Pierce Brosnan is to play a Northern Irish WWII veteran in The Last Rifleman, a new drama from Mickybo and Me director Terry Loane, which is due to film in the North and the Republic this winter.
US entertainment trade website Deadline, which first reported Brosnan's casting, says The Last Rifleman is inspired by the true story of the late Bernard Jordan, a WWII veteran who went missing from his retirement home in the UK to attend the 70th D-Day commemorations in France in 2014.
Brosnan will play Artie Crawford, a recently widowed WWII veteran living in a care home in Northern Ireland. He disappears and heads for France for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day Landings to pay his final respects to his late comrades. The film has been written by Kevin Fitzpatrick and is supported by Northern Ireland Screen.
"When I first read Kevin's screenplay, I found it to be a beautifully touching story with an honest heart and soul," said director Loane.
"It is the script that directors search for: a powerful, character-led drama that perfectly balances heart and pathos. The personal price paid by those in the aftermath of war is something that resonates with all ages, all over the world."
Writer Fitzpatrick said that Bernard Jordan's story "highlighted the spirit that epitomised the Second World War generation".
"I was enthralled by this story and the motives that drive a man near the end of his life on a quest to a place that must hold only painful memories," he added.
Brosnan was most recently seen on screen in Netflix's Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.
