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Richard Linklater’s highly anticipated film *Hit Man* has officially landed on Netflix. As you watch this romantic action comedy, you might wonder if *Hit Man* is based on a true story and if Gary Johnson, the fake contract killer, was a real person.
Starring and co-written by Glen Powell, the *Top Gun: Maverick* star plays Gary Johnson, a psychology professor who discovers a hidden talent as a fake hitman. He theatrically mimics his suspects with humorous costumes, accents, and mannerisms to entrap criminals for the local police. However, things get complicated when he meets Madison (Adria Arjona), a prospective client who wants her husband killed but ends up stealing Johnson’s heart, sparking “a powder keg of deception, delight, and mixed-up identities,” according to Netflix’s Tudum. Linklater described the film as a story about “identity and self and passion.”
The director added, “But on a plot level, it’s just a guy who gets in a little too deep. His passions lead him in a direction where he’s deceiving someone he’s in love with and being someone else. They have to deal with those repercussions.”
Is *Hit Man* On Netflix Based On A True Story?**
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Linklater previously adapted another Hollandsworth piece for his 2011 film *Bernie*, but he struggled to find a central arc for *Hit Man* until he met Glen Powell. Together, they wrote the script, and the film premiered on Netflix on June 7 after a limited theatrical release.
“I remember Glen saying, ‘Well, what if we just don’t stick to the facts? What if we cut loose once?’” Linklater recalled to Netflix’s Tudum.
They decided to focus on one story from the article where Johnson declines to set up a police sting to catch a woman who hires him to kill her abuser, leading to a romantic connection. However, several major differences exist between Powell’s portrayal of Gary Johnson and the real-life counterpart.
Who Was The Real Gary Johnson?
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The real Gary Johnson, who inspired *Hit Man*, was an actual college professor and fake hitman working for the Houston police. He was the subject of a 2001 Texas Monthly story detailing his undercover work, which led to more than sixty arrests.
Johnson moved to Houston in 1981, hoping to enter the University of Houston’s doctoral program in psychology. When he wasn't admitted, he took a job as an investigator for the district attorney’s office. In 1989, he found his “true calling” when a lab tech named Kathy Scott sought a hitman to kill her husband. The police enlisted Johnson, and he, wired with a hidden microphone, had to get the person to explicitly state their intention and pay for the job.
“He’s the perfect chameleon,” prominent Houston lawyer Michael Hinton told Texas Monthly. “Gary is a truly great performer who can turn into whatever he needs to be in whatever situation he finds himself. He never gets flustered, and he never says the wrong thing. He’s somehow able to persuade people who are rich and not so rich, successful and not so successful, that he’s the real thing. He fools them every time.”
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Hollandsworth described Johnson as “one of the greatest actors of his generation, so talented that he can perform on any stage and with any kind of script.”
While *Hit Man* draws from Johnson’s name and unique story, some parts are fictional. For instance, Linklater noted that “the real Gary did slight disguises, but not to the extent that we see in the film.” Powell “pushed all of that to the max.”
The real Johnson also helped an abuse victim, but there’s no evidence of a romantic involvement as depicted in the film. However, Johnson, like his on-screen character, struggled with his love life; the Texas Monthly piece mentions he was married three times and was described as “a loner” by his second wife.
“He’ll show up at parties and have a good time, and he’s always friendly, but he likes being alone, being quiet,” his second wife told Hollandsworth. “It’s still amazing to me that he can turn on this other personality that makes people think he is a vicious killer.”
Gary Johnson passed away in 2022.
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