After nearly eight years away from feature filmmaking, Gus Van Sant made a triumphant return with the world premiere of his latest film, “Dead Man’s Wire”, at the AFI Film Festival in Hollywood on Saturday, October 25, at the TCL Chinese Theatre.
The historical true-crime drama revisits the infamous 1977 Tony Kiritsis hostage saga. Bill Skarsgård stars as Tony, a desperate man seeking restitution and a public apology from mortgage broker’s son Richard (Dacre Montgomery) after a business deal unravels. Convinced he’s been wronged, Tony kidnaps Richard, wiring a shotgun to the back of his head and demanding $5 million, immunity from prosecution, and a televised apology. The only person Tony trusts is his favorite radio DJ, Fred Temple (Colman Domingo), who becomes an unlikely voice of reason during the tense standoff.
Following the screening, Van Sant joined a Q&A moderated by Los Angeles Film Critics Association member Robert Abele, where the Oscar-nominated director reflected on the film’s origins and production. The project, he explained, came together by chance after a serendipitous meeting with producer Cassian Elwes at Soho House.
“At that moment, I was looking to do something right away,” Van Sant shared. “The screenplay was pretty much what you saw in the film, but it was an incident I had never heard of. The script had internet links that took you straight to YouTube clips of the actual events, including the original 9-1-1 call. As you’re reading, you can go directly to the real thing. It was fascinating.”
Van Sant described “Dead Man’s Wire” as thematically closest to his 1989 classic “Drugstore Cowboy”. “It’s the closest to “Drugstore Cowboy” than my other films,” he said. “The appeal is the underdog fighting his way.”
The film also reunited Van Sant with the Skarsgård family. He previously directed Bill’s father, Stellan Skarsgård, in “Good Will Hunting”. “I had seen Bill in “Boy Kills World”, “The Crow”, and “It”,” Van Sant recalled. “His dad was always up for anything we wanted to do, so I assumed Bill would be just as adventurous, which he was.”
Despite the film’s dark subject matter, “Dead Man’s Wire” finds surprising humor and humanity in Tony’s erratic yet oddly sympathetic behavior. “One of the things about the screenplay is that as soon as he took out the shotgun and wrapped the wire around his neck, you felt the tension the whole time,” Van Sant said. “Dacre and Bill are such skilled actors, and they were naturally finding all these turns in the material as we went.”
Van Sant also discussed the challenges of the film’s tight 20-day shoot, which included a single day with screen legend Al Pacino. “We had one day to work with Al, and he’s so experienced that it was very easy,” Van Sant said. “We had to do four scenes that day. The real problem-solving fell to the department heads. Costumes, Makeup… they were the ones really sweating, mostly because of money. It was a very low-budget shoot.”
The premiere audience responded enthusiastically to the film’s blend of tension, irony, and emotional depth. Skarsgård’s committed performance drew audible gasps during the film’s most volatile scenes, while moments of dark comedy earned bursts of laughter. When the credits rolled, Van Sant received a warm reception from festivalgoers and remarked on the film being another opportunity to evolve his cinematic language. “Every film for me is such a different opportunity to mix things we haven’t used before,” he reflected.
With “Dead Man’s Wire”, Van Sant reaffirms his command of character-driven storytelling, finding empathy, absurdity, and humanity in one of America’s most bizarre true crimes.