Bill Skarsgård will star in the crime thriller Dead Man’s Wire, which leapfrogs director Gus Van Sant’s planned collaboration with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
Gus Van Sant hasn’t directed a film in several years now, with the American filmmaker most recently having made several episodes of Feud: Capote Vs The Swans for the small screens.
A few months ago, we heard that the director of My Own Private Idaho and Good Will Hunting would be reuniting with the stars of the latter film, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, to make Killing Gawker, an adaptation of Ryan Holiday’s book, Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, And The Anatomy of Intrigue.
That project will chart the real-life tale of how billionaire libertarian Peter Thiel used Hulk Hogan as his proxy to sue gossip website Gawker out of existence after it released a sex tape of the legendary wrestler.
Because Damon is now officially signed up for Christopher Nolan’s secretive next project, however, Killing Gawker is said to be on the backburner for now, giving Van Sant the time to tackle another project.
That project is Dead Man’s Wire, which would once have reunited Nicolas Cage with Werner Herzog, his director on Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call – New Orleans. According to The InSneider however, it’s now reportedly a Gus Van Sant project, and the director has brought in Bill Skarsgård to star.
Here’s the synopsis:
‘Set in 1977, the project is based on a true story of Tony Kiritsis (Skarsgård) – a former real estate developer who put a dead man’s switch on himself and the mortgage banker he felt did him wrong. Kiritsis is demanding $5 million as well as a personal apology.'
As well as taking over from Cage in this project, Skarsgård is set to work alongside the actor in the planned sequel to the arms dealing drama, Lord Of War, which is reportedly in pre-production at the moment. Skarsgård’s offbeat energy as a leading man continues to land him some prominent roles (he’ll soon be appearing in Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu), and although his leading turn in this year’s unloved remake of The Crow was probably a misstep, he’s also appeared in Boy Kills World, Barbarian and gave a villainous turn in John Wick: Chapter 4.
Van Sant boasts a filmography that has often pushed in directions that others would fear to go. Elephant and Drugstore Cowboy remain critically-praised, so we’re keen to see how this collaboration pans out. We’ll bring you more as we hear it.
