Good people may do bad things, but that doesn’t make them bad people. Or does it? This is the philosophical essence at its center film Hit Mannow playing in select theaters and streaming on Netflix June 7.
Part neo-noir, part sexy thriller, part riotous comedy, the film follows Gary Johnson (Glenn Powell), a square, straight professor who stumbles into an unexpected gig: fake killer. As his double life deepens, he becomes involved with an attractive, alluring woman named Madison (Adria Arjona) who seeks to hire one of Gary’s assassin alter egos—the tough-guy mysterious Ron—to kill her abusive husband.
“What attracted me [to Madison] it was so fascinating and I couldn’t understand it while reading [the script] what was she going to do next,” Arjona, 32, tells Refinery29 Somos. “I was confused about where he was going with her. I love that element because I was like, “I’m going to have so much fun playing this.”
Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Mexico City and Miami, Arjona was familiar with the life of an entertainer from an early age. Her mother, Leslie Torres, is Puerto Rican and her father is the famous singer and songwriter from Guatemala. Ricardo Arzona. As a child, she often traveled to accompany him on his tours.
“What attracted me [to Madison] it was so fascinating and I couldn’t understand it while reading [the script] what was he going to do next’.
Adria Arjona
“My dad is a musician, so I kind of grew up all over Latin America,” says Arjona. “I lived in Mexico City for a long time and it was my father’s Guatemala, so I was jumping from country to country. [My upbringing was] like a big melting pot of these three countries and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Growing up in a large family in various locations meant “a lot of mixed traditions,” but what stands out is having a big holiday meal without a spoon in sight.
“Oh, with my father as a kid, we wouldn’t have cutlery on New Year’s, and it was my favorite,” says Arjona. “It’s still my favorite. You’re using your hands, you’re eating the turkey – like tearing apart the turkey – and it makes it so fun because it’s such a fancy dinner, but you’re using your hands. They are very much my family.”
At 18, Arjona moved to New York to study acting, eventually landing roles in shows such as Narcos, True detectiveand Emerald City. In 2022, he starred in the HBO Max remake Father of the Bride alongside Andy Garcia, Gloria Estefan and Isabela Merced.
“I kind of grew up all over Latin America.”
ADRIA ARJONA
Hit Man it marks Arjona’s foray into leading lady territory and there was an instant connection to the material, she explains. “The first time I read it, I knew I wanted to be a part of it.”
Meeting Powell — who co-wrote the film with the director Richard Linklater — helped solidify her interest in the project.
“Then I met Glen and I met Rick, man, I wanted to spend a month or two with these people,” he says. “And they allowed me to be part of the creative process.”
As Powell recalls, Arjona played the role not only in terms of her performance on screen, but also behind the scenes. He was engaging in a way that helped bring a certain weight, honesty and dimension to Madison’s character.
“Look, he’s obviously a talent in front of the camera, but I think what was really impressive is how effortlessly he became such a critical part of the writer’s room,” says Powell, 35. “It’s a great loss when filmmakers don’t listen to great minds and actors. Those people are going to have to play those roles, and it was so clear that Adria was coming with such a strong perspective and one that would make this movie cook in a different way.”
“He’s obviously a talent in front of the camera, but I think what was really impressive is how effortlessly he became such a critical part of the writer’s room.”
Glenn Powell
Indeed, Madison and Ron/Gary make for a new kind of exciting on-screen couple. While their relationship is initially based on crime and deceit — and as such, the audience probably shouldn’t necessarily root for them — as the film progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult not to.
And that’s largely due to a fair share of sizzling chemistry between the two leads. Despite Madison and Ron/Gary’s questionable morals and motivations, they have an undeniably magnetic connection. It happens to thrive in the wildest (and most illegal) conditions.
After all, the heart wants what it wants.
“I felt like the chemistry was always there, [and] We always knew she was a multi-dimensional actress,” says Powell. “But [she’s also] being a kind of writer, mastermind producer, who really understood the film and what would work on camera and make that character, which is key to the whole film. I mean, Rick and I looked at each other pretty quickly and said, ‘Let him show us where this thing goes,’ and I’m so glad we did.”
“We were able to create Madison, make her three-dimensional, and make her very me, in certain ways.”
Adria Arjona
Arjona’s vision for the character is rooted in her inherent complexity. She’s not just a woman who’s been hurt and scorned—she’s also a woman who’s had enough. As misguided as Madison’s search for so-called solutions or a way out is, it is clear that she is completely desperate and in a hopelessly untenable situation.
“We were able to create Madison, make her three-dimensional, and make her very me, in certain ways,” says Arjona. “We really had fun with this character. It was always mental challenges that we would have between three brains, but even that was so much fun and it’s something I really miss.”
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