Lucas Black, Cary Elwes join Epix pilot

Actor Cary Elwes is interviewed at an Academy Tribute to Mel Brooks at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California July 24, 2009.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Lucas Black and Cary Elwes will star opposite Sam Shepard in Epix's first pilot, "Tough Trade."

The show is a contemporary one-hour drama about the Tucker family, a Nashville music dynasty whose penchant for drink, debauchery and divorce has left it on the verge of bankruptcy.

Black will play an extremely talented guitarist and singer who could have followed the legacy of his grandfather (Shepard) and father (Elwes) but has no interest in pursuing a career in country music. Instead, he makes his money selling illegal ammunition around Nashville.

Epix is eyeing "Tough Trade," created by Chris Offutt, as the premium cable channel's first original series, aiming for a 2010 premiere.

Black starred in "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" and next appears in "Get Low." Elwes co-stars in "Disney's A Christmas Carol."