Reese Witherspoon is attached to star in a South African film about slain American activist Amy Biehl for Anant Singh's Videovision.

Durban-based producer Anant Singh said this week: "When the movie's ready to go, she will be the star playing Amy." Witherspoon's manager, Evelyn O'Neill, told South African press that she was "happy to confirm Reese's involvement".

Singh said: "Reese has been attracted to the project for a long time. They both went to Stanford University. She knew of Amy and they are like-minded people." He said the only problem was that since they had first discussed the film, about two-and-a-half years ago, Witherspoon had grown from a modest to a major star. "She's probably a $15m star now," said Singh.

Aged 23, Biehl was a Fulbright scholar based at the University of the Western Cape and had been in South Africa to help in advance of the first all-race elections in April 1994 that marked the final end of Apartheid. While taking friends home to Gugulethu in Cape Town on August 25th 1993, she was stoned and stabbed to death.

Singh said the script was in its fourth draft with Hollywood screenwriter, Joanna Baldwin.

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