I Was Well Into Dead Man's Wire Before I Realized Who Was Playing One Of The Main Characters

Gus Van Sant’s Dead Man's Wire is one of my early favorites on the 2026 movie schedule. The film tells the true story of Tony Kiritsis, a troubled man who, in February 1977, took his mortgage broker hostage in a situation that lasted 63 hours. Thankfully, no one was hurt or killed, but it makes for an incredibly tense movie, led by Bill Skarsgård, who plays Kiritsis. I got so engrossed in the story that I completely missed one of the biggest stars in the movie. Has this ever happened to you?

Wait A Minute, Isn’t Cary Elwes In This?

I was about halfway through the movie, and pretty much all of the characters had been introduced. The cast is fantastic, including Al Pacino, Colman Domingo, Kelly Lynch, Stranger Things’ Dacre Montgomery, and Industry’s Myha'la. It was about then that I thought to myself, “Didn’t I see Cary Elwes in the credits? How come he hasn’t shown up yet?” I then spent the next ten minutes of the movie looking for Elwes and trying to figure out how I missed him, or if I was crazy and he wasn’t even in the movie.

I’m a big fan of Elwes. Like every Gen Xer, The Princess Bride is a foundational movie for me. I must have watched the late Rob Reiner’s classic “storybook story” 100 times as a kid. Every line from Wesley/The Dread Pirate Roberts is burned into my brain. In high school, it was Days of Thunder, the Tony Scott-directed classic that I’ve also watched dozens of times. In college, The Chase, with Charlie Sheen and Kristy Swanson, became one of those bad movies that we loved to watch over and over.

The point is, I’ve watched Elwes on screen hundreds of times. How had I missed him??

It Turns Out, He Had Just Disappeared Into The Role

Elwes had been there almost the whole time. He had a thick, dark beard and a Midwest American accent, playing one of the cops trying to defuse the situation with Kiritsis. He’s one of the first detectives we’re introduced to, but it went completely over my head. I totally missed that it was Elwes. I mean that now in the best way possible, too.

Finally, once I settled on who I thought Elwes was playing, I still had to convince myself. I kept concentrating on the character, Detective Michael Grable, trying to figure out if I was right. I was, but it wasn’t until the credits rolled that I was sure. This is a testament to Elwes, who is so good in the movie, I didn’t recognize him! He, like all the actors in the film, save for maybe Pacino, is so deep into their character that the film has a raw realness to it. I wasn’t watching actors; I was watching the real people in this movie based on this true story.

January is always a bleak time at movie theaters, even if there is stuff to watch on streaming, so if you want something fun and interesting to see this weekend, check out Dead Man’s Wire. Maybe you’ll recognize Cary Elwes faster than I did.