After a seven year hiatus, Gus Van Sant is back behind the camera with this star-studded true-crime thriller, earning an 11-minute standing ovation after its premiere in Venice.
A playfully chaotic crime thriller with comedic undertones so bizarrely entertaining you laugh even as you flinch.
Dead Man's Wire 2025
A man determined to get one over on the silver spoon CEOs of corporate America, Dead Man's Wire arrives at a moment of rising anger at corporate excess — and feels all the more potent for it. Based on the true story of Indianapolis man Tony Kiritsis (a seething Bill Skarsgård) who, after defaulting on his mortgage, takes drastic measures to set things right. When he arrives at the offices of Meridian Mortgage Company to find top exec M.L. Hall (played with pomp and swagger by Al Pacino) away in Florida, he instead takes his son Richard (Dacre Montgomery) hostage, with a shotgun fixed to his neck via a "dead man's wire". His three demands? Immunity, five million bucks and an apology.
After communication with the local police breaks down, radio host Fred Temple (Colman Domingo) becomes the de facto hostage negotiator, whilst the whole affair plays out to the masses on live TV via aspiring reporter Linda Page (Industry star Myha’la). A precursor to today's everything-on-demand news culture, Gus Van Sant makes a triumphant return to the silver screen with a thriller as tense as it is timely.
– Matt Bloomfield