How did this movie come to you?
It started out as an article 20 years ago in Texas Monthly by Skip Hollingsworth, who is just the greatest journalist ever. Every article he writes feels like a movie. I kind of stumbled upon the piece through (producer) Michael Costigan. As soon as I read it, I loved the idea of this character. It was like nothing I had come across before. I then sent it over to Rick (director Richard Linklater) to see if we could expand it into a script.
What made you feel like this would make a great movie?
There was one paragraph in the article that really stuck with me, and felt like it could maybe be our story. The paragraph was about Gary, a cop working as an undercover hit man, meeting this woman who was in danger from her abusive husband to the point that she is contemplating killing him. Gary is supposed to arrest this woman, but instead strikes up a relationship, getting involved far deeper than he was ever supposed to.
You not only star in the movie, but you produced and co-wrote it too. How was that process?
I loved it. I worked with Rick on the script, and a lot of it happened over the phone. He would write a section and then, I would write a section. We would pass it back and forth. We finally got together to work on the final draft. It worked really well, but then Rick always makes it seem easy.
You have worked with Richard before. What do you like about him as a director?
Pretty much everything. We just have a good time together. Rick is the greatest collaborator and I feel lucky that we were able to make another movie together.
Adria Arjona plays Maddy, the desperate woman who thinks she is hiring a hit man but ends up in a complicated relationship with your character. How was working with her?
The thing with Maddy Masters was that we never wanted to put her into a trope. She had to feel human and torn, and Adria really nailed it in terms of the complexities of the character and her complicated relationship with the audience.
There is quite a steamy scene in the movie. How did you feel about writing it knowing that you were going to have to be in it?
It came from it being a big part of what Gary is missing from his life. He is a guy living completely in his head. He’s binary in terms of logic, so we wanted to have Gary slowly turn off his logic, and give himself over to humanity and passion. It’s a course of action that will eventually bite him and that’s the fun part. So that scene isn’t just there for the sake of it. It shows Gary not being in his head, and by putting on this other identity which is better at all that stuff than he is. The scene is him falling in love with Ron in a way.
Was filming the scene a challenge?
Well, steamy scenes are always a weird day at work. But the moment is as much a fantasy for Gary as it is for Maddy. So we wanted to have the female gaze on that scene. Such scenes can be a little paint-by-numbers and boring, so we did something different with inputs from a lot of people, a lot of rehearsal and a lot of talking through everything. A large part of it is down to the legal writers and making sure everyone is comfortable. So the mystery is taken out of it by the time you actually film it.
What is your approach to acting?
I’m not a method actor, but I do try to keep a certain energy on set if I am playing a guy like this one. I mean, I never stay in character or anything like that. I’m always Glen off camera, but the fun of playing different characters is letting the lens shift a little bit; maybe you walk or talk differently. We all have multiple sides to ourselves and it’s sometimes fun to tap into that and see how the world interacts with you.
Most people will have first taken notice of you in 'Top Gun: Maverick', but how did you first get into acting?
I grew up in Austin, Texas, and first got into acting in school. I did some musical theatre, but that was it. I came to Hollywood when I was a teenager. I didn’t know anyone, but got lucky. I did some auditions, got some parts in movies, and here we are.
Finally, what do you think happens to Gary and Maddy beyond Hit Man?
I don’t know. Maybe they live happily ever after. Or maybe, this whole thing is in their wild past. Or, this could be the start of a beautiful love story. Who knows?