SF - Photo 2018 copy

Source: AGC Studios

Stuart Ford

AGC Studios head Stuart Ford has announced that Shivani Rawat’s ShivHans Pictures and Monarch Media have boarded as co-financiers Richard Linklater’s action comedy Hitman  as production gets underway in New Orleans.

Austin Amelio, Retta, and Molly Bernard have joined the ensemble cast led by Glen Powell and Adria Arjona in the story of the most sought-after hitman (Powell, Devotion, Top Gun: Maverick) in New Orleans who secretly works for the police.

When he breaks protocol to help a desperate woman (Arjona) trying to get away from an abusive boyfriend, he finds himself living the life of one of his false personas, falling for the woman and flirting with becoming a criminal himself.

Linklater (School Of Rock, Boyhood, Before franchise, Dazed And Confused) is directing from an original screenplay he co-wrote with Powell based on an article in Texas Monthly. Amelio’s credits include Everybody Wants Some and AMC’s The Walking Dead, while Retta has appeared in Good Boys and NBC’s Good Girls, and Bernard’cs credit sinclude Sully, The Intern and Paramount +’s Younger).

Linklater is producing with Michael Blizzard for Detour Pictures, Michael Costigan and Jason Bateman for Aggregate Films, and Powell for BarnStorm Productions in association with Cinetic Media.

AGC Studios is co-financing Hitman and recently announced it had closed major sales on Hitman, including deals with Leonine Studios for Germany and Switzerland; SND for France, Sun Distribution for Latin America and Spain; WW Entertainment BV for Benelux; BIM Distribuzione for Italy; VVS Film for Canada; and Scanbox Entertainment for Scandinavia.

ShivHans Pictures’ latest projects include Jonathan Hensleigh’s The Ice Road starring Liam Neeson and David Oyelowo’s directorial debut The Water Man. Previous films include Tara Miele’s Wander Darkly, Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial Of The Chicago 7, and Maya Forbes’ The Polka King. ShivHans recently signed a first-look film deal with actor Dev Patel.

Monarch’s Steve Barnett, Alan Powell, and Vicky Patel are in post-production on Something Here, the musical previously known as the Untitled Florida Georgia Project, and are in production on Valiant One. Monarch recently announced with Seth Rogen’s Point Grey Pictures and Lauren Miller Rogen’s LYLAS Pictures a feature-length animated adaptation of Sarah Leavitt’s Alzheimer’s graphic novel Tangles.