Richard Linklater: Hollywood films don't cater for adults

Richard Linklater has lamented the lack of adult stories in Hollywood films.

The 63-year-old director has helmed the romantic comedy thriller 'Hit Man' and is frustrated that cinema prioritises plots that are aimed at children and teenagers.

Richard told the BBC: "I think what's out of fashion, people say there's no sex in movies anymore, but there isn't 'adult' in movies anymore, as sexuality in movies equals adult.

"When I was 13 years old and looking at movies, I thought the adult world looked pretty interesting, it looked fun and I thought, 'I can't wait to get there!' But it wasn't just the sex, it was the adult situations they showed.

"But somewhere along the way Hollywood inverted that. It's like they said, 'We're going to make films where you can stay 13 forever, you stay that little kid with little kid concerns', so I guess it drifted away as its complexities weren't the subject matter of mainstream cinema as it had been before."

Linklater explained that it was a struggle to convince studios to make 'Hit Man' and thinks that it typifies the risk-averse approach that is prevalent across the film industry.

The 'School of Rock' director said: "You don't get fired for doing a sequel or an origin story, something that already exists.

"You don't get into trouble for what's obvious and commercial. What changed is that films got greenlit by the marketing department and then it's become really safe choices.

"I think of 'Hit Man' as a movie to have fun with, there should always be room for some sexy couple movies, these are standards in cinema of what people want to see quite often."