EXCLUSIVE: Giovanni Ribisi (Avatar, Sneaky Pete) has been tapped as the co-lead opposite Jon Hamm in MGM+‘s anthology series American Hostage, co-created and executive produced by Shawn Ryan and Eileen Myers.
Set in the 1970s, the eight-episode first installment is a psychological thriller based on the first season of the scripted podcast of the same name with Hamm reprising the role he voiced on the podcast. It tells the true story of Fred Heckman (Hamm), an Indianapolis radio reporter who is thrust into the middle of a life-or-death crisis when hostage-taker Tony Kiritsis (Ribisi) demands to be interviewed on his popular program.
Unpredictable, temperamental, charming, Tony’s honesty is disarming. He’s an unmarried, failed everyman at the end of his rope after his mortgage lender plans to foreclose on his property. Tony takes the head of the mortgage company, Dick Hall, hostage via a shotgun rigged to shoot Dick in the head if Tony is jostled or pulled. Tony informs the cops of his plan, but what he really wants is to tell his story, live, to the one person he trusts to hear him out, beloved radio news anchor Fred Heckman (Hamm) on local WIBC radio. As the public begins to hear the oddly charismatic Tony’s side of the story, he begins to become a folk hero, despite his criminal actions, but are there skeletons in his closet that paint a darker picture?
In addition to Hamm, Ribisi joins previously cast series regulars William Jackson Harper and Mireille Enos.
Hamm executive produces alongside Ryan, Myers, Connie Tavel, Sharon Hoffman and Ryan’s MiddKid Productions partner, Marney Hochman. Shawn Christensen and Gabriel Mason of Criminal Content, the company behind the American Hostage podcast, also serve as executive producers. Sony Pictures Television is the studio. Filming is slated to start in Winnipeg, Canada this fall.
Ribisi’s first feature film as producer and cinematographer, Strange Darling, directed by J.T. Mollner and starring Willa Fitzgerald & Kyle Gallner, premiered at Fantastic Fest in 2023. Known for the Avatar movie franchise, Ribisi is reprising his role as Parker Selfridge in the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash. He was recently seen in Kevin Costner’s Horizon Chapter 1 and 2. In TV, the Sneaky Pete star’s recent credits include Waco: The Aftermath and the upcoming The Greatest. Ribisi is repped by CAA, Linden Entertainment, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.
