Josh Duhamel (Shotgun Wedding) and Lukas Gage (Road House) have signed on to star in Full Throttle Mindset, a darkly comedic crime thriller from director Patrick Brice (Creep) and XYZ Films.

Based on an article in the St. Louis Riverfront Times by journalist Doyle Murphy, the film tells the wild true story of young burnout Blake Laubinger (Gage), who’s taken under the wing of a Midwestern tanning salon mogul named Todd Beckman (Duhamel). He soon learns his new mentor’s businesses are a front for a drug empire — one he’s now expected to partake in.

Written by Jake Disch, whose scripts The Adults in the Room and Gunfight made the Black List, the film is billed as a gonzo cautionary tale about deluded American dreams and dark mentors. John Baker (Luce, Frank & Lola) and book scout Robby O’Connor will produce alongside XYZ, which is handling world sales and co-representing domestic rights along with CAA Media Finance. The film is set to shoot later this year.

Best known for starring in the Transformers franchise and the recent rom-com Shotgun Wedding with Jennifer Lopez, Duhamel has more recently been seen starring in The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers for Disney+. He’ll next be seen in the Netflix series Ransom Canyon, as well as Allan Unger’s film London Calling.

Breaking out with roles on HBO’s Euphoria and The White Lotus, Gage has most recently been seen starring in Amazon MGM’s Road House remake and Season 5 of FX’s Fargo. Upcoming projects include Paramount’s Smile 2, out October 18, and New Line’s Companion.

The co-creator, alongside Mark Duplass, of Blumhouse’s Creep franchise, Brice has also directed titles like the Sundance sex comedy The Overnight, Sundance horror comedy Corporate Animals and There’s Someone Inside Your House, produced by 21 Laps and Atomic Monster, which spent its debut week as the #1 film on Netflix. Most recently, he announced The Creep Tapes, a series expanding the Creep franchise, to star Duplass.

Duhamel is repped by CAA, John Carrabino Management, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller; Gage by WME, 2AM, and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman; Brice by CAA, Grandview, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman; and Disch by Bellevue Productions and Behr Abramson Levy.