Dead Man's Wire trailer: Bill Skarsgard takes a hostage

Bill Skarsgard take his mortgage broker hostage in Dead Man's Wire trailer

It’s been about a year since United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed on the streets of New York, and while alleged killer Luigi Mangione hasn’t gotten the biopic treatment (yet), Gus Van Sant’s latest film seems to have more than a little bit in common with the episode. Dead Man’s Wire follows Tony Kiritsis, an Indianapolis man who kidnapped mortgage broker Richard O. Hall and held him hostage in the 1970s after falling behind on payments. Bill Skarsgard stars as Kiritsis, with Coleman Domingo, Dacre Montgomery, Myha’la (in her second major trailer appearance of the day), Cary Elwes, and Al Pacino rounding out the cast.

Dead Man’s Wire premiered at the Venice International Film Festival this past September, where Van Sant was pretty upfront about the comparisons people were quickly offering to the Thompson case. “That happened after we had scheduled the film; it was in [December], the Mangione shooting, and we had started just before that in September, and we were moving to Louisville, Kentucky, where we were shooting,” the director told IndieWire in September, adding that he has mutual friends with Thompson.

Perhaps more strangely, this is not even the only adaptation of Kiritsis’ story currently on the horizon. In April, MGM+ announced the series American Hostage will also focus on the event and will star Jon Hamm. Hamm had previously starred as Fred Heckman, the radio newsman who received several calls from Kiritsis while holding Hall hostage, in the 2022 podcast of the same name based on the event. That role will be played by Domingo in Dead Man’s Wire.

Dead Man’s Wire opens in limited theaters on January 9 before expanding on January 16.

Join the discussion...

Latest

Bill Skarsgard take his mortgage broker hostage in Dead Man's Wire trailer

Director Gus Van Sant knows that people see similarities in this story to Luigi Mangione's.