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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. Kiritsis claimed that Meridian steered retailers away from the property, forcing him to default on the loan.
Facing foreclosure, he took Hall hostage on Feb. 8, 1977, as revenge, tying a wire around his neck attached to a shotgun that could go off if Hall made a sudden movement—hence the movie’s title Dead Man’s Wire. The movie traces Hall’s kidnapping and the aftermath and how Kiritsis captivated Indianapolis over the three days as he marched Hall to the Indiana Statehouse and then hijacked a police car to drive Hall to his apartment, which he claimed was filled with explosives.
He would only talk to local radio personality Fred Heckman of WIBC, played by Colman Domingo, readily airing his grievances about Meridian on air. After calling a press conference to vent some more, Kiritsis released Hall on Feb. 10 after 63 hours in captivity. He spent the next decade in psychiatric care.
Here’s what we know about the real Kiritsis and his crime.
44 years of anger
An Army veteran who served during the Korean War, he held several jobs, including as a lathe operator, trailer court manager, and car salesman. He never married, never even had a pet, because he didn’t want to be attached to anything, his brother James told the Associated Press.
Kiritsis grew up the fourth of five children in a Greek Orthodox family and spoke only Greek until elementary school, the AP reported in 1977. His childhood friend Bob Grey recalled to the Star the good times they spent…
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