All 7 Aliases Glen Powell Uses In Hit Man Explained

April 18, 2024, 9:30 p.m.

Movies

All 7 Aliases Glen Powell Uses In Hit Man Explained

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Summary Hit Man showcases Glen Powell's diverse acting skills, from charming smooth-talker to cold-blooded contract killer.

Director Richard Linklater returns to comedy with Hit Man, based on a real-life story of a fake hit man sting operation in Houston.

The trailer for Hit Man teases multiple aliases for fake assassin Gary Johnson, including a mysterious character with just one line.

Richard Linklater's new movie Hit Man stars Glen Powell as a fake assassin, and the trailer gives a glimpse of some of the aliases he uses to get close to his clients. Hit Man may seem like a bizarre story, but it's actually based on the real life of a Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth which details the life of Gary Johnson, a man who worked with police departments in and around Houston to catch people who wanted to hire a contract killer. He would use a variety of disguises to pose as a hit man in sting operations, and police would arrest his "clients" when they made payment for his phony services.

Hit Man stars Glen Powell, and the Anyone But You star also co-wrote the script with Richard Linklater. Throughout his career, Linklater has worked in a varety of genres, but Hit Man looks like a fun return to comedy for the director behind School of Rock and Dazed and Confused. Hype has been building steadily for months, and the trailer finally offers a sight of Powell in action, and the various aliases he has to portray in his unorthodox line of work. Adria Arjona stars alongside Powell as a woman who hires him to kill her husband, but a routine job soon becomes anything but.

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7 The Charmer

The most important alias in Hit Man

Gary Johnson mentions that men often want to see a hit man who is a no-nonsense tough guy, whereas women usually prefer a more sympathetic character who they can talk about their problems with.

Of all Gary Johnson's different characters, the one who takes up the most attention is a charming smooth-talker. This is the alias he presents to Maddy Masters, played by Adria Arjona. In Skip Hollandsworth's article, Gary Johnson mentions that men often want to see a hit man who is a no-nonsense tough guy, whereas women usually prefer a more sympathetic character who they can talk about their problems with. This alias seems to be more of the latter, and it utilizes Glen Powell's charm and good looks, setting up the movie's romantic side.

Adria Arjona's best performances have mostly come in TV shows so far. She has been a standout performer in Andor, Irma Vep, Good Omens and more. Hit Man will give her a shot as a star in a movie that should reach a big audience. Her character could be loosely based on a person who Gary Johnson mentions in the Texas Monthly article; a woman who had been speaking about getting someone to kill her boyfriend. After a bit of investigation, Johnson decided that she needed help to escape from her abusive relationship rather than jail time.

6 The Country Boy

Gary Johnson has different faces he shows to men and women

This character is probably more in line with what the real Gary Johnson referred to in his article as a "give-me-the-money, tough-guy act."

The Hit Man trailer shows glimpses of many different aliases in quick succession for Glen Powell's Gary Johnson, one of which appears to be a fun-loving country boy who is seen joking around with an older man while skeet shooting. This character is probably more in line with what the real Gary Johnson referred to in his article as a "give-me-the-money, tough-guy act." He could also be inspired by Mike Caine, one of Gary Johnson's first aliases, who he described as a macho biker. This country-boy character doesn't seem like a biker, but he's just as brash and outgoing as Johnson describes.

Hit Man is a big step for Glen Powell, since he's not only the star, but he also wrote the script with director Richard Linklater. This gave him the creative license to develop his own aliases, so Hit Man should be a great showcase for his versatility as an actor, especially in comedic roles. The country-boy character, complete with reflective sunglasses, a camo bandana and a beer in hand, is a complete departure from both the charmer alias and Gary Johnson himself, as he is shown in the trailer. It also shows how varied his clientele can be.

5 Boone

Gary Johnson goes deep into character just like a trained actor

The trailer for Hit Man doesn't go into enough depth to provide names for many of Gary Johnson's aliases, but Boone is an exception. Noted by the name printed on his shirt, Boone appears to be a mechanic based on the way he dresses, although there isn't enough evidence to confirm this. Whoever he is, the persona of Boone requires Gary to wear a wig, fake teeth, and a little bit of make-up. This symbolically shows how far Gary goes to ensure that he can disappear into his different characters, just like a great actor.

The real Gary Johnson is described by other law enforcement officials as the Laurence Oliver of the field. He's a totally convincing actor who can make suspects believe that he is really a cold-blooded killer, rather than a mild-mannered man who likes to feed his two cats and tend to his garden. He shapes each of his aliases to fit the suspects. Boone meets with a wealthy-looking woman in her car, so he may use this persona as a way of winning her trust by appearing to be in the service industry in some way.

4 The Suit

Gary Johnson needs access to Houston's elite

The appeal of this archetype is that it opens the door to a world of shady business dealings involving society's richest and most powerful.

The real-life Gary Johnson has had to deal with all sorts of different people in his line of work, and he has an alias perfectly suited to each and every one of them. In Skip Hollandsworth's article, he mentions that Johnson would greet clients who lived in Houston's most affluent neighborhoods as a sleek, skilled assassin who won't take anything less than six figures for his services. This seems to be the inspiration for one of Gary's aliases in the trailer for Hit Man, with a smart suit and his hair slicked all the way back.

This alias reflects a common assassin archetype, the cold-blooded business type who approaches his work with meticulous and emotionless diligence. It's reminiscent of one of the most famous fictional assassins of all, Agent 47, star of the popular Hitman video games. The major difference is that Gary Johnson isn't bald, but his slick-backed hair gives him the appearance of a power trader, much like another famous fictional killer, Patrick Bateman. The appeal of this archetype is that it opens the door to a world of shady business dealings involving society's richest and most powerful.

3 The Russian

Gary Johnson has to be whatever his clients imagine him to be

If a person only gets their ideas about assassins from cheesy movies, then it's Gary Johnson's job to play up to the stereotypes.

Gary Johnson has a broad range of aliases available to him, from grounded and sympathetic assassins to cartoonish, bizarre characters. The key to his success as a fake hit man is not that he is completely realistic, but that he can live up to each person's idea of what a hit man should look and act like. If a person only gets their ideas about assassins from cheesy movies, then it's Gary Johnson's job to play up to the stereotypes, and he does so with one alias who wears all black and speaks in a thick Russian accent.

This type of assassin is similar to any number of SPECTRE agents who hunt James Bond down in the franchise Cold War-era movies, but more modern iterations of the same archetype can be seen pursuing John Wick across the globe. This archetype is rooted in old Cold War propaganda which sought to depict the Soviets as cold and emotionless. The kind of person who thinks that these assassins exist in the real world, especially around Houston, is probably a fantasist who sees themselves as a characters in a spy thriller.

2 The Nice Guy

Being a hit man can be about friendly customer service

The goal here is to put the client at ease, rather than to be so clinical that it creates a layer of emotional detachment.

At the end of the day, Gary Johnson understands that being an assassin is a customer-facing role, so it doesn't hurt to have good people skills. For one of his clients, he slips into the persona of a friendly and charming man in a polo shirt. He speaks confidently and he smiles frequently, all to assure the man that he is in good hands. This is a tactic that a lot of assassins use in movies and TV shows to close the deal. Hiring a contract killer can be a very stressful situation for some people, so these assassins try to make the whole ordeal seem normal.

Movies like In Bruges, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and James Bond all show assassins with an emotional side. This is a massive contrast to some other aliases which Gary Johnson uses, like "the Russian," because the goal here is to put the client at ease, rather than to be so clinical that it creates a layer of emotional detachment. Again, Gary shows his knowledge that different clients need different types of hit men. His "nice guy" alias appears to be a huge success in the trailer, as the suspect is arrested by police just after meeting with him at a casual diner.

1 The Mystery

The most enigmatic of Gary Johnson's characters

The most mysterious of Gary Johnson's aliases in the Hit Man trailer only shows up for a second. He speaks just one line: "This is serious".

The most mysterious of Gary Johnson's aliases in the Hit Man trailer only shows up for a second. He speaks just one line: "This is serious," delivered in a sing-song lilt which undercuts the content of what he's saying. Nothing is really known about this character, although it's possible to make inferences based on his appearance and his calm manner of speech. Likening him to a popular archetype of an assassin isn't too difficult, because he seems like a perfect definition of a psychotic killer who monetizes his passion. He even has a similar hairstyle to Anton Chigurh from No Country For Old Men.

Like "the Russian," this hit man archetype is best-suited for dealing with people who like a dash of the extraordinary. Gary Johnson has many arrows in his quiver, so it's possible that there will be even more aliases on display when Hit Man is released in theaters. Early reviews of Hit Man have been positive, with many critics singling Glen Powell out for praise. In a movie which appears to put so much emphasis on his range as an actor, this is vital. Hit Man could be another important step on Powell's journey to stardom, after the success of recent hits such as Top Gun: Maverick and Anyone But You.