Shocking ‘true story’ behind Netflix film Hitman as director revealed plot was inspired by real-life events

Netflix viewers are completely obsessed with the streaming platform's latest romantic comedy turned action thriller - but some are just finding out it's inspired by a true story.

The movie, which is currently number one on Netflix, stars Anyone But You's Glen Powell as Gary Johnson alongside Adria Arjona as his love-interest, Madison.

The smash-hit is directed by movie veteran Richard Linklater, perhaps best known for his Before trilogy.

(Netflix)

The film in question is Hit Man, which has received widespread critical acclaim.

It tells the story of Johnson, an undercover police contractor and professor of psychology and philosophy from New Orleans, who pretends to work as a hitman to trap criminals.

Things get complicated when he falls for one of his prospective clients.

Landing a near-perfect score of 97 percent on aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, critics piled on the praise.

Tom Gliatto wrote for People Magazine: "Hit Man is a complete original, with a magical quirkiness all its own."

David Crow added for Den of Geek: "Linklater has long displayed a genius for riffing on and shifting between genre tones. And with Hit Man, he’s figured out how to turn a veritable film noir into a meet-cute comedy."

Now that Netflix have served it up as their latest offering, people have devoured it.

It's emerged that despite the odds - Hit Man, with its truly wild premise, is based on a true story.

It turns out that the larger than life tale is inspired by a Texas Monthly article from October 2001, also titled 'Hit Man'.

Written by Skip Hollandsworth, the article chronicled the life of the real Gary Johnson, who died in 2022.

According to the article, Johnson was thought of by many as the 'most sought-after professional killer in Houston' - but in reality he was on police payroll.

The real Gary Johnson was raised in Louisiana.

He worked as a staff investigator for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office in Houston.

The film mirrored his real life - and it turns out he actually did 'work' as a hit man for police.

His role had a simple premise - to gather evidence on people seeking to hire a contract killer.

Hit Man is inspired by a Texas Monthly article from October 2001. (Netflix)

Gary would wear a wire while his oblivious clients would incriminate themselves.

Alongside his unconventional job, his work as a professor was where his true passions lay - and he taught human sexuality and psychology.

Hit Man director Linklater told Today: "I never forgot it. But it was kind of on the back burner, as like, ‘How would [the movie] work?’”

Lead actor Powell co-wrote the script with Linklater.

He added: "I learned the history, and lots of people had optioned it over the years and tried to do stuff with it, but nobody could crack it.

"It was really interesting how effortless the process was. Rick and I just kept talking about it... and that’s when you know you have something special, when you can’t forget about it.”

However, the film does take some quite significant liberties with the truth.

While it's true Johnson did talk one of his targets out of incriminating themselves in a murder for hire sting - the inspiration for Madison in the film - he actually referred her to social services and a therapist and didn't have any romantic involvement with her.

And - spoiler alert - as the movie's credits make clear, Gary didn't do any murders, they made that part up.