The Wild True Story Behind Dead Man’s Wire

Dead Man’s Wire, out in theaters Jan. 9, is inspired by a real-life hostage crisis that took place in Indianapolis in 1977, when a businessman was held captive for three days and paraded by his captor through the streets with a wire around his neck attached to a shotgun.

Tony Kiritsis, portrayed in the film by Bill Skarsgård, kidnapped Richard Hall (Dacre Montgomery), an executive at Meridian Mortgage Co., a company that had loaned Kiritsis money three years prior to buy land and set up a shopping center.