This week, Glen Powell’s theatrical drawing power will be tested alongside some “Twisters,” although it wouldn’t be his first hit of summer 2024. The first came on Netflix with Richard Linklater’s “Hit Man,” a lighthearted, sexy comedy about identity and merely pretending to be a killer. The movie has already gained a strong following, with many expecting it to make a push during awards season. However, its best chance at Oscar recognition will likely be for Best Adapted Screenplay, which would make Powell an Oscar nominee alongside co-writer Richard Linklater.
If Powell secures a writing nomination for a movie he also starred in, he will join a very exclusive group of actors/writers from the same film. In this century, such instances have been rare, and Powell’s potential nomination for “Hit Man” would be a unique and impressive feat.
Five actors/screenwriters have done it twice since 2000, yet those were vastly different examples. George Clooney was a screenplay nominee twice for co-writing “Good Night, and Good Luck” in 2005 and “The Ides of March” in 2011 – but unlike Powell in “Hit Man,” Clooney also directed those films and was a mere supporting actor in them. Bradley Cooper’s case is slightly different, as he received Oscar nominations for co-writing “A Star is Born” in 2018 and “Maestro” just last year, while he was also their leading man and director.
Clooney and Cooper received their nominations for serious, Oscar-baity movies, with all but “The Ides of March” as eventual Best Picture nominees. “Hit Man,” on the other hand, was made as a lighthearted, sexy comedy about identity and a man merely pretending to be a killer. The movie has already gained a strong following, with many expecting it to make a push during awards season. As such, it has longer odds to break into award season than Clooney and Cooper’s tailor-made Oscar films.
But such odds have been defied twice by Sasha Baron Cohen, one of many nominated screenwriters for both “Borat” in 2005 and “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” in 2021. Like Cooper, he was the leading star in front of the camera, yet unlike both Cooper and Clooney, he wasn’t also the director. Though unlike Powell and “Hit Man,” Cohen’s writing and performing were improvised on much more real stages and settings and occasionally alongside much more real people.
As for the last two examples, they are ones with very obvious similarities to “Hit Man” thanks to Linklater himself. The last movies he co-wrote with his leading actors were “Before Sunset” in 2004 and “Before Midnight” in 2013 with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy – and in both cases, they were Best Adapted Screenplay nominees. However, unlike “Hit Man,” those two movies were sequels and were intimate romantic dramas instead of wilder romantic comedies.
If “Hit Man” can also breakthrough as a Screenplay nominee, maybe its closest parallel would be with a different nominee from 2011. Like “Hit Man,” “Bridesmaids” had a rising star in Kristen Wiig as both its star and co-writer. It was an R-rated comedy released in early summer and was merely expected to get laughs instead of Oscar nominations. Of course, unlike “Hit Man,” “Bridesmaids” was released in theaters and rode its $169+ million domestic box office into a Best Original Screenplay nomination – whereas the straight-to-Netflix “Hit Man” doesn’t have a sleeper summer box office hit narrative to help its case.
Nine years earlier, another surprise comedic hit made its star an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, as “My Big Fat Greek Wedding’s” Nia Vardalos pulled off the feat in 2002. Yet unlike Wiig and Powell, Vardalos came out of nowhere at the time and hadn’t starred in major hit TV shows or movies before her biggest break. In addition, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” was a spring release, making its $240+ million domestic gross and Oscar nomination all the more miraculous.
But box office isn’t always necessary for such a film to linger into Oscar season. 2017’s “The Big Sick” was a smaller summer comedy co-written by star Kumail Nanjiani, yet it had enough staying power to make him and partner Emily V. Gordon Best Original Screenplay nominees. That movie was also loosely based on a true story, just as “Hit Man” is, although it stays a little closer to its story’s truth by comparison.
There are only three other examples this century of actors who received writing nominations for movies they starred in. One is of Steve Coogan for co-writing “Philomena” in 2013 while co-starring alongside Judi Dench. Another belongs to Owen Wilson for co-writing “The Royal Tenenbaums” with Wes Anderson in 2001, though he was merely a supporting player in its acting ensemble. Technically, Brad Bird’s nomination for the 2004 Pixar animated hit “The Incredibles” counts, thanks to his brief double-duty voicing Edna Mode. On the other hand, 2002’s “Adaptation.” doesn’t count since Best Adapted Screenplay nominee Charlie Kaufman and his fake brother Donald were played by Nicolas Cage.
Out of those examples that do count, many of them are varied, and not many are like Powell or “Hit Man.” Nonetheless, if “Twisters” further cements Powell’s growing theatrical stardom like “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Anyone But You” did, then maybe the momentum can carry over to give a Netflix film like “Hit Man” an extra boost in its awards season campaign. At the least, it would make its possibly long odds a little easier to overcome.
According to the first Oscar projections from the Next Best Picture staff, “Hit Man” is only ninth in their initial Best Adapted Screenplay rankings – putting it behind projected major Best Picture contenders like “Sing Sing,” “Conclave,” “Nickel Boys,” “Queer,” “The Piano Lesson,” “Emilia Perez,” “Nightbitch,” and “Dune: Part Two.” But among those films projected higher than “Hit Man,” only “Sing Sing,” “Emilia Perez,” and “Dune: Part Two” have actually been seen by any audiences.
Depending on how fall festival season breaks for the likes of “Conclave,” “Nickel Boys,” “Queer,” “Nightbitch” and “The Piano Lesson,” how “Sing Sing” and “Emilia Perez” fare outside film festivals, and whether something no one sees coming before the fall fests bursts into the race – like last year’s Adapted Screenplay winner “American Fiction” – the Best Adapted Screenplay field could look very different in just two months. And if enough preseason favorites are disappointments, then maybe there will be new room for “Hit Man” to climb the ranks by fall.
In that scenario, a combination of a solid performance in critic awards season, along with Powell’s star narrative and Linklater’s past recognition from the Academy, could sneak “Hit Man” right on the bubble or better in the Adapted field. Then, depending on how the race looks after New Year’s, anything can happen if it is still in the running by then.
Should “Hit Man” squeeze into the final Best Adapted Screenplay five, Powell would make history as both a bankable acting star and an Oscar-nominated writer for the same movie, like Clooney, Cooper, Cohen, Wiig, Vardalos, Nanjiani, Hawke, Delpy, Wilson and Coogan before him in the 2000s. Yet for all of them, the nomination was their ultimate win since not one of them won the Oscar to go with it, and Powell will surely not be the one who breaks that streak. But even getting into that group, Powell’s star power would reach a whole new level beyond the box office.
There is still a very long way to go this season, and a wide variety of lucky breaks is needed before “Hit Man” proves it can hang around with the year’s biggest Adapted screenplays for the long haul. Still, playing the long game and making his films bigger hits than anyone expected has worked out well for Powell these last two-plus years already. Whether or not “Twisters” is the biggest example yet at the box office starting on July 19th, “Hit Man” has six months to give Powell an even bigger and rarer career milestone from the Academy.
Are you excited for “Twisters?” Have you seen “Hit Man” yet? If so, what did you think? Do you think Glen Powell will become an Oscar nominee this year? Please let us know in the comments below or on Next Best Picture’s X account and be sure to check out Next Best Picture’s latest Oscar predictions here.
You can follow Robert and hear more of his thoughts on the Oscars & Film on X at @Robertdoc1984
