Enid Twins Now Hollywood Producers

"The Good Lie” starring Reese Witherspoon, opened Friday in select cities nationwide. Enid was lucky enough to be one of those cities and the movie is currently playing at Oakwood Mall.

Thad Luckinbill and Trent Luckinbill, twin brothers, are Enid natives and producers of a growing number of Hollywood films, including “The Good Lie.” Because of their association with the movie Enid was added to the opening schedule.

Reviews have been good for the movie which is about the human spirit and its triumph over tragedy. “The Good Lie,” directed by Philippe Falardeau, is a fictionalized account of South Sudanese children orphaned by a brutal civil war in the late 1980s, and forced to flee from certain death at the hands of the northern militia, some walking up to 1,000 miles over treacherous terrain to reach the safety of the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya.

More than a decade later, as young adults, many of these “Lost Boys” (and girls) of Sudan are given the opportunity to settle in America. This story focuses on the journey of three young men and a girl and their struggle to adapt to 21st-century American culture with all of its strange customs and high-tech trappings (such as telephones and light switches), under the guidance of a tough-minded but soft-hearted employment counselor, played by Witherspoon.

The movie has the potential to be a very big hit, and the production company Black Label Media, newly formed by the Luckinbill twins and Molly Smith — a producer whose resume already includes “P.S. I Love You,” “Something Borrowed” and “Beautiful Creatures” — financed “The Good Lie” and brought it to life.

Trent Luckinbill has a law degree from the University of Oklahoma and has an extensive legal and financial background in the private and public sectors at the Department of Treasury’s Office of Financial Stability, as a lawyer at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., and in private equity groups after that.

Thad Luckinbill has a business degree from the University of Oklahoma but after moving to California, he went to work for a producer and studied acting. He’s been a producer and actor for nearly 15 years, and is well known for his role as J.T. Hellstrom on the CBS soap opera “The Young and the Restless.”

"The Good Lie" came from Imagine Entertainment, which is operated by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, who are also producers on the film. Imagine Entertainment had the script, and the Luckinbill's were able to finance the film, and they creatively produced it.

Two-Time U.S. Olympian and American Flag Bearer, Lopez Lomong, came to Enid in September and spoke at the Gantz Center. Lomong is a former Lost Boy of Sudan, who has shown the embodiment of the American spirit and of the notion that faith, diligence, and perseverance can help you achieve dreams beyond your wildest imagination.