Robert Downey Jr.’s son Indio lands his first lead role in indie drama Love in Vein
Robert Downey Jr.’s son Indio is taking centre stage, leading an indie adaptation about addiction, complicated relationships and LA’s fringes — and there’s a twist you’ll want details on.
Here's one for those who always wonder what the offspring of Hollywood royalty are plotting next: Indio Downey – yes, Robert Downey Jr.'s lad – is about to step straight into the spotlight, but not with some slick studio franchise. He's taking on his first leading film role in a proper down-and-dirty indie, Love In Vein, adapted from Ryan Leone's very gritty novel, Wasting Talent.
Love In Vein will start filming in Los Angeles in March and April 2027.
Downey, Grit, and a Bit of Hollywood Kismet
Indio's thirty-three now and, after years bouncing between music and the odd supporting credit (including a blink-and-you'll-miss-it part in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with his dad back when he was nine), he's finally got a proper crack at leading the charge. The film's being handled by Will De Los Santos (he did Spun – if you know, you know) as both screenwriter and director. Production is a joint between Muse Productions and ArtHouse Gooning, with the legendary Chris Hanley producing alongside Orson Oblowitz, Tricia van Klaveren, and Ben D. Wallace for good measure.
This one won't be pulling any punches. Indio takes the lead as Damien, a bloke lost in LA's shadowy margins, going the rounds with addiction, music, messed-up relationships, all that very not-Hollywood life. It's all pulled from Leone's book, which was never shy about rolling about in chaos. Bret Easton Ellis, never one for subtlety himself, gave the novel props for being a "Tarantino-esque journey into so-cal madness," and it sounds like the film wants to keep every raw detail intact – not just another cleaned-up morality play, thankfully.
Why the Project Actually Matters
The film means quite a bit for everyone involved. For Will De Los Santos, it doubles as a kind of tribute: Leone, the late author, died before any adaptation could hit screens, and De Los Santos has gone on record about how the loss sharpened his own focus. In his words:
“I want to honor his voice and the rawness of the book without softening its edges,” he said.
Chris Hanley gets his full-circle moment, too – he made Two Girls and a Guy with Robert Downey Jr., and now he's back with the next Downey, who, apparently, brings exactly the sort of honesty and vulnerability Leone's story needs. No pressure there, then.
And for Those Who Must Know the Numbers
- Filming kicks off: March–April 2027 in Los Angeles
- Blue Shark Pictures, fronted by financier Jeffrey Gliwa, is bankrolling. Gliwa will also exec produce.
- Indio Downey isn't just acting – he dropped a solo EP, Cigarettes in Bed, last year. Prolific, if nothing else.