Gus Van Sant set to direct “Dead Man’s Wire” starring Bill Skarsgard & Dacre Montgomery.

Gus Van Sant has finally decided to get back in the director’s chair and helm a film. Bill Skarsgard (“It”, “Nosferatu”) and Dacre Montgomery (“Stranger Things”) are set to star in “Dead Man’s Wire”, a hostage-thriller to mark the next film from Oscar nominee Van Sant. (via The InSneider). The script is by Austin Kolodney. WME is handling worldwide rights.

This is the same project that was originally set to be directed by Werner Herzog and was supposed to star Nicolas Cage.

“Dead Man’s Wire” is based on a true story, set in 1977, the story tackles Tony Kiritsis (Skarsgard), a former real estate developer who put a dead man’s switch on himself and the mortgage banker he felt did him wrong, demanding $5 million as well as a personal apology.

This is set to be Van Sant’s first film project in over six years. The much-acclaimed director won the Palme d’Or in 2003 for “Elephant” and has helmed other notable films such as “My Own Private Idaho”, “Goodwill Hunting” and “Milk”. Production on “Dead Man’s Wire” is set to begin in early 2025, Elevated Films and Balcony 9 Productions are backing the project.

Since 2008, Van Sant hit a creative slump, his 2015’s “Sea Of Trees” got panned and booed at Cannes, and critics weren’t much impressed with his other works at the time. 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 the critics.

Van Sant had another project in development with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck — “Killing Gawker”, in spring, but production has now been pushed back since Damon will be busy during the first half of 2025 filming Christopher Nolan’s next film.