Gus Van Sant and Jon Hamm made films about the same 1977 hostage crisis
Gus Van Sant and Jon Hamm each made a film about the same 1977 hostage story.
Two projects released in the same year tell the story of Tony Kiritsis, an American man who kidnapped a mortgage broker's son in 1977 in a dispute over a loan. Dead Man's Wire is a film by Gus Van Sant featuring Bill Skarsgard as Kiritsis.
American Hostage is a television series with Jon Hamm in the same role. The two projects show the same scene down to the chartreuse-coloured shirt.
Kiritsis enters an office and pulls out a shotgun rigged with wire around the hostage's neck. He drives him to his apartment.
The 63-hour standoff made Kiritsis famous. He wanted to expose what the lender did wrong.
Kiritsis believed the Meridien Mortgage Company had cheated him into a $130,000 loan he couldn't afford. Then it damaged his shopping centre project to force a default.
- 63 hours
- Hostage duration
- $130,000
- Loan amount disputed
- February 8, 1977
- Kidnapping date
- Dead Man's Wire and American Hostage
- Two film projects
Why it mattersIt is unusual for two major studios to adapt the same true crime story at the same time. This raises questions about how stories move through Hollywood and what draws filmmakers to the same moments.
AustraliaNo direct Australian effect yet, though Australian cinemagoers may see both projects release locally in coming months depending on distribution deals.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 1 d ago
