It’s tough to imagine that a thriller about a hostage crisis, in which one man’s life hangs at the end of a wire attached to a shotgun, could be anything less than grim, dark stuff. But leave it to Gus Van Sant and screenwriter Austin Kolodney to take the real life events of Tony Kiritsis and give us Dead Man’s Wire, a visceral, gripping crime drama that is surreal, unfathomable, and as urgent as Dog Day Afternoon.
Bill Skarsgard, looking as maniacal as any of the many villains he’s played, is Tony Kiritsis. In 1977, Kiritsis, a struggling Indianapolis businessman, took hostage mortgage broker Richard Hall (played by Stranger Things‘ Dacre Montgomery) and tied his neck to the end of a “dead man’s wire” attached to a loaded shotgun. In short, if anything happens to Kiritsis that gun will go off and blow Hall’s head clean off. Kiritis, who might’ve been a bit of a paranoid freak, was brazen about it. A friend to the local police force, he had no qualms about showing off Hall as his hostage, calling into radio stations to speak with his favorite DJ, Fred Temple (Colman Domingo), and even parading around in front of live TV cameras. This being the ’70s, spectacles like this being broadcast across the country were still fairly new, so this entire ordeal was huge news.
That media naivete is part of the reason Dead Man’s Wire feels too crazy to be true. Because Kiritsis is never really treated like the dangerous threat he clearly is. Instead, he’s allowed to basically call the shots, make demands, express his agenda to an audience, all while the police stand around and the media broadcasts it live. And what was Kiritsis’ message, anyway? It’s one that still feels relevant today; that of the rich and powerful stomping on the necks of the little guy. Kiritsis, who had fallen behind on mortgage payments on a piece of land he wanted to develop, felt that the bank was screwing him over to its own benefit. He might’ve been right on that. Certainly, the oily performance by Al Pacino as Hall’s father, who refuses to give Kiritsis an apology even to save his own son’s life, would suggest it. At least we get to hear Pacino’s hilariously dubious southern accent again. The film could’ve used more of him, actually, as well as other supporting players, including Cary Elwes (almost unrecognizable) as the lead detective watching the events unfold, and as a reporter looking to make her name by bringing the crisis right into people’s homes live on TV.
It’s another great role for Skarsgard as a character on the fringe. His Tony Kiritsis is constantly agitated, but full of righteous indignation and a hero complex. He always seems on the edge of blowing up at any moment. But he’s also squirrelly and slick enough to know how to play the system to his own ends, manipulating the news coverage to get people asking whether he was sane enough to stand trial. Dead Man’s Wire is equally shrewd. What could’ve been just another crime movie in another director’s hands is instead unusual, funny, and timely thanks to Van Sant.
Row K Entertainment will release Dead Man’s Wire for an awards qualifying run on December 12th, followed by select theaters on January 9th 2026 and nationwide January 16th.
