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Over the past couple of years within Hollywood, three topics have been dominating conversation - AI, movie stars, and sex. Numerous questions have been raised such as how does AI impact filmmaking going forward, do movie stars exist now, and is cinema sexy anymore? With his latest film Hit Man, which releases on Netflix later this week, director Richard Linklater (School of Rock, the Before Trilogy) hopes to answer the last two points.
In the movie - which is loosely based on a true story - Top Gun: Maverick's Glen Powell stars as Gary Johnson, a part-time staffer with the police who stumbles into a role posing as an undercover hitman. Everything changes for Gary when he becomes dangerously entangled with potential client Maddy, portrayed by Andor's Adria Arjona.
The chemistry between Gary and Maddy is electrifying, as they awaken new passions within each other. Which means yes, this movie is seriously sexy featuring intimate sex scenes with the pair. For Linklater this is his response to what he describes as a now "sexless" Hollywood, as he told GamesRadar+ and the Inside Total Film podcast in a recent interview.
As the filmmaker revealed, he's frustrated by what he sees as a change in attitude to sex in cinema within the industry, which is particularly affecting films aiming for mainstream audiences. Linklater explained: "It's been this slow infantilization of cinema. I remember when I was a kid, they didn't make films for me so much so I was watching adult movies imagining - I didn't get everything but it was an intriguing world. That's how it should be, aspirational - I couldn't wait to be an adult and experience fun things like sex and freedom."
He continued: "But somewhere along the way it became 'just stay a kid forever, keep reading comic books, we will keep catering to your youth, don't think about things like sex or the complexities of adulthood. Let's simplify everything down.' But adult things are complex - that's what makes them adult and intriguing - and they are complex in different ways to different people. The more childlike you can be the simpler it is and the easier it is to sell. That's Hollywood!"
This was certainly on Linklater's mind during the making of Hit Man, with the director realizing that he was producing a more "old-fashioned" type of film - one Hollywood rarely sees any more. As he concluded "I guess it's kinda an old-fashioned movie - whilst making it it felt like an '80s movie with the characters really having sex, being driven by something.
"The two think-pieces that have been going on the past years - does Hollywood not produce stars anymore and they no longer have sex scenes in movies, all these superheroes don't have genitals apparently - it's all so sexless and starless. I'm like well, my old-fashioned movie to trying to address both of those points. Here's my answer to that."
Hit Man will be available to stream on Netflix from June 7. We also spoke to Linklater about the catchphrase from the movie and keep your eyes peeled for our full chat with the director on the upcoming episode of the Inside Total Film podcast.
For more films to add to your watch list, here's our guide to the upcoming movies to keep an eye out for this year.
