Jeff Darling: Last News

He Went That Way, an upcoming crime drama about an animal handler who’s touring the country in the 1960s with a beloved chimpanzee “actor” when the pair suddenly becomes entangled with an enigmatic serial killer.But the thing is: Nobody made this one up! He Went That Way is inspired by a stranger-than-fiction true story!Back in 1964, real-life celebrity animal trainer Dave Pitts was traveling across America with Spanky, a famous “TV chimp” who was the main act of the touring entertainment show, the Ice Capades.At some point on their tour, Pitts and Spanky came into contact with a young hitchhiker who was later discovered to be Larry Lee Ranes, a convicted serial killer in the middle of a senseless murder spree. Pitts is recognized as the sole survivor.From Penn Badgley to Zac Efron, these gorgeous actors are now, unfortunately, haunting our nightmares and our daydreams.He Went That Way is based both on Pitts’ first-hand account of his run-in with Ranes, as well as Conrad Hilberry’s 2016 novel, Luke Karamazov, a lightly fictionalized take on Ranes’ killing spree (in addition to his young brother Danny’s murders a few years later—but that’s another story for another time).As if that plot weren’t intriguing enough, the film boasts two star who have us here at Queerty extra excited: Zachary Qunito—one of our most prominent gay leading men—will play animal handler Jim Goodwin, heavily based on Dave Pitts.