Watch Steamy First Trailer for Richard Linklater Assassin Comedy Hit Man on Netflix

The prolific Richard Linklater is preparing to land his latest film on Netflix, the shockingly well reviewed action/romantic comedy hybrid Hit Man, which debuted its first teaser online today. The director co-wrote the film alongside star Glen Powell, the ascendant star of recent romantic comedy blockbuster success Anyone But You. You can see the first teaser for the film below, prior to its upcoming Netflix debut on June 7, 2024.

Hit Man looks like a combination of underworld crime caper and more traditional screwball romance, pairing the granite jaw of Powell with the lovely countenance of actress Adria Arjona, familiar to those who watched Amazon’s Good Omens or Disney’s Andor. Based on a true story as written in a 2001 Texas Monthly article by writer Skip Hollandsworth, Hit Man is about a man pretending to be something else, who happens to run into love along the way. Or as the official synopsis puts it:

A strait-laced professor discovers his hidden talent as a fake hit man. He meets his match in a client who steals his heart and ignites a powder keg of deception, delight, and mixed-up identities. Inspired by an unbelievable true story.

Hit Man debuted at the Venice International Film Festival back in September to seriously rave reviews, including our own at Paste, which likened it to the same style of old-school romantic comedies that Powell has now made a calling card in particular after the success of the Sydney Sweeney co-headlined Anyone But You. Netflix pounced on the title after the Toronto International Film Festival, meanwhile, shelling out $20 million for distribution rights, making it the biggest film deal of all of 2023. That’s an interesting note for a film that finds itself anywhere near the often moribund romantic comedy genre, but the attachment of Linklater, in his first feature film since 2019’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette? probably was too attractive to pass up. You can check out a first look at Hit Man, meanwhile, in the teaser below.