Watch Glen Powell and Adria Arjona Fight and Flirt in Hit Man | Anatomy of a Scene

Actions speak louder, and more flirtatiously, than words in this key sequence from “Hit Man,” the rom-com thriller from Richard Linklater now streaming on Netflix. During the movie’s screenings at film festivals last year, this particular scene had audiences erupting with applause for the feat that it pulls off. It’s “kind of a performance within a performance within a performance,” Linklater says in his narration. At this point in the movie, the lead character, Gary Johnson (Glen Powell), is at a turning point. He has been working undercover with the New Orleans Police Department as a hit man named Ron. In that role, he developed a secret romantic relationship with a woman who initially tried to solicit Ron for his services. Her name is Madison (Adria Arjona) and she was going to hire Ron to kill her abrasive husband, but Ron talks her out of it. Madison’s husband later ends up dead, and the police think that Madison is the killer. One of the officers, Jasper (Austin Amelio) has seen Gar