How to Make a Killing
How to Make a Killing is a 2026 black comedy thriller film written and directed by John Patton Ford, loosely inspired by the 1949 British film Kind Hearts and Coronets by Robert Hamer and John Dighton. Glen Powell stars along with Margaret Qualley, Jessica Henwick, Bill Camp, Zach Woods, Topher Grace, and Ed Harris in the supporting cast.
Plot
The film starts by informing of Becket's upcoming execution, set to occur in four hours. Father Morris, whom he has requested for arrives, and Becket asks if he could tell him the story of how he ended up in prison before his execution.
Becket Redfellow is raised by his single mother, Mary, in a working class New Jersey neighborhood. A member of the elite Redfellow family, Mary was previously exiled for choosing to keep her teenage pregnancy. Despite their relatively low status and income, Mary emphasizes the existence of a non-revocable family trust by which Becket technically has a claim to the Redfellow family fortune. As a young boy, Becket uses this potential inheritance to deflect his working class status and befriend the more affluent Julia Steinway. Mary eventually develops a terminal disease and passes away, leaving Becket in foster care. Prior to her death, Mary stresses that Beckett should have the life he "deserves" to have. Becket seeks assistance at his family's estate, but is summarily rejected by a typewritten note.
As an adult, Becket works as a suit salesman in New York City. A chance encounter with Julia at the suit shop reveals she is engaged to one of Becket's former classmates. Shortly after, Becket is informed the owner of the shop intends to give Becket's job to the owner's son. Spurred by the blatant act of nepotism and Julia's reminder of his claim to the Redfellow fortune, Becket decides to embark on eliminating the remaining Redfellows in order to claim the life and inheritances he finally "deserves".
Becket infiltrates a Hamptons-styled party of his youngest cousin, Taylor Redfellow. Becket discovers Taylor passed out from intoxication on a boat away from shore. Embarking on the boat, Becket ties its anchor to Taylor's ankle while Taylor sleeps. Becket briefly hesitates before becoming startled and dropping the anchor into the water, quickly dragging Taylor to his death.
Shocked at the relative ease of this first murder, Becket attends the funeral at the Redfellow estate. Becket introduces himself to Taylor's father, Warren Redfellow. To Becket's surprise, Warren apologizes for the treatment of Becket's mother by the family and offers Becket a job in his investment firm in a nepotistic position previously held by Taylor. Becket accepts and quickly adapts to the job and its interactions with the wealthy elite.
His second murder targets Noah Redfellow, who has become a photographer, whom he meets at one of his art showings. Here he introduces himself, and as they talk they come across a passed out woman, and Noah tells Becket to kick a can of beer next to the woman so he could snap a photo.
Noah leads Becket to his developing room on the roof of the gallery where he meets his girlfriend Ruth, and later asked if he wants to have dinner with them. Becket agrees, but upon returning to work the next day he ponders on how to kill Noah.
On the night of the dinner Becket requests to use the bathroom, where he sneaks to the rooftop developing room and mixes chemicals into the photo developing fluid, turning it into what he describes as "dynamite," and smashing the lightbulb.
At the table, the guests wonder what is taking Becket so long, and Noah volunteers to look for him; finding him on the roof, Becket reveals that he is up there to grab the developed photo of the passed out woman at the party, which Noah signs for him.
The guests then leave and Becket trashes the photo, where Ruth approaches him. Later that night, Noah enters his developing room, where he tries to turn on the light which sparks and causes the room to explode, killing Noah.
Another funeral at the Redfellow family plot is held, and afterwards Becket is approached by two FBI agents, Megan and Brad, about the murders. They discuss the deaths and ask if he knows about whether he's part of the inheritance or not, to which he lies about being a part of it.
Becket is later informed of a client at the office, which turns out to be Julia, and she encourages him to continue the killings, before asking for a loan. On her way out, she grabs his keys, removes one, then tosses it back. Becket states that even though Warren is next in line, he can't bring himself to kill the man who offered him the position at work, and he moves on.
Next in line to the inheritance is Steven J. Redfellow, who works as a pastor; Becket pretends to be a writer of a magazine in order to interview him. As a distraction, he asks about the photos in Steven's office, and Becket adds more of a compound found in small amounts in protein shakes into Steven's drink. However, Steven reveals that he believes that Becket was the one behind Taylor and Noah's deaths, and using a sword he was gifted in South Korea, he holds Becket hostage until he confesses. Becket denies any responsibility in the murders, which Steven accepts while sipping his protein shake.
After Steven's funeral, he meets Ruth again, and they decide on cooking dinner that evening at his place. Upon returning home with the groceries, Becket sees Julia, who used the key she stole from him during their previous encounter to let herself in his duplex. Suddenly Ruth shows up for dinner, and Becket kicks Julia out before taking Ruth out to eat.
The two discuss what life would've been like if they had got together, and the next day they look about purchasing a high-end apartment, which they ultimately do. Becket sets his eyes on his next victim, Cassandra Redfellow, whom he describes as adopting many children from many countries, and that her four homes were equipped with laser security technology, but not the spa which she went to weekly.
Presenting himself as a spa worker, he advertises a complementary teeth whitening treatment to her, which he says is being offered to all the other guests. She accepts, not knowing that the treatment was poisoned with another chemical similar to the ones in actual treatments, which he hoped would lead investigators to assume she used a sketchy product purchased in another country, and this kills her.
McArthur is next on Becket's list, being a rich owner of a space exploration company, Becket masquerades as one of his employees, handing him a poisoned cup of coffee before one of his recreational plane flights. This inebriates him and he dies after his plane crashes.
Leaving work one day, Warren collapses, and ends up in the hospital. There he remarks about how Becket was the only person to visit him, but he soon passes away.
At work, Becket receives a letter inviting him to dinner at the Redfellow Mansion, something which surprises him as Whitelaw Redfellow never sees anyone. He calls Ruth about this dinner request, and she worries as it coincides with their engagement party, something he assures her not to worry about and that he'd try to make it back in time.
This string of deaths alerts the FBI to start tracking Becket's every move, something which he becomes aware of upon meeting Julia again in his office. Julia states that she needs that loan now, and presents an envelope with photos of Becket in the process of committing the murders. She demands him to present the checks to her fiancé Lyle at his office in 30 minutes or Ruth is sent the photos.
Becket rushes to Lyle's office, barging into the building and finally presenting the checks along with some other documents and a letter opener. Lyle appears visibly worried and rejects the checks, to which Becket beats him. He leaves to drive to the Redfellow Mansion.
In the pouring rain he is let in and soon greeted by Whitelaw, and he reveals that rejecting Mary from the family was a mistake that he wants to own up for, inviting Becket to shoot him in the chest with one of the guns, something which Becket cannot push himself to do.
He decides to leave, only to discover that all of the exits to the mansion have been locked, and fearing the worst, he locks himself in a bathroom. Whitelaw later discovers him and he shoots the door open; Becket flees and Whitelaw shoots him in the arm. He continues to the upstairs study, where he finds some bows and arrows. Whitelaw enters and Becket tries to shoot but his bow breaks, prompting him to grab another and try again. He lands two shots to Whitelaw, killing him.
Afterwards, Becket is interviewed by the police about the killing, where he demands to drive home to their engagement party. Since it was ruled to be an act of self-defense, they let him go; at their apartment, Ruth demands Becket come clean about what he's been doing, and he reassures her that everything will be okay, as he is now the sole heir to the inheritance.
At the celebratory party at the mansion, Becket is approached again by the FBI agents, who are there to arrest him for the murder of Lyle, which he states he never committed.
During his trial, it's revealed that Lyle was stabbed to death with the letter opener, and that Becket's fingerprints linked him to the killing. He is then sentenced to the death penalty.
While incarcerated, Becket is told he has a visitor, revealed to be Julia, and during the meeting, she notes that there was a suicide note written by Lyle that she was withheld from the trial. Becket pressures her to release the note, which she agrees to only if Becket signs over the Redfellow riches to her. Later he is presented with the documents, which he signs hoping that Julia releases the note to exonerate him of the murder.
Back to his conversation with Father Morris, he talks about how Julia should be releasing the note to free him just hours before his execution. Believing that Julia was dishonest with him about releasing the note, Father Morris begins reading a passage from his Bible.
Suddenly, Becket is allowed to gather his belongings and leave the prison as Julia released the note as promised. In the prison parking lot he spots Ruth, waiting for him by the car. He approaches her, and without saying anything she hands him the locket containing his mother's hair before getting in the car and driving away.
Shocked by this move, he soon spots Julia waiting for him. Deciding that he has no other choice, he makes his way to her and gets into the car, which takes them past the Redfellow Mansion gates. The gates close and the film ends.
Cast
- Glen Powell as Becket Redfellow
- Margaret Qualley as Julia Steinway, Becket’s childhood friend
- Jessica Henwick as Ruth, Becket’s girlfriend
- Bill Camp as Warren Redfellow, Becket's uncle and Taylor’s father
- Zach Woods as Noah Redfellow, Becket's cousin
- Topher Grace as Pastor Steven J. Redfellow, Becket's cousin
- Ed Harris as Whitelaw Redfellow, Becket’s grandfather
- Bianca Amato as Cassandra Redfellow, Becket’s aunt
- Raff Law as Taylor Redfellow, Becket's cousin
- Sean Cameron Michael as McArthur Redfellow, Becket's uncle
- Motsi Tekateka as a detective investigating the Redfellow murders
- Adrian Lukas as Father Morris
- James Frecheville as Lyle
Production
Ford's screenplay originally appeared on the 2014 Black List under the title Rothchild. In 2019, Jon S. Baird signed on to direct the film, with Shia LaBeouf and Mel Gibson starring.[4]
Development of the film resumed in March 2023, with plans for Ford to direct the film himself. The film, retitled Huntington, was reportedly inspired by the 1949 film Kind Hearts and Coronets by Robert Hamer and John Dighton.[5] In January 2024, Glen Powell was cast in the lead role,[6] and Margaret Qualley and Ed Harris joined in May 2024.[7] Jessica Henwick, Topher Grace, Zach Woods, Raff Law and Bill Camp joined the cast in June 2024, with principal photography commencing.[8][9] The film was shot in Cape Town, employing hundreds of local South African cast, crew, and extras.[10] In November 2025, Powell told The Hollywood Reporter that the film would be getting a new title, which was revealed a week later as How to Make a Killing.[11][12]
Release
How to Make a Killing was released in the United States by A24 on 20 February 2026[13], and in the United Kingdom by StudioCanal on 13 March 2026.
Critical reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 48% of 104 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Deploying Glen Powell's magnetic likability to head-scratching ends, this tonally bizarre comedic thriller wants to eat its rich and have it, too."[14] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 52 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[15]
Benjamin Lee of The Guardian called the film "stylishly made", but ultimately "a real mess."
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