Gus Van Sant is officially back to cinema. His “Dead Man’s Wire,” starring Bill Skarsgård, has started production in Louisville, Kentucky. Colman Domingo was recently added to the cast.
The InSneider is now reporting that Al Pacino is now part of the ensemble which already included Skarsgård, Domingo, Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things), Myha’la (Industry), and John Robinson.
These last two decades, things have been a little shaky for Pacino, 84 — he’s had to resort to paycheck roles; who even remembers “Son of No One,” “Stand Up Guys,” “The Humbling,” “Misconduct,” “The Pirates of Somalia” “American Traitor” and “Hangman”? It’s good to see him teaming up with Van Sant — a great director.
Pacino’s best performance of the last 15 years has got to be his incredible turn as Jimmy Hoffa in Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman.” He nearly stole the show from De Niro in that film. An honorable mention must also go out to his outrageously entertaining turn as Aldo Gucci in Ridley Scott’s muddled “The House of Gucci.”
“Dead Man’s Wire” is a true crime thriller that was originally supposed to star Nicolas Cage, and be directed by Werner Herzog. The story is set in 1977, and tackles 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, demanding $5M as well as a personal apology.
This is set to be Van Sant’s first film project in over six years. In the ‘90s and ‘'00s, there weren’t many filmmakers as acclaimed as Van Sant. The Portland-based director won the Palme d’Or in 2003 with “Elephant” and has helmed other notable films such as “My Own Private Idaho,” “Drugstore Cowboy,” “To Die For,” “Good Will Hunting,” and “Milk.”
Ever since 2008’s “Milk,” Van Sant has been in a creative slump; 2011’s “Restless” was a strangely schmaltzy departure, 2013’s “The Promised Land” didn’t hit the mark, 2015’s “Sea of Trees” got panned and booed at Cannes, and I wasn’t at all taken by his Joaquin Phoenix-starring “Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far on Foot.”
Van Sant has since dabbled in TV directing with this year’s “Feud: Capote vs The Swans” — helming six of the eight episodes. It was well-received by critics.