Gus Van Sant had never heard the full account of Tony Kiritis. But when he did, he knew it could make a great feature film.
The director’s new project, “Dead Man’s Wire,” opens Jan. 16 in Atlanta and tells the story how in 1977, Kiritis took Meridian Mortgage Company President Richard Hall hostage for almost three days, wiring a shotgun to his captive’s neck and marching him through downtown Indianapolis.
Two things prompted Van Sant to want to direct the film. The producers were planning on shooting the film in his hometown of Louisville, KY. (some of the local crew members ended up knowing his relatives). Also, production was slated to begin right away.
“I was restless enough that I thought going to Kentucky right away was a good thing,” Van Sant said.
When he read the script, he decided that the film was worth pursuing.
“The story was kind of amazing,” he said. “Then I thought — who could play the characters? I took a few days to think about who could and settled on Dacre Montgomery [as Richard] and Bill Skarsgård [as Tony]. They said yes, and all of a sudden we were doing it.”
Although Van Sant was alive when Kiritis took Hall captive, he was working in Los Angeles as a struggling filmmaker’s assistant, and didn’t read the newspaper on the day of the kidnapping. But, plenty of footage and articles were available for research.
“There was a lot of information you could get via [those], or podcast-types of pieces. There was also a full documentary about it [made by ‘Dead Man’s Wire’ historical consultants Mark Enochs and Alan Berry]. The script [by Austin Kolodney] had been researched in the same fashion using the local Indianapolis library,” Van Sant said. “In Dacre’s case, he found a book that Richard Hall had written that he found very illuminating. But aside from that, it was our imaginations.”
Before the kidnapping, Kiritsis was behind on mortgage payments, and Hall refused to give him an extension. While it’s not touched upon in the film, Kiritsis had previously kidnapped his niece due to a dispute with his brother over money.
“Maybe it settled the argument – I am not sure if it worked or not, but this idea of kidnapping, he had performed this before,” Van Sant said. “He was probably a personable person who did not realize he could go so far. Maybe he had a side of his personality that if he got mad enough he would do something.”
The film’s deep ensemble also includes Colman Domingo, Al Pacino, and Myha’la. Van Sant didn’t know Montgomery and Skarsgård very well before the project began, casting them based on films they had made previously. But Domingo and Pacino were well-known by his producer.
“My producer was working with Colman on a film about Nat King Cole. The film came up, and Colman asked if there was a role he could play,” Van Sant said. “A producer knew someone who knew Al Pacino and that he was up for playing small roles in films.”
“Dead Man’s Wire” was shot in just 19 days. Prior to the film, Van Sant was one of the directors on the television show “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans,” where the crew would shoot one hour of material in roughly eight days.
“I had done a few films such as ‘Gerry,’ ‘Elephant,’ and ‘Last Days’ that were all about 15 days,” Van Sant said. “I had worked in that time limit before, and I found you can do it. It wasn’t impossible.”
Van Sant is best known for Oscar-nominated films such as “Good Will Hunting” and “Milk.” The out director has also done smaller projects such as “My Own Private Idaho,” “Drugstore Cowboy,” and “To Die For” over a 40-plus year career. “Dead Man’s Wire” is the first feature film he has made since 2018’s “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot.”
