Astrid Stawiarz/Getty ImagesRiley Keough is in the building.
Based on the throng of autograph seekers descending on her at Friday night's premiere of her new movie, Jack and Diane, at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival, the model-turned-actress doesn't need to rely on her rock 'n' roll heritage to make a name for herself in Hollywood: She's doing just fine on her own.
The daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and Danny Keough—which makes her Elvis Presley's granddaughter—talked to E! News about her ascendant big-screen career, her attraction to werewolves and a little something she's involved in called Mad Max: Fury Road.
In Jack and Diane, Riley plays the former, a tomboy who falls for a British teen on holiday in New York, and, as their sexual desire for each other awakens, both are plagued by supernatural visions of werewolves.
Twilight it's not. But it's the first real lead role the blonde beauty has sunk her teeth into, a challenge she more than embraced by physically transforming herself for the character.
"I like doing stuff that's not really like me in real life because it's more fun," the 22-year-old thesp tells E! News. "There was this fantasy element that was kind of cool. And when I initially read it, there was something cartoony, funny and quirky about it, but at the same time [the love story was] raw and real."
Asked if she has ever considered following her mom and granddad into the music biz, Riley says she's content to focus on her film career.
"It's never really been something I've been drawn to, but I played piano growing up. But not professionally. It's more something I enjoy," she tells us, adding by the way that her own musical tastes encompass pretty much everything but most recently she's been listening to rock and blues—artists like Van Morrison, Neil Young and Robert Johnson.
Keough is excited about a supporting part she landed in Steven Soderbergh's upcoming male stripper comedy, Magic Mike, starring Channing Tatum and her real-life rumored fiancé Alex Pettyfer. She called working with the Oscar-winning filmmaker an "amazing" experience.
But the project she's definitely looking forward to is George Miller's long-awaited Mad Max reboot, starring Tom Hardy in the Mel Gibson role and Charlize Theron, which is expected to start filming in Namibia within the next few months. Riley revealed she was cast in Fury Road but couldn't say much about the character she plays, other than she's female.
Based on the way her star is rising, we presume she'll kick butt.