Walt Feels Taken
We don’t see much of Gary’s interaction with Walt (Bryant Carroll), the typical “Back the Blue” supporter who wants to break the law, nor do we get a name for that killer. However, as Gary scrolls through his well-populated Facebook page, we hear Walt’s message. Walt gives Gary the signal phrase to let him know he wants an assassin: “Sounds like you got a particular set of skills or whatnot.” “A particular set of skills” comes from Liam Neeson‘s CIA agent in Taken from 2008. He delivers the line after scary foreigners kidnap his daughter (not the greatest politics on this one), who pick up the cell phone that she dropped. Gary doesn’t adopt Neeson’s lingering brogue, nor does he even remove his glasses for the part. But the dark coat he dons while meeting Walt does at least suggest Neeson’s elder killer.
Isaac and a Tarantino Wannabe
Hoping to build some buzz for his upcoming album, the rapper Isaac (Martin Bradford) engages a hit man to kill his rival Rob49. To meet Isaac’s expectations, Gary stains his teeth and cops a Boston accent. There’s no one clear source to Gary’s get-up for Isaac. Rather he’s the descendent of the edgy crime movies that flooded theaters and video stores after Pulp Fiction in 1994. There’s a little bit of Gary Oldman‘s Drexl from True Romance there (which is pre-Pulp Fiction, but still), a lot of central duo of The Boondocks Saints, and any other too cool for school baddie from 8 Heads in a Duffel Big, The Suicide Kings, and other Tarantino knock offs.
Rita Gets Her Own American Psycho
When Gary arrives at a motel to meet Rita (Kate Adair), he sports slicked-back hair, a well-tailored power suit, and a haughty attitude. This character takes great pleasure in mansplaining to Rita, going over minute details with a condescension that looks to her like professionalism. It’s surprising that Gary doesn’t toss a business card to Rita, since he’s 100 percent channeling Patrick Bateman, the maybe serial killer and absolute yuppie played by Christian Bale in American Psycho (2000). Maybe Powell got tips for the character while working with Tom Cruise on Top Gun: Maverick, since Bale based his Bateman on Cruise.
Joe Needs a Jackal
To match the sense of propriety that drives Joe (Richard Robichaux) to order a hit on his ex-wife, Gary becomes a soft-spoken Englishman, dressed in ’70s yellow. The character seems like someone who would belong in a movie by Linklater’s fellow Texan, Wes Anderson, but he seems at least partially based on Edward Fox’s polite killer in 1973’s The Day of the Jackal. Directed by Fred Zinnemann and written by Kenneth Ross, adapting the novel by Frederick Forsyth, The Day of the Jackal follows an attempted assassination of French president Charles de Gaulle. As the Jackal, Fox keeps calm and polite, his brutal profession belied by his impeccable manners.
With that said, it’s worth also noting that the exact cadence of Powell’s line-readings, as well as his ginger mop top, seems to suggest another completely unrelated influence: Could he be doing Tilda Swinton, English actress extraordinaire? While Swinton is very much a chameleon, she has played more than a few characters with exacting mannerisms and pronunciations. Also her appearance in the aforementioned Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom looks awfully familiar.
Tammi Orders a White Russian
Gary’s disguise for Tammi (Morgana Shaw), who can offer only a boat in exchange for the death of her husband, could be drawn from any number of Redbox thrillers and Geezer Teasers. Wading through the New Orleans heat while wrapped in black leather, the stub of a cigar poking through his stringy black hair, Gary adopts a Russian accent to growl out his responses. There’s a little bit of Sergei (Chris Ashworth) from The Wire‘s second season, who boasts about cutting off heads and hands of his victims. However, the stoic Russian is more directly pulled from gritty action flicks such as John Wick, Red Sparrow, and Eastern Promises. Also Boris Badenov from The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.
