SHOT IN THE HEART stars Giovanni Ribisi (Gone in 60 Seconds, Saving Private Ryan, Friends) and Elias Koteas (The Thin Red Line), in the true story of two men torn apart by a brutal family legacy and brought together by an infamous execution, as the eyes of the world looked on.

Based on the acclaimed nonfiction book by Mikal Gilmore, SHOT IN THE HEART focuses on the campaign by convicted murderer, Gary Gilmore, for his own execution, and the attempts of his family to understand his decision.

In Autumn 1977, Mikal Gilmore (Giovanni Ribisi) and his older brother Frank, Jr. (Lee Tergesen) ride through the Salt Lake Valley in a Rolls-Royce driven by lawyer Richard Giaque (Terry Beaver). They are on their way to Utah's Draper Prison for a "one-time-only" visit with their brother Gary (Elias Koteas), a death-row inmate set to be executed. Convicted a year earlier of the vicious murders of two Mormon men, he has become the first man to be sentenced to death in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to reinstate capital punishment. Since he has refused all appeals to which he is entitled too, Gary has become the subject of enormous national attention. His request to die astonishes his ailing mother and confuses his brothers.

During the "one-time-only" visit, the brothers begin piecing together memories of their shared past - born of a brutal father, raised in a family haunted by death, religion and superstition. Mikal searches frantically for reasons to appeal against the execution but at the same time he must begin to understand his brother's wish to die and that perhaps the moment of atonement has arrived.

Featuring an outstanding cast, SHOT IN THE HEART is a fascinating yet harrowing insight into the mind of a cold-blooded killer and his fight to die.

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