Playing a lawyer in hard-hitting movie

Steve Coogan is to star in a hard-hitting drama set in the closing days of South African apartheid.

In Shepherds And Butchers, he will play a high-flying lawyer who takes on a seemingly hopeless multiple murder case, defending a white death row prison guard who, after a gruelling two-week stint in which 32 men were hanged, loses control and kills seven black men

The movie will be directed by South African director Oliver Schmitz and shooting starts on location on June 15, Hollywood website Deadline reports.

It is based on Chris Marnewick’s acclaimed 2012 novel of the same name with a screenplay by Brian Cox, co-producer of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

Philomena star Coogan is currently starring in the Showtime comedy Happyish, about a 44-year-old father having a midlife crisis after the arrival of a new, younger boss.

Published: 21 Apr 2015