ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to Hit Man star Austin Amelio about starring opposite Glen Powell in the Richard Linklater movie. The actor discussed his character, Jasper, and reuniting with Powell in another film. It is now streaming on Netflix.
“Oscar-nominated director Richard Linklater’s sunlit neo-noir stars Glen Powell as straight-laced professor Gary Johnson, who moonlights as a fake hit man for the New Orleans Police Department,” says the synopsis for the movie. “Preternaturally gifted at inhabiting different guises and personalities to catch hapless people hoping to bump off their enemies, Gary descends into morally dubious territory when he finds himself attracted to one of those potential criminals, a beautiful young woman named Madison (Adria Arjona). As Madison falls for one of Gary’s hit man personas — the mysteriously sexy Ron — their steamy affair sets off a chain reaction of play acting, deception, and escalating stakes.”
Tyler Treese: Austin, congrats on Hit Man. It’s incredible, the number one film on Netflix. That has to be really exciting. It played for a few weeks in theaters. So what has kind of been the feedback because you’ve had a few weeks of people seeing the film and spreading the word? There’s a lot of positive, organic buzz as well as this great marketing.
Austin Amelio: Yeah, I mean, the feedback’s been good, man. Everyone seems to enjoy the ride, and that’s really all we were hoping for. It’s a super fun film, and, here in Austin, it was pretty much sold out everywhere in theaters, and so that’s a good sign, you know?
Jasper’s such a fun role for you too. You’re getting into fights. You’re screaming about cancel culture after getting a paid work suspension. What aspects really stood out about the character that you could really hone in on?
I mean, the main thing for me is that he just had a really clear objective. The guy gets fired and replaced, and he wants his job back. So that was sort of what I honed in on. That you would do anything at all costs to sort of bring this guy down to get his job back.
Jasper’s very suspicious of the whole situation rather early on. How is it playing up that element because there’s such a tense quality to some of these scenes and interactions? A lot of passive aggressiveness.
Yeah, it’s just like anything. In real life, when someone takes your position, this is the film, and this is a character that’s sort of turned up a couple of notches. So, the jealousy and the suspicion and all of that is what I’ve sort of locked in on. But really, the main thing was just like, OK, this guy wants his job back, and any little news or piece of news that he hears on this sort of thing that’s going on with Ron, he’s gonna just grab onto as quick as possible,
Your co-star, Glen Powell, he is really showing his range here. You’ve worked with him before this. So what was it like seeing this film, seeing him melt into all these different characters? Do you feel like you can even trust the guy after that?
[Laughs] I don’t know, man. He did it with ease, so yeah. I mean, it was pretty cool because, I only shot for three weeks, so the first time I saw the film was the first time I saw him and all these different characters and doing those little bits. But, yeah, it was really fun to actually see it on the big screen because I didn’t get to see any of it when I was down there filming.
You’ve worked with Richard Linklater twice now, and he has such an amazing range as a director with all of his projects. What is most unique about him as a director and his style of doing these films?
The thing I’ve noticed with people that know what they’re doing is that, especially in the film industry and directors in particular, they really sort of let go. They’re not trying to control every little minute thing, so they let the actors play, and there’s a sense of freedom involved, which I think he’s really good at, and he is really good at casting people and putting an ensemble together, you know?
The previous ensemble was Everybody Wants Some!!, which you were fantastic in. How helpful is that familiarity when you’re reuniting with Glen, you’re reuniting with Richard, and you already have a working relationship?
I mean, it’s a luxury in a sense because you don’t wanna go into something feeling tense, you know? I feel like you do your best work when you’re sort of relaxed and you’re comfortable around the people that you’re working with. So it plays a huge part.
This is a really good dark comedy, and you have some pretty funny scenes with Glen. He really got the show off a more lighthearted comedy side in Anyone But You, as well. What stands out about him as a comedic actor and having that back and forth with him?
Well, he is just in the moment, you know? He is a pretty lighthearted guy to begin with, so it’s not hard to do a comedy with him, you know? He doesn’t take himself very seriously. So there’s already a lightheartedness involved, which helps a lot.
You had a very memorable TV role as Dwight in The Walking Dead and its spin-off. Yeah. Being the same character for 50 episodes, what was most unique about that experience of really having that character for so long compared to a film where you might just do a few days of shooting?
At some point, you just know the writing so well, and you know the character so well that everything comes pretty naturally, and you know what they’re gonna say and what they wouldn’t say. There were days where I would just go into the makeup chair, look at the scene, and then go do it just because it was that familiar. So that was fun, not too stressful, you know?
We’ve gotten to see you in quite a few different genres and play different types of roles. Is there anything specific that you’re looking for in the future? Be it a genre or a character type? What are Austin Amelio’s goals?
Yeah, nothing in particular that I’m looking for. Just try and do different things and not get sort of trapped in a corner on one thing. But, you know, for me, I’ve always said I just wanna do every Sam Shepherd play I can before I get too old. So that would be my goal, I guess.
Thanks to Austin Amelio for taking the time to talk about Hit Man, which is now streaming on Netflix.
