Bettany a Obsessed Man of the Cloth in 'Priest'

One thing has been consistently true about Paul Bettany: He makes movies better. He doesn't always make the best decisions in terms of the quality of films, but whether it's A Knight's Tale or Da Vinci Code or Firewall, Bettany is generally at least as interesting as his surroundings. That's especially good news with the project shows as much promise as Priest. The film is described by The Hollywood Reporter as a "horror western" Screen Gems is developing based on the TokyoPop comic of the same name. He would play a warrior priest who turns his back on his church to hunt down the vampires how kidnapped his niece. So there are elements of The Searchers here...but with vampires and religious overtones. Screen Gems honcho Clint Culpepper said that Bettany's work for director Scott Stewart in Legion made him a natural for Stewart's next assignment for the studio. "I knew the moment I saw Stewart's first cut of Legion that Bettany was Priest and so I mentioned it to him immediately." Legion is similarly supernatural in nature, and will be released next January.