By BILLY JOE JESSUP
Riley Keough.
I always thought that was the name of an American alt-country band like Son Volt, above, or Uncle Tupelo until I saw the premiere of the HBO film “Paterno” on April 7.
The film is about the downfall of beloved Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, played by Al Pacino, and the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.
I learned from the credits that Riley Keough is the 28-year-old actress who plays Sara Ganim, the then-Harrisburg (Pa.) Patriot-News rookie reporter who broke the Sandusky story in 2011 and led the Patriot-News staff to a Pulitzer Prize in 2012 for their coverage of the case.
Then I went to Google to find out that Riley Keough is the granddaughter of Elvis Presley, the daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and musician Danny Keough and the stepdaughter of Michael Jackson. Wow! That’s a Two Kings connection and King Elvis comes to HBO this weekend in the two-part doc “The Searcher.”
Riley Keough made her screen debut in 2010 and her other work includes her Golden Globe-nominated role in “The Girlfriend Experience” TV series in 2016.
The crime thriller “Under the Silver Lake,” the thriller “Hold the Dark” and the Lars von Trier psychological horror-thriller “The House That Jack Built” are among her next films, and if she ever tires of acting, perhaps she would pursue a passion associated with The Presley Empire.
“Music is my favorite thing in the world” she says on IMBD. “I grew up completely around it and I think it’s one of the most important things to me, but at this point I can’t see myself doing that professionally. Luckily, for the most part, I don’t feel pressured.”
No pressure here. I can see the future now: The Riley Keough Band.
