Streaming on Netflix, Glen Powell’s Starrer ‘Hitman’ has created quite the buzz, with critics praising the clever plot that seamlessly flits between comedy, romance, and suspense. As the title suggests, the movie centres around Gary Johnson (Glen Powell), a college psychology professor who poses as a hitman to help the New Orleans police department bust murder-for-hire plots.
Hitmen may only dwell in the spy world and our fantasies (wouldn’t it be convenient to have one handy?), but many would be surprised to know that the story behind Richard Linklater’s new film is mostly based on a true story.
Like most filmmakers, Linklater took a few creative liberties embellishing the plot to add a strange rom-com effect. The movie adopts the tried-old trope of a lawman falling for a beautiful suspect (Adria Arjona) who wants her husband murdered. This article breaks down everything we know about the real-life Gary Johnson, played by Glen Powell.
Is Glen Powell’s Hitman Character Gary Johnson a real person?
Yes. Glen Powell’s Character, Gary Johnson, is based on a real person. Like the movie, the real-life Johnson taught Psychology and posed as a hitman for hire to help out law enforcement by recording people on tape planning a murder. The idea for the movie was adopted by a 2001 Texas Monthly article that Glenn Powell came across years ago.
Who is the real Gary Johnson?
According to the Texas Monthly article, the real Gary Johnson was raised in Louisiana and spent a year as a military policeman in Vietnam. After returning home, he worked as a sheriff’s deputy in a Louisiana parish.
The part that didn’t make it to the movie was when, in the mid-seventies, Johnson moved to the Port Arthur police department, where he went undercover, posing as a drug addict trying to score from street dealers.
Gary Johnson quit law enforcement to pursue a teaching job
In the 2001 article, Johnson acknowledged he was good at what he did, saying, “I don’t think the drug dealers ever suspected I might be a cop because my personality was so weird to begin with.”
However, he left law enforcement to pursue his dream of teaching psychology in college. After receiving a master’s degree from McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Johnson moved to Houston in 1981 in hopes of entering the University of Houston’s doctoral program in psychology.
After being rejected, he took a job as an investigator for the district attorney’s office and began posing as a hitman for hire to bust murder-for-hire plots.
Did Gary Johson Fall in love with a client?
No. The real Gary Johnson did not fall in love with a client. In the movie, Powell’s Gary Johnson meets with a client named Madison (Adria Arjona), who wants her abusive husband killed. Gary falls for Madison and tells her to take the money she meant for him and use it to initiate divorce proceedings.
In the movie, the two start up a relationship of their own. However, in real life, after learning that Madison was indeed a victim of abuse, Johnson did help her by referring her to social services. Still, he did not strike up a romantic relationship with her.
Where is Gary Johnson now?
The real Gary Johnson reportedly died in 2022.
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