‘Duke City’ movie script gets option

“Duke City,” a dark drama about an undercover drug agent, Eddie “Duke” Montaño, came from an idea by local actor Steven Michael Quezada.

Quezada, who plays DEA agent Steve Gomez on the hit TV series “Breaking Bad,” is currently slated to play the lead in the movie and series, which finds an undercover cop suddenly anointed leader of a street gang he was sent to infiltrate.

Veteran actors Dean Norris, who plays Quezada’s partner, Hank Schrader, on “Breaking Bad,” and Wes Studi — from “Geronimo: An American Legend” — have signed letters

of intent to appear in the proposed series.

“I came to Tony and Mike with the kernel of an idea last fall,” Quezada said. “Now we have a movie, a TV pilot and a whole cast of great characters.”

Quezada said some other big name actors are interested in the movie, but could not reveal their names yet.

The movie is set in Albuquerque, and location scouting is already under way.

Last month, the RGMG optioned the rights to another feature written by DellaFlora and Gallagher, “Dead By Thursday.”

It tells the tale of two ex-drug smugglers who emerge from hiding to save the grandson of a former partner in crime, a Mennonite patriarch. The script calls for filming in several locations around the state, including Albuquerque, Deming, Las Cruces and Grants.

“Mike and I are really jazzed to have two projects in the pipeline now,” DellaFlora said. “We’re going to do everything we can to help Rio Grande Media get these off the ground and establish a company that can develop, finance and produce movies from New Mexico for a long time to come.”