The new revival of The Wiz will begin Broadway previews on March 29, 2024, at the Marquis Theatre, with an opening night set for Wednesday, April 17.
06.09.2023 - 05:23 / variety.com
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.
When he meets Madison (Adria Arjona), a woman who wants her husband killed, he tries to talk her out of the decision. Instead, they fall for each other. A modern-day noir — based on a true story by Skip Hollandsworth that ran 20 years ago in Texas Monthly — is infused with shaggy humor, sexy chemistry between the leads, and a giant twist.
Powell and Arjona deliver star turns in Linklater’s Venice screener, and a terrific time at the movies for adults. Linklater and Powell co-wrote the screenplay. AGC Intl.
Reps world sales; Cinetic Media and CAA are handling North American sales. Linklater first came on the story some 20 years ago. “Skip’s a friend of mine.
He also co-wrote my movie ‘Bernie.’ He’s been my true crime buddy with a real nose for interesting characters and stories. So I read everything he writes. I remember reading it way back then and thinking ‘God, what a weird world.’ It stayed with me.
I had a couple of meetings over the years about it. Just thinking about, what’s the movie there?” says the director. Over the pandemic, Powell called Linklater and asked if he had read the article.
They started talking about how to make it a movie. Linklater recounts musing, “What does it need? Well, it needs a third act. What about that girl? You know, the one he lets off.
The new revival of The Wiz will begin Broadway previews on March 29, 2024, at the Marquis Theatre, with an opening night set for Wednesday, April 17.
Former Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has described the Glazers as 'honest and upfront' in the dealings he had with them at Old Trafford.
Manchester United will begin their Champions League campaign tonight when they take on Bayern Munich.
Manchester City are the Champions League holders and they kick-off their defence of the trophy against Crvena Zvezda at the Etihad Stadium tonight.
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.
Courteeners played the relaunch of Club NME with Ladbrokes Live this weekend (September 15) in London.The Manchester band performed a career-spanning greatest hits set at London’s EartH, followed by a surprise DJ guest set from The Libertines’ Carl Barat and Gary Powell to close the evening alongside DJ Rowena.Tickets were free to punters who queued around the street to guarantee entry, reintroducing the classic indie disco night that first launched in 2005 and became a staple of the club scene from London to Sao Paulo and beyond.Taking to the stage for their first London show since March, Courteeners launched into cuts from 2013 album ‘Anna’ including ‘Are You In Love With A Notion?’ alongside classic ‘St Jude’ hits like ‘Cavorting’ and more.The band played fan favourite ‘Sycophant’ from 2010’s ‘Falcon’, a song that frontman Liam Fray admitted he’d not “sung that one for a long time”. A rowdy crowd that had travelled from across the country climbed on shoulders for ‘The 17th’ from ‘Mapping The Rendezvous’, and ‘St Jude’s ‘Not Nineteen Forever’ and ‘What Took You So Long?’The Libertines’ Barat and Powell joined for a secret DJ set, which included mash-ups of The Killers and Gorillaz, alongside hits from Beastie Boys and more in a vibrant set.Speaking to NME prior to the show, Courteeners’ Liam Fray commented on their upcoming music.
The much-maligned Glazer family have come under further scrutiny and pressure as Manchester United's owners continue to mull over two offers to take over the Premier League giants.
Coco Gauff has quickly become one of the most popular athletes following her performance and her win at the 2023 US Open. And while many are focused on her tennis skills, others are intrigued about her personal life, as she has positioned herself as a star in the United States and around the world.WHAT IS COCO GAUFF GOING TO DO WITH HER US OPEN PRIZE MONEY?COCO GAUFF’S BEAUTY ROUTINE: A LOOK AT HOW THIS RISING ICON TAKES CARE OF HER SKINCOCO GAUFF’S SWEET MESSAGE TO NAOMI OSAKA AT THE US OPENThe 19-year-old Grand Slam champion has been sharing glimpses of her personal life, including her love life, making many wonder if she has a romantic interest, apart from her passion for the sport.
“Kind of a Big Deal: How Anchorman Stayed Classy And Became The Most Iconic Comedy of the Twenty-First Century” (Dutton),” that script, then titled “Action News Man,” was still a very funny take on a shopworn premise.“Ron convinces the pilot he knows how to fly the charter jet, and he immediately crash lands it in the mountains,” Ferrell once explained of Anchorman’s iconic main character, Ron Burgundy. “They clipped a cargo plane .
The Libertines drummer Gary Powell has confirmed when the band’s forthcoming new album will be released.Speaking in a new interview with Oliver Spencer the sticksman gave an update as to when the follow up to the band’s 2015 LP ‘Anthems For Doomed Youth’ will see the light of day.He said: “We’ve just recorded our latest album. I think we do one every 10 years or so.
Oppenheimer story is set to debut in London this month.Operation Epsilon, written by playwright Alan Brody and directed by Andy Sandberg, is based on the true story of 10 German nuclear scientists who were captured by British and American authorities near the end of the Second World War.Based on transcripts of secretly recorded conversations from their captivity, it’s believed the scientists were working on nuclear weapons for Germany and were unaware of the progress made by American scientists, led by J. Robert Oppenheimer at the Manhattan Project.Speaking to Herald Tribune about the play, Sandberg said: “This is the other side of the Oppenheimer story, what was going on in Germany.
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.
That Glen Powell is a gem of an actor is nothing new, but twenty years into his career, and after stealing the show in a bunch of films and series, we can all finally stop praying for him to get a leading role worthy of his talents. In “Hit Man,” Powell reunites with his “Everybody Wants Some!!” director Richard Linklater for a part that allows him to be by turns nerdy, sexy, and funny, but at all times almost unbearably charming.
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.
Richard Linklater’s Hit Man debuts out of competition in Venice this evening, and while the story follows a professional killer, the filmmaker told the press corps today, “I’m pretty sure movies invented hitmen, they aren’t real.”