Glen Powell’s How to Make A Killing is leaning directly into the cultural mood and it is not subtle about it. Marketed as a sharp-edged black comedy thriller, the A24 release positions itself as a catharsis for audiences frustrated with widening wealth gaps and billionaire excess. And Glen Powell and team just talked about it.

In a recent interview with DiscussingFilm, where Glen Powell, Topher Grace, Jessica Henwick, and Zach Woods appeared, Woods said that their film is like a wish fulfillment for people who are pissed off at billionaires. To this, Powell said how Woods' brain is nothing less than poetry and agreed that this is exactly what the film is about.

“I think there’s a seed of anger and resentment that starts building up and it creates an ideation of fantasy... ‘I don’t event want to just steal from them, I want to k--- them’,” Powell added.

Directed by John Patton Ford and released on February 20, 2026, in the USA, the film stars Glen Powell as Becket Redfellow. He is a working-class outsider born into a powerful dynasty but denied its wealth. In an era defined by economic inequality debates, the movie channels simmering resentment into a darkly comic revenge narrative.

Loosely inspired by the 1949 British classic Kind Hearts and Coronets, the story unfolds through flashbacks from d---- row. What begins as a tale of inheritance quickly morphs into a ruthless climb toward a multibillion-dollar fortune, paved with calculated m-----.

The A24 film taps directly into cultural frustration with extreme wealth inequality, turning that anger into its central engine.

The revenge fantasy at the heart of How to Make A Killing

At its core, How to Make a Killing operates as a revenge thriller wrapped in dark satire. Becket Redfellow grew up hearing from his exiled mother that the billionaire Redfellow empire should have been his, after their family disowned her for having him at a young age. After struggling in life and losing his modest job, and spurred by resentment, he decides to systematically eliminate the seven relatives standing between him and a reported $28 billion inheritance.

The targets are exaggerated caricatures of the ultra-wealthy, including an eccentric artist, a televangelist-style pastor, and other self-important heirs whose downfall feels more cathartic than shocking.

As Becket rises within the family firm thanks to his uncle’s unexpected mentorship, his relationships — particularly with girlfriend Ruth, who loves him for who he is, and his childhood friend Julia, whose motives prove more self-serving and manipulative — complicate his plan. Meanwhile, as FBI agents begin to take notice of the string of suspicious d-----, Becket’s ascent toward wealth becomes increasingly precarious.

Told through Becket’s reflections from d----row, the film invites viewers into his moral calculus. By presenting the ultra-wealthy as insulated, morally hollow, and often absurd, the film subtly nudges audiences toward conflicted sympathy.

Critically, reactions have been mixed. While some credited Glen Powell’s charisma for elevating the material, others argued that the class warfare satire does not cut as deeply as it promises. Still, the film’s willingness to foreground anti-billionaire sentiment reflects a broader cultural shift in how wealth and power are portrayed on screen.

Are you excited to watch How to Make A Killing? Let us know in the comments!

Written by

Karishma Dasgupta

Edited by

Itti Mahajan