Vanessa Hudgens may have inched away from her tween past with this year’s Sucker Punch, but the actress is in negotiations to take it a step further in a new indie drama. From writer/ director Ron Krauss, the film is entitled Gimme Shelter, and it follows the former High School Musical star as she runs away from home after getting knocked-up. Her overbearing mother can’t give her the support she needs; so, she tracks down her biological father who’s only willing to help her if she gets an abortion. He was young and stupid when he fathered her, and he doesn’t want to see her make the same mistake.

The dad will be played by Brendan Fraser, who’s had a relatively poor string of recent films including the awful Furry Vengeance, but maybe a straight up drama is exactly what he needs to right the ship. Plus, it sounds like he’ll be playing a villain, or at least a pseudo-villain, which will be a departure from the affable leads he normally portrays.

I applaud both Vanessa Hudgens and Brendan Fraser for taking steps to get out of their comfort zones, but it’ll be all for naught if Ron Krauss’ film is high on melodrama and low on intrigue. Gimme Shelter could easily turn into an ABC Family Original. Let’s hope the final product is closer to Juno than Secret Life Of The American Teenager.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gimme Shelter should begin principal photography in less than a month, provided Hudgens signs on as expected. That would put the release date sometime into 2012.