Gus Van Sant & ‘Dead Man’s Wire’ Cast On The Film’s Misguided Heroism, Dark Comedy & Luigi Mangione Vibes – Venice Film Festival

Gus Van Sant unveils his latest feature, Dead Man’s Wire, out of competition at the Venice Film Festival this evening. The thriller/dark comedy is based on a true story about a former real estate developer who took the president of the Meridian Mortgage Company hostage in 1977 Indianapolis, armed with a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun — that itself was armed with a “dead man’s wire” — and demanding $5 million and a personal apology.

Bill Skarsgard stars as Tony Kiritsis, who went on to become something of an outlaw folk hero, and Dacre Montgomery plays the banker, Richard “Dick” Hall. The cast also includes Myha’la, Al Pacino, Cary Elwes and Colman Domingo. 

Van Sant this afternoon told the Venice press corps that he was intrigued by the project on one hand because of its Midwest locality but also because “the story was quite bizarre, and that was an attraction. The whole contraption that he had made in order to not not get killed was outrageous and a strange way to abduct somebody. And the whole idea that why he was abducting Richard Hall was misguided heroism.”

Queried about the sense of powerlessness and frustration among many people today and the film’s relevance despite its period setting, Van Sant remarked that “at the first juncture” it wasn’t part of the draw. However, he said, “The kinds of Luigi Mangione moments in our history happened right after we started. So, like halfway through prep, we realized, ‘Oh, there’s things happening,’ and the election happened as well. ‘Things are kind of dovetailing into our own project.’”

He added that the events did not affect the script or tone but said: “We just kept going, telling our story. It probably affected us as we made it, but we didn’t change anything.”

First-time feature screenwriter Austin Kolodney said he learned of the real-life story from YouTube footage of “Tony marching Richard down the streets of snowy Indianapolis, and I thought to myself, ‘How’s this not been made into a movie yet?’ The drama, the tension and also the dark comedy of crime that happened live on the airwaves in 1977 just felt rich for cinematic adaptation. The fact that it got in Gus Van Sant’s hands is a miracle.”

Montgomery explained that Van Sant had called him and told him he’d be playing a 56-year-old. The actor, who is 30, continued: “Everything is malleable, it’s an ever-evolving process, which was a big learning for me, because when I create a character I feel so definite and set in my ways and so rehearsed and so studied and so in my own bubble. The great thing about Gus is that he kind of forces you to think outside of that, and it becomes an ever moving, evolving thing — your character and the story throughout the shoot as inspiration strikes him.”

Domingo plays a local radio DJ who Kiritsis brings into the negotiations. The Oscar nominee told reporters: “I feel like it’s important for us to tell these stories, because I feel like these stories are so heightened, and it’s really about an everyman feeling like they have no resources or any agency in the world. … We need to tell stories like that again and again, because this is exactly what happened when people were pushed up against the wall. And so we can prevent things like this by really examining these people as human beings and not looking at something so extraordinary and outside of ourselves.”

Skarsgard, who is filming in Australia, was not present today, but Montgomery sang his praises, musing on why Skarsgard’s character is sympathetic to the audience. “We spent a month in a room together, connected by a piece of wire, and I haven’t honestly made a better friend in a cast mate ever. … He kind of humanized himself to me, which humanized Tony in a way at the same time. The movie read on paper more heavily as a drama thriller, to me at least, and it became an irreverent dark comedy in a way. Bill and I, Tony and Dick, are kind of a couple, and in parallel to shooting, Bill and I developed the same kind of weird relationship. … It bled into Tony and Dick’s relationship, and I think it humanized Tony as the little man who’s trying to confront capitalism and all of the topical things that we’re talking about as a movie.”

Myha’la also praised cast and crew, noting, “It felt kind of like guerrilla filmmaking. We were in the dead of winter in Kentucky. It was very cold. Everything was frozen all the time, so just physically speaking, it was hard on our bodies. And Bill and Dacre were out there for hours on end in below freezing temperatures, in Hawaiian shirts and whatever, and still making it work the way they did. It was impressive, shocking.”

Of Van Sant, she added: “I felt very much like I wanted to make him happy. He gives you that vibe like you just want to make him proud.”