Jacob Elordi will play a real-life killer whose unusual demand drew national attention. The actor will play Gary Gilmore in the new adaptation of The Executioner’s Song.
According to Deadline, Scott Stuber’s United Artists has acquired the project’s rights. The film is based on Norman Mailer’s 1979 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, which follows Gilmore’s crimes, trial, and fight to be executed. Elordi will also produce alongside his manager Matt Vioral. Stuber, Nick Nesbitt and Sherry Marsh are also attached as producers.
Lawrence Schiller, who directed the 1982 television film and gathered interviews for Mailer’s book, will executive produce. The new adaptation revisits a case that attracted massive attention to capital punishment. Schiller’s involvement also connects the project to the earlier screen version.
Who was Gary Gilmore?
Gary Gilmore was convicted of killing two men, Max Jensen and Bennie Bushnell, in Utah in 1976. The murders happened in separate incidents at gas stations where both men worked. Gilmore had been paroled earlier that year after spending years in prison. Following his conviction, he refused to pursue appeals and insisted that the state carry out his death sentence.
His demand led to a series of legal battles, as courts issued stays to delay the execution. Even the U.S. Supreme Court intervened before allowing the sentence to proceed. On January 17, 1977, Utah executed Gilmore by firing squad. He became the first person executed in the United States after the Supreme Court allowed states to resume capital punishment in 1976.
The case became a national media sensation because Gilmore openly opposed efforts to keep him alive. His execution also brought renewed attention to the death penalty after a four-year pause in executions. Mailer’s book explored the murders, legal proceedings, and people affected by the case. It later won the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.
The 1982 television adaptation starred Tommy Lee Jones as Gilmore. Elordi recently earned major awards attention for playing the Creature in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein. His credits also include Euphoria, Saltburn and Priscilla. He is next set to appear opposite Scarlett Johansson in Ari Aster’s upcoming thriller Scapegoat.
Originally reported on ComingSoon.
