Indio Falconer Downey has landed his first lead movie role in Love In Vein. The indie drama puts him at the center of a production that is already setting principal photography for LA in March and April 2027.
Musician Indio is 33, and he will play Damien, the central character in De Los Santos’ adaptation of Ryan Leone’s novel Wasting Talent. For Downey, it is a clean move out of brief supporting parts and into the front of a film built around drugs, relationships, music and survival in LA’s underground landscape.
Will De Los Santos, Muse Productions
Will De Los Santos wrote and directed the film, which Muse Productions is making with ArtHouse Gooning. Jeffrey Gliwa is financing it through Blue Shark Pictures and serving as executive producer, while Chris Hanley is producing alongside Orson Oblowitz, Tricia van Klaveren and Ben D. Wallace.
Hanley’s involvement adds a small but useful piece of history here: he previously produced Two Girls and a Guy with Robert Downey Jr. That connection does not change the casting decision, but it places the project in the same orbit as earlier work that linked Hanley to the Downey family.
Ryan Leone and Robert Downey Jr.
De Los Santos said, “Ryan left behind a brutally honest novel about addiction, love and Los Angeles. Since his passing, making Love In Vein has taken on an even deeper meaning for me. I want to honor his voice and the rawness of the book without softening its edges.” The adaptation is built around Damien, so the casting gives the film a lead who is new to the role and still early in his film career.
The story lands with an extra layer because the film centers on addiction and self-destruction even though Robert Downey Jr. overcame his own addiction issues in the 1990s. Indio Downey is the eldest of Robert Downey Jr.’s three children, and his first lead part turns a family connection into a professional one without relying on cameo-sized work.
LA in March and April 2027
Hanley said, “I’m thrilled to be making another film with a Downey. I produced Two Girls and a Guy with Robert many years ago, and now getting to work with Indio on Love In Vein feels like a wonderful full-circle moment. Indio brings exactly the vulnerability and authenticity this role needs.”
For now, the practical takeaway is simple: the lead is set, the financing is in place, and the production is moving toward LA in March and April 2027 while the rest of the cast is still being assembled. That leaves the next casting wave as the part of the package most likely to tell readers how big the film’s ensemble will be.
