Chace Crawford is that aburdly rare combination of so ridiculously handsome girls love him, so cool guys don’t hate him and so down-to-earth he seems like the approachable boy next door. Perhaps that’s why we haven’t taken our eyes off him since he first hit the small screen in the CW’s muchloved, much-hyped, Upper East Side drama Gossip Girl. But these days it seems Crawford is shedding his privileged prepschool skin and revealing Chace Crawford 2.0—the sexier, more adult version. Take Twelve, his new movie out in June, also starring Kiefer Sutherland and 50 Cent, in which he plays a well-connected uptown kid (oh wait, that’s not that different) who sells drugs and watches his life unravel after the death of his cousin (now we’re talking).
We sat down with Crawford while he was in LA on a break from the New York City-based Gossip Girl to find out what he loves about the City of Angels, what working with 50 Cent is really like and if Serena and Nate will go the distance (although we think we know the answer to that one).
LOS ANGELES CONFIDENTIAL: You lived here when you went to Pepperdine University. Now you’re based in New York for Gossip Girl; do you like coming back to LA?
CHACE CRAWFORD: I love being in LA. New York and LA are polar opposites. I’m a Dallas boy, so for the weather, LA is where it’s at. I think the New York winters may end up driving me back out to the West Coast. What makes Hollywood Hollywood is the weather. The sun kind of hits you different out here, so every time I come here it’s rejuvenating.
LAC: In your film Twelve, out this July, you play a young drug dealer. Why was this a role you wanted to take on?
CC: It’s a complete departure for me. The character grew up with the privilege and the money, but his father is running the family’s bankrupt business, and his mom was stricken with cancer and battled that and died. So he’s almost forced to sell marijuana, and he doesn’t even know what he’s doing. He’s in over his head. It’s good for me because it’s a heroic figure, but it’s a pretty tragic, dark, melodramatic movie. There are a lot of really comedic parts in it, and it almost goes over the top to make fun of the Gossip Girl crowd. [The film] is so campy and funny, it’s silly, and then when it’s contrasted with the dark reality of one of the girl characters spiraling emotionally into this tailspin, it’s very tragic. It was a lot of fun—very liberating. It’s kind of a Less Than Zero for our generation.
LAC: Working with 50 Cent has to be pretty different from working with Ed Westwick and Blake Lively. Tell us a little bit about the experience.
CC: I get shot in the movie, and [50 Cent] and [actress] Emily Meade are involved in this scene where I bust in. And when it came time to do it, I basically only had one try at it, and so I guess I got really excited. I didn’t even notice my behavior, but he did. And I was running around asking, “How did we do? How was the angle?” And [50 Cent] turns to Emily and—with the biggest smirk—is like, “Shit! Chace has never been shot before, has he?” [Laughs] Oh, God, I died. That’s how he is. He’s just a big jokester. [50 Cent] is like Mr. Nice Guy Next Door. He gives everyone a big hug, makes sure everyone’s having fun and keeps it light. I remember the day I was driving homefrom school and his first CD came on. I absolutely loved him, so [working with him] was pretty surreal.
LAC: Turning to Gossip Girl, you and Serena finally really got together this season. When you and Blake saw the script, did you have a sense of, Yay, finally?
CC: I think it was almost more like, On to the next one. They’ve given her 15 game-player boyfriends, and they’ve given me everyone in the cast. It’s funny because in a certain sense our characters are very similar, and it kind of just makes sense. I was also pumped because Blake and I are good friends, and it’s just fun; we have a blast working together.
LAC: You live in a world where you are constantly in the public eye and dealing with the paparazzi. How do you handle it?
CC: In the minefield of cell-phone cameras, iPhone cameras and TMZ, it’s all so instantaneous now. It’s not worth trying to walk on eggshells and cut corners, so you either live a certain lifestyle or you don’t and hang out with certain people or you don’t. I’m single in New York, and [my castmates and I] are all in our mid-twenties, so it’s not feasible to say we’re not going to go out and have fun. It’s just how you do it and how you conduct yourself. It annoys me because you start to develop a certain kind of paranoia, and it’s a subconscious thing. I hate that. You sort of have to work through it and deal with it because it’s inevitable. And most of the time the stuff that’s said is 80 to 90 percent false. Even if it has a seed of truth, most of the stuff they spin it with is false, so it’s funny to see how that culture works. It’s definitely easier to get lost in the cracks and be incognito [in New York] than it is in LA, though.
LAC: Are there any restaurants you like to go to when you’re in LA?
CC: King’s Road Cafe, that’s one of my all-time favorites. I get the blackenedchicken salad—and their coffee is like crack! It’s the best coffee I’ve ever had. Then you have Hugo’s Restaurant. It’s just nice, good, clean food—that’s one thing they don’t have in New York is clean food. It’s hard to eat clean and not be pounding spaghetti and pizza all the time.
LAC: What’s next for you?
CC: I’m kind of playing it by ear. I think I might drive the car out to Texas this weekend. Just sort of hit the road and clear the head. And relax.
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