Warning: This post contains major spoilers for “Hit Man.”
Glen Powell takes on a variety of characters — and viewers on a fun ride — in his latest film, “Hit Man.”
The action comedy — now in theaters and on Netflix June 7 — is inspired by the true story of straight-laced professor Gary Johnson, who secretly worked for the New Orleans Police Department as a fake hit man. Enthralled with creating new disguises, Gary and his colleagues are genuinely impressed with his commitment and skills to have the hitman clients take the bait.
When doing one particular undercover assignment, he creates the suave, sexy and confident persona of Ron. Ron meets with potential client Madison (Adria Arjona), a beautiful woman who is in an abusive relationship and seeks a hit man to kill her husband. Gary unexpectedly begins to fall for the elusive Madison, setting off a chain reaction of — to put it lightly — WTF moments that leave audiences on the edge of their seats.
Powell approached director Richard Linklater after reading the 2001 Texas Monthly profile on the real Gary Johnson’s life as a faux killer. Linklater said he'd read and been intrigued by Johnson’s story long before the “Anyone But You” star came across it.
“It was such an intriguing character, this Gary Johnson guy who moonlights as a fake hitman. That whole world, that whole environment is so interesting. So darkly funny, I never forgot it,” Linklater tells TODAY.com, noting that bringing it to the screen, however, was on the back burner. “It just kind of spun around in my head and it didn’t quite work as a film. But when Glen called me over the pandemic and we started talking about it, I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, we could (do this). Let’s keep going. Let’s keep pushing this.’”
The two began co-writing the script together, with the director calling Powell his “creative partner.”
The duo took some creative liberties with the film, especially the unexpected ending.
Read on to learn more about the “Hit Man” ending, as explained by Powell, Linklater and Adria Arjona.
What happens at the end of 'Hit Man'?
To the everyday world and those who really know him, Gary Johnson is an unassuming philosophy professor who does tech work on the side for the police. He's divorced and lives alone with his cats, Id and Ego.
As Gary takes on the persona of Ron, he comes to enjoy the charismatic, sexy and confident character he's created —especially after Madison takes interest in him. Ron sways Madison away from having her husband Ray (Evan Holtzman) killed, instead suggesting that it's better for her to leave him to start a new life. Clearly interested in Madison, Gary — as Ron — checks up on her and the two begin to casually and passionately date.
“When these two meet each other, they’re at very interesting crossroads in their lives where they’re feeling stuck in their identities,” Powell explains. “They put on a version of themselves that may be a little bit false, but it’s something that they want the other to see.” Through this lie, he adds, they double down on that identity, “the one that makes them really happy.”
One night after dancing at a club, Madison runs into her estranged husband who gets physical, prompting Ron to point his gun at Madison’s ex.
After the altercation, to Gary’s surprise, Ray looks into hiring a hit man, who happens to be “Ron,” to kill Madison. Ron then tells Madison that she needs to leave town because Ray is trying to kill her. However, in a turn of events, Ray ends up getting killed and police begin to investigate Madison.
Amid the chaos, Madison confesses to Ron that she killed Ray, which makes him panic and confess that he isn’t a real hit man and his name is Gary.
Gary’s police buddies —Phil (Sanjay Rao) and Claudette (Retta) — have no idea he's been dating Madison, especially under the guise of Ron. The only person who does know is undercover cop Jasper (Austin Amelio), who begins to play mind games with Gary.
Things take an unexpected turn when Gary is tasked to investigate Madison — as Ron — about Ray’s death. While he’s mic’d up, Gary uses notes on his phone to secretly tell Madison that the police are listening in on their conversation. Through his messages, he tells her what to say to get officers off her back and away with the murder.
Though they think they're all in the clear, Jasper, however, isn't convinced and later returns to Madison's home to confront the two of them with blackmail.
Just when things couldn't get wilder, Jasper begins to feel uneasy and passes out. It turns out Madison drugged him. Freaked out that they just drugged a police officer and that he knows Madison killed Ray, Gary decides he and Madison are a ride or die couple and puts a plastic bag over a passed out Jasper, suffocating him to death.
Do Gary and Madison get away with murder?
Yes, yes they do. Gary, now a pro at elaborate storytelling, eventually makes it look like Jasper overdosed.
It's implied that Gary and Madison continue to live their lives and no one ever suspects she killed Ray and they killed Jasper.
“It’s the definition of commitment,” Arjona tells TODAY.com. “That's who Madison and Ron are at the end of the movie. That’s like our ... ‘proposal’ in the movie. (Ron) putting that plastic bag over (Jasper’s head).”
Laughing, she quips, “If you think about it, that’s (Ron) kneeling down, being like, ‘Will you marry me?’”
Do Gary and Madison stay together?Yes, Gary and Madison have their twisted happy ending. The film flashes forward and shows the couple married and with kids. They are regular parents, volunteering at their children's schools, eating dinner together as a family and dog owners. At one point, their daughter asks them how they met.
Linklater explains his though process on the film’s ending.
“What if they’re actually meant to be together? Like, this is a great love story and the weirdest meet-cute,” he says.
Making it a “more optimistic” and fun, screwball comedy, he says, the director enjoyed the twists and turns. “It just seemed more fun and unexpected,” Linklater says, calling it “a happy ending — just never mind that small body count they had to go through to get there.”
Powell adds, “What’s really wild about this movie is it really is a love story. At the end of the day, it’s the beginning of a beautiful family. Every couple meets in different ways, this one just happens to have, you know, love and murder.”
Linklater doesn’t believe the couple keeps murdering people or take up real hit man jobs. “Let’s hope they don’t have to,” he laughs. “Why would they have to keep killing anyone? I think they eliminated their problem.”
The ending, he says, hints “at the normalcy of their family life.”
As for Gary embracing his “Ron” persona, Powell says that his character becomes a “hybrid” of the two. He believes the lesson of the film is: “It’s not too late to seize the identity that you want for yourself and chase what makes you happiest.”
“If you feel like you’re stuck in life, if you feel like you’re stuck in an identity that’s not making you happy, just make the choice to change,” he says. “And I think that’s what you see is two people that make each other very happy in new roles and these new faces and identities.”
