the sexy and uber-charming Ron, whose swagger would make the hardest criminal swoon. When Ron meets Madison (Adria Arjona), a potential criminal, they quickly get wrapped up in a passionate romance. Ron and Madison’s intimate dance around the truth elevates their palpable chemistry, treating viewers to one of the sexiest films in years. Glen Powell, who co-wrote the film with director Richard Linklater, spoke to TV Insider about diving into Ron and Madison’s electric romance.
“If this is a contemplation on identity [and] passion, he’s moving from that more logical, thoughtful one to a guy who’s living for the moment, living for that danger. She brings that into that character,” Powell told TV Insider about Ron’s dynamic with Madison. “In terms of the sex in the movie, I feel like so often, sex scenes are just a function or not even a function, they’re just almost divorced from the plot, and they’re directed in a way where you’re not leaning in. It has no function.”
He continued, “This movie, the sex, you have to be along for that ride. It plays such an important piece of that change, that character arc, that change in identity, to have these two fall in love. You need to watch them fall in love. You need to be on that ride, so that when you get hit with a little bit of cold water of the stuff that’s happening in your world, the audience’s sort of with our leads.”
As Powell collaborated with Linklater about the “erotic thriller aspect” of Hit Man, they realized it’s “sort of a bit of a dinosaur. People don’t really do it anymore for a reason. It really takes authentic chemistry.”
The Anyone But You star noted that bringing Arjona’s “brain onto all of those scenes” in Ron and Madison’s romantic journey was “super crucial.” He added, “She brought her own sort of fantasies onto all that, and it really made it take new life.”
Hit Man, In Select Theaters Now, June 7, Netflix
