Gus Van Sant to Direct 2025 Thriller 'Dead Man's Wire'

Los Angeles, Oct 27 (PTI) — Acclaimed filmmaker Gus Van Sant, known for his influential work on films like "Good Will Hunting," is preparing for a return to the director's chair with his upcoming 2025 project, "Dead Man's Wire." Van Sant, who hasn’t directed a feature since the 2018 Joaquin Phoenix-starrer "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot," has a penchant for storytelling rooted in reality. "I think a lot of the films I’ve made, even unintentionally, have been based on real things...That’s a genre, I guess. I’ve always been drawn to what makes people do what they do," he shared with Variety.

His new venture, "Dead Man's Wire," scripted by Austin Kolodney, explores the harrowing 1970s real-life tale of Tony Kiritsis. The film draws inspiration from the 2018 documentary "Dead Man's Line" by Alan Berry and Mark Enochs, which delved into the dramatic incident where Kiritsis, seeking vengeance, rigged a gun to his mortgage broker, Richard Hall's head, for 63 intense hours.

Van Sant recounted his first impressions of the story: "When I read the script, there were links embedded in it—you could click them and hear the real 911 calls. Tony talked so fast, like Scorsese on a cocaine bender, cracking jokes and losing his temper. I thought, ‘This is an amazing character.’" The urgency of the project was palpable. "The story had this weird barnstormer energy... We were meeting in the Soho House, and the producer said, ‘We have to start shooting in Louisville in two months,'" he added.

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