"True Blood" star Luke Grimes is in talks to check into "The Shangri-La Suite," an indie movie from the producers of "Little Miss Sunshine" that will mark the feature directorial debut of screenwriter Eddie O'Keefe.
Described as being in the vein of "Bonnie & Clyde" and "Natural Born Killers," the story follows two young lovers who break out of a mental hospital in 1974 and set out on a road trip to Los Angeles to fulfill the boy's lifelong dream of killing his idol Elvis Presley.
The King will appear as a supporting character whose partying days have taken their toll on his appearance and more importantly, his performances.
The screenplay earned a positive review from ScriptShadow, who was impressed by the central love story and the writers' ability to create sympathy for a pair of killers.
O'Keefe will direct from a script he co-wrote with Chris Hutton. Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa are producing through their Bona Fide Productions banner, which recently produced Alexander Payne's "Nebraska" and Fredrik Bond's "The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman." They're currently producing the John Hawkes movie "Low Down" as they search for the female lead in "Shangri-La Suite."
O'Keefe and Hutton are best known for writing "When the Street Lights Go On," which placed third on the 2011 Black List of Hollywood's best unproduced screenplays. Anonymous Content is developing that movie, which has documentary filmmaker Brett Morgen ("The Kid Stays in the Picture") attached to direct. Their script "The Final Broadcast" was voted to the 2012 Black List.
Grimes joins HBO's "True Blood" as a vampire for Season 6. He also played Ryan Lafferty on ABC's "Brothers & Sisters," and will soon be seen (at long last!) in Jonathan Levine's 2006 directorial debut "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane," which Radius-TWC will finally release this summer. His past feature credits include Cam Archer's "Shit Year" and a brief role in the hit action movie "Taken 2."
Grimes also has a handful of indie movies awaiting release including "The Wait" with Jena Malone and Chloe Sevigny, "Squatters" with Richard Dreyfuss and Thomas Dekker, "Forever" with Deborah Ann Woll and "Manhattan Undying" with Sarah Roemer.
Grimes is repped by CAA, Global Creative and Bloom, Hergott. O'Keefe and Hutton are repped by WME and Tariq Merhab Management.
