"Sucker Punch" beauty Emily Browning is attached to star opposite Luke Grimes in "The Shangri-La Suite," an indie movie in the vein of "Bonnie & Clyde" and "Natural Born Killers," TheWrap has learned.
Eddie O'Keefe will be making his feature directorial debut, having written the script with Chris Hutton. Tariq Merhab is producing with the "Little Miss Sunshine" team of Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa of Bona Fide Productions.
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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, who appears as a supporting character.
With Browning and Grimes onboard, the filmmakers have attached two rising young stars who could help them secure financing over other projects fighting for indie dollars.
O'Keefe and Hutton are best known for their highly-regarded screenplay "When the Street Lights Go On," which documentary filmmaker Brett Morgen is developing for Anonymous Content.
Browning, who's best known for playing Babydoll in Zack Snyder's "Sucker Punch," has done an impressive job of balancing studio movies with artful independent fare ever since starring in "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events." She starred in Julia Leigh's controversial sex drama "Sleeping Beauty" and had an important cameo in Andrew Niccol's adaptation of "The Host."
A quartet of upcoming films show off her range, including Catherine Hardwicke's thriller "Plush," Paul W.S. Anderson's action epic "Pompeii," Sebastian Silva's thriller "Magic Magic" and "God Help the Girl," a musical written and directed by Belle and Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch.
Browning is repped by UTA, manager Michael Aglion of Signpost, Australia-based Catherine Poulton Management and attorney Barry Tyerman.