Director Joel Schumacher says the ‘Gossip Girl’ star was ‘just right’ for the gritty role.

Chace Crawford’s “Twelve” won’t premiere at the Sundance Film Festival until Friday afternoon (January 29), but the movie has already been snatched up for distribution for a cool $2 million by Hannover House, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

That quick transaction might have more than a little something to do with the talents and public profile of the “Gossip Girl” star, who gets his first chance to take on a gritty, mature role in “Twelve.” Based on a novel by Nick McDonell, the indie flick has Crawford playing White Mike, a teenage dropout whose mother has just died and who is selling drugs to his ex-classmates on the gleaming streets of Manhattan’s Upper East Side. In a conversation earlier this week at Sundance, director Joel Schumacher explained to MTV News why the young actor was perfect for the part.

“Chace is very intelligent, comes from a really fine family,” he said. “There’s an old soul in him somewhere. He could play the grieving really well. There are a few scenes of anger. He was just right for the part, and the camera loves him. He does a lot with very little, and that’s the essence of a good actor.”

Schumacher certainly knows how to pick ‘em. Going back to ’80s films like “The Lost Boys” and “St. Elmo’s Fire,” the director has worked with a string of young actors who became Hollywood stars, like Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson and Kiefer Sutherland.

The movie also stars Sutherland, Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin, Ellen Barkin and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson — who plays vicious drug dealer Lionel. Schumacher said filming on location with 50 and Crawford proved difficult.

“Trying to shoot a scene on the streets of Manhattan with Chace Crawford and Curtis Jackson — when all the schools let out around 3 o’clock and you’re trying to do an intimate scene with two people and there are 300 kids screaming — was a challenge,” he said. “But I have to say Chace and 50 were great with the kids. They were really fantastic. But I have to say, some of those private school teenage girls — pretty aggressive there.”

source: mtv.com