The Texas filmmaker opens the doors to the world of his latest creation, Hit Man. A mix of genres as fresh as it is philosophical.
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Richard Linklater is from Texas. But he’s not your typical Texan, with a Stetson, a grim face and a National Rifle Association membership card: “Joe Biden has experience, I like that,” he says, “especially when I look at the alternative. And I live on a farm outside of Austin, in a very rural setting. That’s where Donald Trump tends to win, because big cities tend to be Democratic. It’s true that here, as in other states, abortion is banned. I probably live in one of the worst states – he laughs – but it’s actually very mixed: Georgia, for example, is also a very conservative state, but Atlanta is one of the most liberal cities in the United States. I’m very cautious about the next presidential election, I don’t think anyone can be very optimistic at this point.
Austin is like a progressive island in the middle of Texas. It’s home to SXSW, a festival that’s of paramount importance to both music and independent film. And it’s where Linklater shot many of the films, not least the independent ones, that have made him famous since the early 1990s. For example, Movida del 76 (1993), his high school comedy; Todos queremos algo (2016), his college comedy; or Boyhood (2014), for which he spent 12 years filming how Ellan Coltrane transformed from a child into a teenager.
