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Based on an extraordinary true story, Dead Man's Wire takes place in Indianapolis in 1977, where struggling real-estate developer Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård) believes he has been cheated out of his livelihood by a powerful mortgage company. Driven to desperation, he enters the offices of Meridian Mortgage and takes company president Richard Hall (Dacre Montgomery) hostage, securing a sawed-off shotgun to him using a deadly wire mechanism designed to fire if either man attempts to escape.

With the police unable to intervene without risking Hall's life, Kiritsis turns the escalating stand-off into a very public battle against the financial establishment he blames for his situation. As negotiators desperately search for a peaceful resolution and the media circus surrounding the case grows, Kiritsis uses local radio to broadcast his grievances and demands to an increasingly captivated public.

Directed by Gus Van Sant, Dead Man's Wire transforms the remarkable real-life hostage crisis into a tense crime thriller exploring desperation, inequality, media spectacle and what happens when one man's belief that the system has failed him reaches breaking point.

Dead Man's Wire is released on DVD and Blu-ray 14th September 2026 from Vertigo Releasing.

Watch the trailer