Richard Linklater’s latest movie Hit Man is a great addition to his classic filmography. Best known for his celebrated movies such as Dazed and Confused, Boyhood, School of Rock, and the Before trilogy, Linklater has been one of the definitive voices in independent cinema since the early 1990s. Boyhood and the Before trilogy, which consists of Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013), have used real-world time as a filmmaking tool, chronicling aging characters with equally aging cast members.

While Hit Man doesn’t employ any of these Linklater temporal tricks, it does blend several film genres, such as the action thriller, romantic comedy, and film noir. Inspired by the true story of undercover hitman Gary Johnson, Hit Man collows a college professor who lives a quiet life until he begins moonlighting as an undercover assassin for his local police department. Hit Man is Glen Powell’s highest rated movie of his career based on his Rotten Tomatoes score of 97%, slightly outperforming Top Gun: Maverick’s impressive 96%.

Merrily We Roll Along Explained: What Richard Linklater’s Planned Movie Is & Why It’ll Take Years

Linklater’s ambitious adaptation will take 20 years to film

Merrily We Roll Along was originally a stage play from 1934 which was adapted into a famous stage musical in 1981. It will become the first feature film adaptation of the celebrated story. Linklater is set to write, direct, and produce the highly anticipated project, although the film will not be completed until sometime in the 2040s. Linklater is employing the same creative approach he took with Boyhood to film Merrily We Roll Along except, instead of twelve years of production, it will take a total of 20 years to film.

Linklater’s adaptation of Merrily We Roll Along stars Paul Mescal, Ben Platt, and Beanie Feldstein and is being produced by Blumhouse. As if the production of the ambitious project wasn’t already challenging enough, the film will be presented in reverse chronological order upon completion, keeping true to the original concept of the Merrily We Roll Along stage musical. Linklater based his screenplay off of the upcoming new edition of the stage play written by George Furth, which will be released in October 2024. The story is set to take place between 1957 and 1976.

Hit Man Is The Kind Of Movie Richard Linklater Needs More Of While Filming Merrily We Roll Along

Linklater proves he’s still got an outstanding vision for independent comedies

Linklater is treating each annual installment of Merrily We Go Along as a short film, much like his approach with Boyhood. Hit Man, however, proves that he could do a great comedy every couple of years if he wanted to while working on Merrily We Roll Along in between. Hit Man is kind of a return to form for Linklater’s best movies.

His last film, Apollo 10 1/2, was very good but was animated and ultimately a bit of a different thing, although he has experimented with animated and rotoscope in the past. Linklater has also had a couple of recent misfires, such as Last Flag Flying and Where’d You Go, Bernadette?. The success of Hit Man is a hopeful sign that Linklater will stick to original comedies, in the same vein as School of Rock and Dazed and Confused, moving forward.