Paul Bettany Is Ordained for 'Priest'
Filed under: Action, Foreign Language, Horror, Independent, Casting, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Religious, Western
Paul Bettany obviously has a thing for the sacrilegious. Fresh off playing the Archangel Michael in Legion, Bettany is reteaming with director Scott Stewart for Priest, ScreenGems' adaptation of Hyung Min-woo's popular manga series. Bettany will play Ivan Isaacs, the warrior priest who turns his back on the Church to rescue his niece from a pack of vampires. The role once belonged to Gerard Butler, until the project fell apart sometime in 2006. ScreenGems revived the project last December with Stewart, keeping Cory Goodman's screenplay.
The casting came about not out of Bettany and Stewart's desire to reunite for religion, but due to ScreenGems president Clint Culpepper, who apparently thought Isaacs needed to be played by a former albino monk: "I knew the moment I saw Stewart's first cut of Legion that Bettany was Priest and so I mentioned it to him immediately."
Whether this Priest will make it any further into production than Andrew Douglas and Gerard Butler's will remain to be seen -- but since everyone wants their own religious pseudo-western, I bet the second time will be the charm. I still wish Butler's version would have taken off, but Bettany is probably a better physical choice for the role. He bears an uncanny resemblance to the art, anyway. I'm not a huge fan of the series, so hopefully some manga experts can weigh in with what they think of the casting.
_thumbnail.jpg)
Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
Peter Jackson Says Spielberg's 'Tintin' is Done Filming, but...
Interracial Harmony: 'Ninja Assassin' vs. 'Blind Side'
Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 11/24_thumbnail.jpg)
Exclusive 'Nine' Poster Premiere!
_thumbnail.jpg)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-31-2009 @ 10:33AM
LiqwidZero said...
Technically, he didn't turn his back on the "church". He sold his soul to a demon named "Belial". He is sent back on Earth and tries to rid the West of evil. He still believes in God.
Here's the synopsis from the first volume:
"In the frontier of the American west, a veil of evil threatens to engulf humanity. Servants of the fallen archangel Temozarela are paving the way for their dark lord’s resurrection.
"One man stands in the way of the apocalypse—Ivan Isaacs—a fallen priest who sold his soul to the devil Belial for the power to fight evil. Armed with a wicked blade and silver bullets, Ivan will give the heretics a baptism of blood in his pilgrimage for humanity’s redemption."
The manga is actually very good, and I hate mangas.
Reply
3-31-2009 @ 10:44AM
weetiger said...
Oooo "Ivan will give the heretics a baptism of blood in his pilgrimage for humanity’s redemption." That sounds cool!
Damn! I really would have liked to have seen Gerard Butler sink his teeth into that one too!
Reply
3-31-2009 @ 6:31PM
David Musto said...
Personally, I think Manga is rubbish for the most part but Priest is the one (previously) non-film-related title I read. Hopefully, the film can be the live action equivalent of Vampire Hunter D.
Reply
4-08-2009 @ 9:33PM
Jeff said...
On the lead Vampire I hope they pick my favorite villain Luke Goss..Luke has done a Vampire before and he is my top choice for role as the Vampire Leader. This sound interesting and hope to read more on the subject!!!
Reply