Dead Man's Wire Drops Tense First Full Trailer
Row K Entertainment has unveiled the first full trailer for Dead Man’s Wire, Gus Van Sant’s historical crime drama based on the 1977 Tony Kiritsis hostage case, ahead of an early 2026 theatrical rollout and his first feature since 2018’s Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot.
The film’s plot revisits the morning of February 8, 1977, when Indianapolis businessman Anthony “Tony” Kiritsis marched mortgage executive Richard Hall through the city with a sawed-off shotgun wired to the back of Hall’s head. Kiritsis claimed the bank had cheated him out of land and demanded five million dollars, freedom from prosecution, and a public apology, turning the standoff into a rolling media event that dominated television and radio coverage.
The new trailer for the film certainly takes the time to explore that mix of true-crime tension and media spectacle. Bill Skarsgård’s Kiritsis is shown storming Hall’s office, rigging the “dead man’s wire” to his hostage, and pushing him through lobbies and streets as police and live news crews descend. Clips cut between the chaos on the ground and broadcasters framing the crisis in real time, underscoring how quickly a local dispute over debt becomes a national story.
Here, Skarsgård leads an ensemble that also includes Dacre Montgomery as Richard Hall, Colman Domingo as a radio host who gives Kiritsis a platform, Myha’la as a driven TV reporter, Cary Elwes as detective Michael Grable, and Al Pacino as banking patriarch M. L. Hall.
Dead Man’s Wire first premiered out of competition at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on September 2, 2025, before screening at Toronto and other fall festivals, where early reviews singled out Skarsgård’s performance and Van Sant’s blend of black humor and procedural detail. As of now, Row K has officially set a limited North American theatrical release for January 9, 2026, with a wider expansion planned for January 16.
The official trailer is now streaming on Row K’s channels and major trailer platforms (or below), giving audiences their first extended look at Van Sant’s return to feature filmmaking and at a hostage story that feels as much about media and money as it does about the crime itself.
