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Scottish actor goes from "Phantom" to vampires

Posted on: Monday, 26 June 2006, 00:49 CDT

By Tatiana Siegel and Borys Kit

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Scottish-born actor Gerard Butler, who haunted an opera house in 2004 and battled a monster named Grendel last year, is in negotiations to star in a new film as a warrior priest who hunts down vampires.

Filmmaker Andrew Douglas, who cut his teeth on last year's remake of "The Amityville Horror, has signed on to direct the Screen Gems project titled "Priest," a post-apocalyptic horror western based on a comic book by Min-Woo Hyung.

Sony Pictures will distribute the film, which is scheduled to start production October 1 in Mexico.

The story centers on a warrior priest (Butler) who disobeys church law by teaming with a young sheriff and a priestess to track down a band of renegade vampires who have kidnapped the priest's niece.

Newcomer Steven Strait, who recently wrapped Screen Gems' horror thriller "The Covenant" and is filming Roland Emmerich's "10,000 B.C.," is in talks to co-star as the sheriff.

Development of the film has raised eyebrows as Sony now has two similar high-profile projects under its corporate umbrella.

Columbia Pictures recently gave the OK for production to begin on the comic book-based vampire movie "30 Days of Night," starring Josh Hartnett, with shooting set to begin in early August in New Zealand.

Butler, who played the title role in "The Phantom of the Opera" and starred as the medieval warrior in 2005's "Beowulf & Grendel," next stars in Warner Bros. Pictures' "300" and recently wrapped "Butterfly on a Wheel."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Source: REUTERS

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