Richard Linklater is set to tell the true story of an undercover hitman, played by “Top Gun: Maverick” star Glen Powell.

The Oscar-nominated “Boyhood” helmer will direct and co-write action comedy “Hitman,” which is based on a Texas Monthly magazine article by journalist Skip Hollandsworth. AGC International, the distribution arm for Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios, will launch international sales for the pic at the Cannes market. CAA Media Finance and Cinetic will co-represent domestic rights.

Powell, who plays Hangman in Paramount’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” will co-write and star in the project as a Houston cop who’s been working undercover as the most in-demand hitman in Houston, until one day he breaks protocol in order to help a desperate woman (Adria Arjona) trying to escape an abusive boyfriend.

The project is based on a 2001 article in Texas Monthly that tells the fascinating story of hit man Gary Johnson, a staff investigator at the Harris Country district attorney’s office, who plays the role of hit man for police requiring the help of an undercover officer to catch individuals ordering a hit.

AGC Studios is financing the movie, and production is set to begin in October.

“Hitman” will be produced by Linklater, Michael Blizzard for Detour Pictures, Michael Costigan and Jason Bateman for Aggregate Films, and Powell with his production outfit BarnStorm Productions.

Linklater — an Oscar nominee for “Boyhood,” “Before Midnight” and “Before Sunset” — recently helmed animated movie “Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Adventure,” which premiered at SXSW in March. The director’s last movie prior to that was the Cate Blanchett-led “Where’d You Go, Bernadette.”

Linklater is also in the works on two different biopics, about con artist John Brinkley, and comedian Bill Hicks.

Powell previously worked with Linklater on “Apollo 10 1/2” as well as “Everybody Wants Some!!” (2016). He also starred in “Set It Up” and “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.”

Richard Linklater’s latest film Hitman has started production in New Orleans and ShivHans Pictures and Monarch Media have boarded the project as co-financiers, AGC Studios announced today.

Austin Amelio (Everybody Wants Some), Retta (Good Boys), and Molly Bernard (Sully) have also joined the film’s cast and will star alongside Glen Powell and Adria Arjona who were previously announced in starring roles.

Based on a true story, Powell stars in the film as the most sought-after Hitman in New Orleans, but if you pay him to rub out a cheating spouse or a sadistic boss, you’d better watch out: he works for the cops. When he breaks protocol to help a desperate woman (Arjona) trying to get away from an abusive boyfriend, he finds himself living the life of one of his false personas, falling for the woman and flirting with becoming a criminal himself.

The action comedy is produced by Linklater and Michael Blizzard for Detour Pictures, Michael Costigan and Jason Bateman for Aggregate Films, and Powell for BarnStorm Productions in association with Cinetic Media.

This is the fourth project Linklater and Powell have worked on together following Fast Food Nation, Everybody Wants Some!!, and Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood.

Linklater, Powell, and Arjona are repped by CAA; Amelio is repped by UTA; Retta is repped by UTA and Silver Lining Entertainment; and Bernard is repped by APA and D2 Management.

ShivHans Pictures’ latest projects include Jonathan Hensleigh’s The Ice Road, starring Liam Neeson, and David Oyelowo’s directorial debut The Water Man, in which he also starred. Previous films from ShivHans Pictures include Tara Miele’s Wander Darkly and Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7.

Monarch recently announced with Seth Rogen’s Point Grey Pictures and Lauren Miller Rogen’s LYLAS Pictures a feature-length animated adaptation of Sarah Leavitt’s Alzheimer’s graphic novel Tangles.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix closed a $20 million deal on Hit Man, making the biggest deal at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and of the year for that matter. After the Richard Linklater-directed noir comic thriller debuted to raves at Venice, the film was expected to fetch the biggest deal of the fall festivals so far. Hit Man did not disappoint. Hit Man stars Top Gun Maverick’s Glen Powell and Adria Arjona (Andor) playing the most unlikely romantic partners, in performances that will boost each of their careers. Especially Powell, who co-wrote with Linklater what will be a major star turn for him. Netflix got US, UK, Australia/New Zealand, India, South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, and Iceland. There is also a theatrical component to the deal, I’ve heard.

Heading into its final weekend, TIFF had been slow so far on the deal front, but this is the second big one for Netflix, with the Anna Kendrick-directed Woman of the Hour getting a Netflix deal around $11 million. More deals should start flowing after this one was settled. It didn’t show until Monday because TIFF doesn’t premiere anything that premiered elsewhere until after the first weekend. There are plenty of films that pleased critics and audiences, and a lot of movies will find homes, as will some films that were screened privately.

I’d heard bids lined up before the film premiered Monday, but that the sellers at CAA Media Finance which did the deal with AGC Studios and Cinetic Media waited until the premiere before beginning to field offers. AGC financed Hit Man with Shiv Hans and Monarch Media. AGC had already closed a slew of international territorial deals.

Linklater and Powell (on their fourth collaboration) wrote a script loosely based on a Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth. Linklater said he read it back in 2001, but couldn’t find a handle until Powell suggested a good one. They’d worked together previously on Apollo 10 ½ and Everybody Wants Some! They leaned into the life of Gary Johnson, a school teacher who kept a side job with the New Orleans Police Dept as a phony hit man who went on meetings with folks trying to hire him to kill a cheating spouse, or business partner. Powell plays the teacher as a straight laced dull guy, but turns loose the charm and sense of danger as Johnson. He quickly warms to the personality of a fearless and cocky killer convincing enough to get arrests and convictions of numerous folks soliciting his services. Things get complicated with a mysterious and gorgeous young woman (Arjona) meets the hit man and asks him to bump off a husband who is a suffocating and abusive presence. The smitten hit man dissuades her from going forward. They soon connect romantically, and he faces the prospect of concealing his identity to a woman he is fast falling for, as the circle closes in on him when she might be a factor in another crime.