(L to R) Al Pacino and director Gus Van Sant attend Row Okay’s ‘Useless Man’s Wire’ Los Angeles Premiere at The Grove AMC on January 7, 2026 in Los Angeles.
Opening in theaters on January sixteenth is the brand new crime thriller ‘Useless Man’s Wire’, which is predicated on a real story and directed by acclaimed filmmaker Gus Van Sant (‘My Personal Non-public Idaho’ and ‘Good Will Looking’).
“His revolution was televised.”
Launch Date: Jan 16, 2026
Run Time: 1 hr 45 min
The movie stars Invoice Skarsgård (‘Nosferatu’), Dacre Montgomery (‘Energy Rangers’), Cary Elwes (‘The Princess Bride’), Myha’la (‘Dumb Cash’), Colman Domingo (‘Sing Sing’), and Oscar winner Al Pacino (‘The Godfather’).
Moviefone lately had the pleasure of talking with iconic filmmaker Gus Van Sant about his work on ‘Useless Man’s Wire’, his first response to the bizarre screenplay, creating the precise look of the movie, casting Invoice Skarsgård, directing the legendary Al Pacino, and the significance of the music within the film.
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‘Useless Man’s Wire’ director Gus Van Sant.
Moviefone: To start with, I perceive that the script got here with hyperlinks to precise information footage from the true story that the film is predicated on. Are you able to discuss your first response to the screenplay and the way the actual footage helped you envision the way you needed to make this movie?
Gus Van Sant: Yeah, there have been precise hyperlinks to footage, which had been posted to YouTube. You might hear the actual Tony Kiritsis speaking to the police for the primary time when he was in the course of kidnapping his mortgage dealer in 1977. Then there was additionally the footage of them strolling throughout city with the lifeless man’s wire rig connected to his captive and the police following them, and the drive to his home within the police automotive that he commandeers. All this stuff have been peppered all through the script so you may get a really sturdy sense of the occasion, the calls for, and the ultimate Press convention that they’ve was additionally within the hyperlinks. I imply, it helped simply envision what you thought of the particular occasion. You realize, it was full, true footage of the particular occasion. So, from there, you had loads of info. It helped me visually as a result of it was set within the ‘70s and all of the little components of the visuals have been in a few of the footage that was a part of the script. You might see the actual folks, the actual police, the actual Indianapolis places, the actual automobiles that they have been driving and the actual residence exterior, not the inside of the residence. However that was the ambiance you may see. It simply affected all the pieces about bringing it to life for us in Louisville, Kentucky, which wasn’t Indianapolis (the place the true story passed off).
(L to R) Dacre Montgomery as Richard ‘Dick’ Corridor and Invoice Skarsgård as Tony Kiritsis in ‘Useless Man’s Wire’. Photograph: Row Okay Leisure.
MF: The movie itself appears to be like like a film that might have been launched within the Nineteen Seventies, on the time that the story takes place. Are you able to discuss the way you achieved that particular look?
GVS: It was all of the totally different departments working collectively. Our manufacturing designer, our costumer and whoever else was concerned within the look, the DP, his crew, the lighting personnel, they have been all queuing off pictures of the interval. In my case, I used to be I used to be glued to pictures by William Eggleston, who shot pictures in Memphis, Tennessee, which is close by. I imply, a part of that Midwest really feel and the colours inside that, and our DP, was within the film ‘Klute’. Visually, he thought it had lots to do with what we needed to be doing. The unique pictures that was within the documentaries had a greenish colour to it, which was fascinating, that we favored. We have been making an attempt to stay away from possibly issues we would seen that resemble the ‘70s, that are browns that I felt weren’t actually representing the ‘70s effectively, as a result of there was loads of colour again there. I imply, it simply all got here collectively, everybody collectively in unison, not likely realizing, since you’re at all times striving to have this incredible outcome and hopefully you get there, however we’re at all times working in the dead of night, type of.
Invoice Skarsgård as Tony Kiritsis in ‘Useless Man’s Wire’. Photograph: Row Okay Leisure.
MF: Are you able to discuss casting Invoice Skarsgård and what he dropped at the position of Tony Kiritsis?
GVS: Invoice was, to me, type of a person of a thousand faces. He had carried out roles that generally have been very comparable, like “The Crow’ or he was in ‘Boy Kills World’, which was presumably the same character, but fairly totally different. He made them fairly totally different. His efficiency in ‘It’ was a giant one. He confirmed me some issues that he had carried out in Europe that weren’t as excessive characters and extra like him being nearly himself, that I received to see, which I hadn’t seen. He appeared just like the man for a job like this. Like, nearly in, I need to say, a Peter Sellers manner. He may rework himself.
Al Pacino in ‘Useless Man’s Wire.’ Photograph: Row Okay Leisure.
MF: What was your expertise like directing the legendary Al Pacino? Had you ever met him earlier than working with him on this mission?
GVS: I hadn’t met him. I had seen him at a celebration, however I hadn’t ever met him and spoke to him earlier than. He had carried out a movie with Concord Korine, the place Concord was enjoying a personality in a smaller mission that Al was the lead in and he was working in a junk store, I believe. Our first assembly was actually on the cellphone speaking about the entire story and the half his character performed in it, and he had a need to make it just a little greater, which we tried to do. Austin (Kolodney) wrote some further stuff. We did do rehearsals with Al and Dacre and Invoice collectively for the cellphone calls. It was all fairly thrilling as a result of when Invoice’s in character he’s fairly loopy and wild. So, it affected Al. He realized, “Oh, we’re in the actual factor now.” Which he is in fact used to, however these guys may ship it. So, working with him was nice. I imply, it was quick. We had at some point to shoot all his scenes, however it was loads of enjoyable.
Colman Domingo in ‘Useless Man’s Wire.’ Photograph: Row Okay Leisure.
MF: Lastly, music performs an necessary position on this film, because it does in all of your movies. Are you able to discuss your musical decisions, and mixing particular songs from the interval with modern music?
GVS: The DJ idea was very fascinating as a result of I felt like I had listened to the radio within the ‘60s, not ‘70s, however it was a vital New York space expertise, the place the counterculture of the ‘60s was current within the DJs. So, they have been in your facet, and so they have been enjoying, now it is traditional rock, however on the time it was like prolonged rock and roll. So, you’d have songs that have been like 10 minutes lengthy with guitar solos and so forth. As a result of Colman Domingo was capable of play the half, there was a DJ that I actually favored on WNEW in New York named Rosko (William Roscoe Mercer). Yow will discover his reveals on YouTube as we speak. So, I despatched a few of these reveals to Colman and he was enjoying songs that have been backgrounds to poetry that he would learn over the songs. The poetry was largely in regards to the Vietnam Battle and about gladiators and the trials of that interval. They have been very emotional, very dramatic and really political. So, we used Colman’s character to have that vibe and have that concept, versus the fact of the actual DJ, who was extra of a newscaster. So, we type of took liberty with that character to present him colour, and to present the DJ extra of a voice in the entire thing, as a result of he does find yourself brokering the entire story.
(L to R) Dacre Montgomery and Invoice Skarsgard in ‘Useless Man’s Wire.’ Photograph: Row Okay Leisure.
What’s the plot of ‘Useless Man’s Wire’?
The movie is impressed by the 1977 Indianapolis hostage standoff involving Tony Kiritsis (Invoice Skarsgård) and facilities on the escalation of a public confrontation formed by negotiation, media consideration, and regulation enforcement response.
Who’s within the forged of ‘Useless Man’s Wire’?
- Invoice Skarsgård as Tony Kiritsis
- Dacre Montgomery as Richard Corridor
- Cary Elwes as Detective Michael Grable
- Myha’la as Linda Web page
- Colman Domingo as Fred Temple
- Al Pacino as M.L. Corridor
- John Robinson as John the Cameraman
- Kelly Lynch as Mabel Corridor
‘Useless Man’s Wire’ opens in theaters on January sixteenth. Photograph: Row Okay Leisure.