Richard Linklater is opening up about the hurdles to producing his latest movie, “Hit Man,” saying that studios initially “really didn’t want to make the film.”

In a new interview with the BBC, the celebrated director of “Dazed and Confused” and the “Before” trilogy said that he and Glen Powell — who stars in the film and co-wrote the script — worked on the film “very independently.”

“Glen and I wrote it speculatively and we didn’t get paid anything, we just tried to get the film made,” he told the BBC. “We really felt we were onto something, we felt we had written a film noir, a crime film that’s also a screwball comedy about a couple that you’re rooting to be together, but I think they wanted it to be just one thing.”

Based on a true story, “Hit Man” stars Powell as Ron, a part-time police...