When Rutger Hauer landed the plum leading role of a heroic knight in Ladyhawke, he made a promise to himself: no more villains.

Some promises were made to be broken.

Hauer gives one of his most haunting and effective performances as serial killer John Ryder in The Hitcher, a new thriller co-starring C. Thomas Howell and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Despite his promise, Hauer felt that the part of the psychopathic hitchhiker was too good to pass up. “The script hit me pretty hard,” he explains. After reading the script, Hauer met with Robert Harmon, the director, and was shown Harmon’s previous short film, China Lake. He was so impressed that he immediately agreed to play Ryder. “Wednesday I got the script; Thursday I saw the director and the film; Friday a deal was made. I’ve never made a decision so quickly.”