The Revenant star Forrest Goodluck, Phillip Forest Lewitski, Carmen Moore, Joel D. Montgrand and William Belleau (Killers of the Flower Moon) have nabbed lead roles in Skins Game, the debut feature for cinematographer Jon B. Elliott now shooting in Vancouver and British Columbia.

The indie road trip drama centers on two young Indigenous men in a Vancouver jail: Jesse, a white-passing college student locked up after a drunken altercation and played by Lewitski, and Russell (Goodluck), a political activist and artist from New Mexico behind bars for painting a politically charged mural.

Despite vastly different upbringings, Jesse and Russell discover they are kindred spirits who on their release go on a cross-border road trip to New Mexico that has the duo grappling with personal demons and identities.

Goodluck played Hawk, the son of Leonardo DiCaprio’s Hugh Glass in The Revenant, while also starring in The Wolf Will Tear Your Immaculate Hands and How to Blow Up a Pipeline. Lewitski starred in Utopia Falls, Masters of the Air and the epic Bones of Crow series.

The ensemble cast includes Matthew Alan Taylor, Jen Oleksiuk (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow) and Taylor Kinequon. Photon Films will release Skins Game in Canada, while producer Jessie Anthony will shop the film to international buyers at TIFF: The Market in Toronto for Vandal Productions and Pass Through Productions.