Vampires for Gerard Butler

Tue, 27 Jun 2006





NEWS

Vampires for Gerard Butler

'Phantom Of The Opera' star Gerard Butler is in talks to star in the horror film 'Priest', to be directed by 'The Amityville Horror' director Andrew Douglas.

Butler hopes to star as the titular clergyman who battles vampires in what is described as a "post-apocalyptic horror western".

The film, produced by Sony's Screen Gems division, is based on a Tokyopop graphic novel created by Min-Woo Hyung, says The Hollywood Reporter.

A warrior priest, whose niece has been kidnapped by renegade vampires, teams up with a sheriff and a priestess to hunt down the fanged ones.

Newcomer Steven Strait, who recently finished thriller horror 'The Covenant', is in talks to appear as the sheriff.

The screenplay is by Cory Goodman while the producers are headed by veteran horror and, more recently 'Spiderman', director Sam Raimi. His production partners on the film, due to start production in Mexico in October, are Josh Donen, Michael De Luca and Mitchell Peck.

Butler, who also starred in 'Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life', next appears in '300', based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller dealing with ancient Greek tribes at war. He recently finished work on kidnapping thriller 'Butterfly On A Wheel', alongside Pierce Brosnan and Maria Bello.

Strait is currently filming '10 000 B.C.' with director Roland Emmerich ('Independence Day', 'The Day After Tomorrow').

'Priest', which already has some similarities to 'Van Helsing', is the second comic-based vampire story to be approved by Sony in recent months.

'30 Days of Night', scheduled to star Josh Hartnett focuses on a husband and wife who work as sheriffs in an isolated town in Alaska. The town is threatened by vampires every year when the sun fails to rise for a whole month during winter.

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