Al Pacino Joining Gus Van Sant Hostage Thriller ‘Dead Man’s Wire’

EXCLUSIVE: Academy Award Winner Al Pacino is set to join the upcoming hostage thriller Dead Man’s Wire, to be directed by Academy Award nominee Gus Van Sant.

The screenplay was written by Austin Kolodney. He joins previously announced Bill Skarsgard, Dacre Montgomery, Myha’la, Cary Elwes and Colman Domingo — all of whom Deadline first told you about.

Here’s the blurb for Dead Man’s Wire: The morning of February 8, 1977, Anthony G. “Tony” Kiritsis, 44, entered the office of Richard O. Hall, president of the Meridian Mortgage Company, and took him hostage with a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun wired with a “dead man’s wire” from the trigger to Tony’s own neck. This is the true story of the stand-off that took the world by storm as Tony demanded $5 million, no charges or prosecution, and a personal apology from the Halls for cheating him out of what he was “owed.”

Pacino most recently starred in Knox Goes Away. This is his first film with Van Sant. The Scent of a Woman Best Actor Oscar winner can next be seen in David Midell’s The Ritual, Eif Rivera’s Killing Castro, Julian Schnabel’s Hand of Dante, Alec Griffin Roth’s Billy Knight, and Nic Pizzolatto’s Easy Waltz

In addition to the latest casting, Sipur Studios, Yo Productions and Wrong Turn Productions have joined as additional financiers on the movie.

Pacino is repped by CAA and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller, Gellman Meigs & Fox