Dead Man’s Wire (WRIF Preview Screening @ the Hop)

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Bill Skarsgård, Colman Domingo and Al Pacino star in Gus Van Sant’s kidnap thriller based on the true story of an infamous 1977 ransom over a business deal gone bad.

Oscar nominee Gus Van Sant (Milk, Good Will Hunting) has used cinema as a means of mirroring American life in all its extremes and complexities. Graced with captivating performances from Bill Skarsgård, Colman Domingo, Cary Elwes and Al Pacino, Van Sant’s latest taps into the culture’s hunger for outlaw folk heroes who seek to wrest control from the privileged elite.

It is February 1977. Having fallen behind on his mortgage and, as a result, lost the commercial property he’d dreamed of developing, aspiring Indianapolis entrepreneur Tony Kiritsis (Skarsgård) kidnaps Meridian Mortgage Company president Richard Hall (Dacre Montgomery, Stranger Things). His ransom demands include the $5 million he believes Meridian deliberately cheated him of and a heartfelt apology from the company’s founder (Pacino)—who is enjoying a luxury vacation in Florida, a fact that only stokes Tony’s ire.

The feature screenwriting debut of Austin Kolodney (Funny Or Die), Dead Man’s Wire resonates powerfully with present-day class resentments. It’s also darkly funny, wildly entertaining, and rife with appealing supporting characters, especially Domingo’s beloved local disc jockey, whom Tony manages to rope into the negotiations.

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