Gossip Girl star to play SA killer

Los Angeles - Chace Crawford is set to star as a South African man who is accused of shooting and killing his housemate in a new independent film, The House Gun, reports The Los Angeles Times.

Pierce Brosnan is attached to play his father.

The movie is based on the acclaimed 1998 novel of the same name by SA Nobel Prize-winner Nadine Gordimer.

The House Gun is set in the early years of post-apartheid South Africa and tells the story of Harald Lingard (Brosnan), a liberal, wealthy South African who hires a black lawyer to defend his son Duncan (Crawford) when he is accused of killing his friend.

No date for the release or filming has yet been announced until financing has been secured.

Crawford is best known for his role as Nate Archibald in the teen drama Gossip Girl and was initially on board to take the lead in the upcoming remake of Footloose, but was forced to pull out due to scheduling conflicts. Recently he was also cast opposite Katie Holmes in the romantic comedy Responsible Adults.

Brosnan is not the first former James Bond actor to play a South African. Current 007 Daniel Craig played a bloodthirsty South African mercenary in Steven Spielberg’s 2005 film Munich.