Dead Man's Wire
Gus Van Sant’s Dead Man’s Wire (2025) marks his return to feature filmmaking after six years. Based on a true-crime story, the film follows Tony Kiritsis, a desperate man who wired a shotgun to a banker’s neck and paraded him through downtown Indianapolis, demanding justice and redemption. The ordeal — broadcast live on radio and television — forever changed how the media covers breaking news.
Dead Man’s Wire – General FAQs
Where to Watch Dead Man’s Wire
Dead Man’s Wire is not yet available to stream or purchase online. The film is currently screening at select film festivals, with a wider theatrical and streaming release expected in late 2025. Once official platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Apple TV are confirmed, this page will be updated with direct links.
Looking for the real story behind the film? You can watch the award-winning documentary Dead Man’s Line — now streaming on Amazon.
When Will Dead Man’s Wire Be Released?
The feature film Dead Man’s Wire opens in select theaters on January 9, 2026, and will be available everywhere on January 16, 2026.
Is There a Trailer for Dead Man’s Wire?
An official trailer has not yet been released. But you can watch the teaser video.
Is Dead Man’s Wire a True Story?
Yes — Dead Man’s Wire is based on the true story of Tony Kiritsis, whose 63-hour hostage standoff in 1977 shocked America and led to lasting changes in broadcasting and law enforcement.
What Is a “Dead Man’s Wire”?
A “dead man’s wire” isn’t an established term—it’s believed to be a Hollywood reinterpretation of the real phrase “dead man’s switch.” The expression traces back to the 1977 Indianapolis hostage crisis, when Tony Kiritsis built his own fail-deadly device and coined the original term “dead man’s line.” The newer phrasing appears to have emerged through film promotion, blending historical fact with cinematic flair.
Will Dead Man’s Wire Be on Netflix or Amazon Prime?
The film’s streaming platforms have not yet been announced. Once distribution is finalized, this page will include links to any official streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Apple TV.
What’s the Difference Between Dead Man’s Wire and Dead Man’s Line?
Dead Man’s Line is a 2018 documentary about the real 1977 Tony Kiritsis hostage crisis, featuring archival audio and footage. Dead Man’s Wire is a dramatic feature film inspired by those events, directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Bill Skarsgård.
Who Was Tony Kiritsis?
Tony Kiritsis was an Indianapolis man who held mortgage broker Richard Hall hostage in 1977 with a sawed-off shotgun wired to Hall’s neck. The 63-hour standoff was broadcast live across Indiana, making it one of the most shocking true-crime events of the decade.
Dead Man’s Wire – Production FAQs
Who Directed Dead Man’s Wire?
The film is directed by Gus Van Sant.Who Wrote Dead Man’s Wire?
The screenplay was written by Austin Kolodney.Who Stars in Dead Man’s Wire?
Bill Skarsgård as Tony Kiritsis Dacre Montgomery as Richard O. “Dick” Hall (the victim) Colman Domingo as Fred Temple (a character inspired by WIBC journalist Fred Heckman) Al Pacino as M. L. Hall (Richard Hall’s father) Cary Elwes as real-life Detective Mike Grable Myha’la (reporter)Where Was Dead Man’s Wire Filmed?
Principal photography took place in and around Louisville, Kentucky, in 2024, with additional scenes inspired by Indianapolis locations.How Long Is Dead Man’s Wire?
The film’s runtime is approximately 105 minutes.Who Is Distributing Dead Man’s Wire?
Row K Entertainment holds the North American distribution rights for Gus Van Sant’s Dead Man’s Wire, marking the company’s debut film. WME Independent is handling worldwide sales and distribution rights. Row K plans to focus on a wide theatrical release across the United States and Canada, with additional international releases coordinated by WME Independent.How Did the Filmmakers Recreate 1977 Indianapolis?
Although the film was shot primarily in Louisville, Kentucky, the production team meticulously recreated 1970s Indianapolis using detailed reference photography, archival news footage, and authentic set design to capture the look and atmosphere of the original 1977 events.Gus Van Sant on the set of Dead Mans Wire
Photos by Stefania Rosini
Dead Man's Wire Reviews
Dead Man’s Wire Review – Gus Van Sant Calls the Shots with Surreal True-Crime Thriller
(4.5 out of 5 stars)
By Peter Bradshaw | ©The Guardian
With terrific chutzpah, black-comic flair and cool, cruel unsentimentality, screenwriter Austin Kolodney and director Gus Van Sant have made a true-crime suspense thriller set in the 1970s, tapping into the spirit of both Sidney Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon and Network. Apart from anything else, it is a reminder that in that post-Kennedy, post-Watergate age, plenty of lawless and febrile things happened that would now be considered phenomena purely attributable to social media.
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In 1977, an Indianapolis businessman named Tony Kiritsis, with many acquaintances in the police department, kidnapped a mortgage broker named Richard Hall, and tied Hall’s neck with a “dead man’s wire” to his shotgun, which would therefore go off if police sharpshooters tried to kill him. Kiritsis even paraded his victim like this on TV while he read out his demands, a grotesque display in which national TV networks were blandly complicit. Van Sant’s recreation of this extraordinary moment calls to mind the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby in front of police and press.
‘Dead Man’s Wire’ Review: Bill Skarsgard Does His Strongest Work to Date in Gus Van Sant’s Stylish and Gripping ’70s Throwback
By David Rooney | ©The Hollywood Reporter
Gus Van Sant is in top form with Dead Man’s Wire, a riveting true-crime dramatization of a hostage incident from 1977, during which Indianapolis man Tony Kiritzis, claiming that his mortgage broker had deliberately sabotaged his real estate investment, kidnapped the company president and rigged a sawn-off 12-gauge shotgun with a hair-trigger wire connected to his own neck. Scripted with fat-free economy by Austin Kolodney and made in the gritty, realistic style of Sidney Lumet’s ‘70s thrillers, the film pays tribute to Dog Day Afternoon while carving its own identity, led by a crackling performance full of unforced humor from Bill Skarsgard.
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In addition to the primary reference of Lumet, there are reminders of other directors whose work captured the national disillusionment of the time, like Alan J. Pakula and Sydney Pollack, but also a link back to earlier Van Sant films. The casting in small roles of Kelly Lynch and John Robinson, respectively, recalls the raw, grainy look of Drugstore Cowboy, which is set in a similar timeframe (as were Milk and Van Sant’s last feature, the under-appreciated Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot); and the uninflected minimalism of Elephant.
The director’s affinity for outsiders makes no secret of where his sympathies lie, yet while other filmmakers might have turned Tony into a bona fide folk hero, Van Sant sticks to understatement, letting sociopolitical themes emerge organically.
High among other pluses this appealingly scrappy small-scale picture has going for it is a magnetically cool character part for Colman Domingo, oozing natural swagger and charisma as Fred Temple, a local radio deejay who learns that Skarsgard’s Tony is among
his most ardent fans. The skill with which Fred is drawn into the standoff between Tony and law enforcement allows for some sly commentary on the very American obsession with celebrity access, in this case “the voice of Indianapolis.”
Read the rest at The Hollywood Reporter
Gus Van Sant’s Absurdist Hostage Thriller Is ‘Dog Day Afternoon’ on Nitrous
(4 out of 5 stars)
By Phil de Semlyen | ©Time Out
In February 1977, a disgruntled Indianapolis man walked into a city centre tower for a meeting with a mysterious box under his arm. He then took a mortgage company executive who he felt had cheated him out of a real estate investment hostage, jerryrigging a shotgun to his head with wire and demanding an apology and millions of dollars in compensation. One false move from the cops and the man was toast.
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This absolutely terrible plan and all the absurdities that ensued over 63 hours and under the full flare of first local, then national news coverage, are captured with terrific gusto in Gus Van Sant’s tragicomic thriller. It’s another perceptive state-of-the-nation movie from the veteran indie auteur to add to To Die For (1995), Elephant (2003) and Milk (2008), sharing their preoccupation with guns as a manifestation of American ambition and dysfunction. Beyond the guilty laughs, authentically beige ’70s period detail and news reportage aesthetic, there’s an offbeat anti-capitalist folk tale here that will strike a chord in the current moment.
‘Dead Man’s Wire’ Review: Bill Skarsgard Impresses in Gus Van Sant’s Real-Life Crime Caper
By Nikki Baughan | ©Screen Daily
Dead Man’s Wire – named after the hokey home-made contraption which connected Hall’s neck to Kiritsis’s shotgun – plays out of competition at Venice before going on to screen at Toronto. With its light-footed screenplay from Austin Kolodney and cracking central performance from Bill Skarsgard (It, Nosferatu), this could be a solid commercial prospect for the director, whose last film was 2018’s Berlin competition title Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Very Far On Foot.
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The Kiritsis case made huge waves at the time – the whole event was broadcast live, as was the extraordinary press conference he held with Hall still at the business end of his shotgun. Hall wrote a 2017 book about his ordeal, and the following year came documentary Dead Man’s Line. Kiritsis was also the subject of the 2022 podcast ‘American Hostage’, which is now being developed into a television show. Yet many viewers will still be unfamiliar with the case, and Van Sant makes his dramatization easily accessible while retaining the moral grey areas at the heart of the drama.
Kiritsis was actually planning to kidnap Meridian boss Mike O Hall, who is played in cameo by Al Pacino – an obvious nod to Dog Day Afternoon with which this shares an aesthetic and a theme of events spiralling out of control. With Mike in Florida, Kiritsis instead takes his son, Richard (Dacre Montgomery), and demands acknowledgement of the fact that the company exploited him over a land deal – something he fervently believes, even if Meridian dispute it – suitable financial reparations and a formal apology. Police and FBI attempt to deal with a rapidly spiralling situation as the media descends.
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‘Dead Man’s Wire’ Review: Gus Van Sant’s Breathlessly Satirical True-Crime Thriller
By Alexander Mooney | ©Slant Magazine
The movies have long recognized the eroticism of being held at gunpoint, and Gus Van Sant cheekily toys with this in Dead Man’s Wire. In the opening scene, a scorned entrepreneur, Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård), takes Richard Hall (Dacre Montgomery) hostage, demanding a public apology and five million dollars in compensation from the mortgage company that’s wronged him. Tony has rigged a shotgun to the base of Richard’s skull that will fire if the wire noose around his neck is pulled. Tony and Richard will spend the better part of the film attached to each other—sweating, contorting, grappling, heaving.
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The physical absurdity of Tony’s plan is merely a textural detail in this breathlessly satirical thriller, which is based on Kiritsis’s 63-hour standoff with the police in 1977, but it’s the kind of human touch that captures Van Sant’s distinctive flair as a filmmaker. Dead Man’s Wire isn’t exactly the decisive comeback that audiences might be expecting, but it’s a memorably wonky take on the real-time and retrospective spectacles we make of crime and punishment.
Gus Van Sant Profile:
Gus Van Sant’s Dead Man’s Wire (2025) marks his return to feature filmmaking after six years.
The film is based on the true-crime documentary Dead Man’s Line, which first told the story of Tony Kiritsis and the infamous 1977 Indianapolis hostage standoff.
Bill Skarsgård stars as Kiritsis, with Dacre Montgomery, Al Pacino, Colman Domingo, and Myha’la Herrold in supporting roles.
The story centers on Kiritsis’s grotesque “dead man’s wire” shotgun contraption, which forced national TV networks to broadcast his demands.
Row K Entertainment has acquired North American distribution rights, with WME Independent handling world sales.
Van Sant views the story as eerily relevant today, reflecting modern fascination with vigilantes and distrust of corporate power.
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