Jacob Elordi has landed a killer role……

The 23-year-old Spanish-Australian actor and The Kissing Booth star will star opposite Zachary Quinto in the road-trip crime thriller He Went That Way, which Mister Smith Entertainment is launching ahead of the virtual Cannes market.

Set in 1964, the film is based on the strange but true crime story of celebrity animal trainer Dave Pitts and his famous TV chimp, Spanky, centerpiece of the traveling extravaganza The Ice Capades, and his fateful three-day encounter with the serial killer Larry Lee Ranes.

Quinto will portray Jim Goodwin, based on Pitts. Elordi will play serial killer Bobby Falls, based on Ranes.

The story is inspired by Conrad Hilberry’s book Luke Karamazov and the real-life account from Pitts, the sole survivor of Ranes’ killing spree. Commercials director Jeffrey Darling will make his feature debut from a script by Evan M. Wiener.

Zippy the chimp, based on Spanky, will be a fusion of a suited character actor and animatronics created by Legacy Effects, which has provided creature design and animatronics for movies including The Shape of Water, Avengers: Infinity War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Jurassic World.

“He Went That Way is a undoubtedly a journey of curious tensions and bonds between two and at times three interesting characters all on their own path,” Darling said. “A cinematic tale on the road across the U.S. in the early ’60s where people come with a rawness forged from the landscapes they inhabit. It is for our two leads Jacob and Zachary as well as myself, a great opportunity to explore with an improvised sensibility.”