Netflix thriller Dead Man's Wire has a twist: It's all true

Dead Man's Wire, now streaming on Netflix, dramatizes a 1977 Indianapolis hostage incident in which Tony Kiritsis (played by Bill Skarsgård) abducted mortgage broker Richard Hall (Dacre Montgomery) and looped a short wire attached to a shotgun around his neck so a sudden move would be fatal.

Gus Van Sant frames the episode as a tidy, purposeful thriller with an unhinged protagonist, a cool radio DJ, and an anti-capitalist undercurrent. Over the end credits he cuts to TV footage of the real Kiritsis marching the real Hall down the street with the shotgun pressed to his neck, a moment that mirrors the film exactly.

Van Sant’s patient, observational style evokes the 1970s without aping period film stock, and the production—shot in just 19 days—lands its costumes, needle drops, and the laconic narration of DJ Fred Temple (Colman Domingo). Bill Skarsgård’s performance turns Kiritsis into a nervy, explosive figure who mixes humor and gallantry while demanding an apology from M.L.

netflix, dead man's, tony kiritsis, richard hall, bill skarsgård, dacre montgomery, colman domingo, van sant, indianapolis, 1977