We were joined on the Popternative show by Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things, Power Rangers) and Cary Elwes (Saw, The Princess Bride) who star in the new crime thriller, Dead Man’s Wire which had its wide theatrical release on January 16.
Based on a true story, Dead Man’s Wire chronicles the true story of the 1977 Indianapolis hostage crisis when the kidnapping of a prominent banker grips the nation and turns the abductor into an outlaw folk hero. As the media frenzy peaks, the standoff becomes a spectacle of desperation, defiance and blurred justice.
Directed by Gus Van Sant (Milk, My Own Private Idaho), the film also stars Bill Skarsgård (IT: Welcome to Derry, Nosferatu), Myha’la (Industry, Bodies Bodies Bodies), Colman Domingo (The Running Man, Sing Sing), and Al Pacino (House of Gucci, The Godfather).
Elwes, who plays Detective Michael Grable, discusses director Van Sant’s careful craft in creating an authentic 1970s atmosphere, as well as how the film portrays the intense media circus around the real hostage situation at the time, which quickly turned into a national sensation that disrupted major television broadcasts.
Montgomery, who plays Richard Hall, the hostage held with a shotgun attached to a wire, notes that the film’s themes are as relevant today as they were almost 50 years ago. He also recalls how the screenwriter embedded hyperlinks in the script that led to real footage of the hostage crisis, an approach Montgomery found extremely immersive.
Watch the full conversations with Dacre Montgomery and Cary Elwes below.
Dead Man’s Wire is playing in theaters.
_