HyungMin-woo Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Something must happen to you when you play a vampire in Twilight or Underworld -- you just can't steer clear of the supernatural and fangs. Cam Gigandet (whom the Twilighters know as the evil vampire and Bella-snatcher, James) is now set to stake his former cinematic kin in Priest opposite Paul Bettany, but he isn't straying too far from his bloodsucking roots.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gigandet will be playing a young wasteland sheriff who is part vampire. (I'm never sure how this works. To me, being a vampire is like being dead or pregnant -- there's no in-between.) He partners up with Ivan Isaacs (the titular priest) in order to find Isaacs' niece, who just happens to be the girl he loves. She's been kidnapped by vampires, the latest casualty of a battle between man and vampire that has raged for centuries.

Priest is based on Hyung Min-woo's popular manga series, and will be directed by Scott Stewart. Though Cory Goodman's script has reportedly changed things quite a bit, one thing it is keeping is the Western / horror setting, which intrigues me, even if my girlish curiosity does make me long for its old cast and Sam Raimi as producer. But hey, at least it's set to finally happen. All they need now is the niece, and a few bad vampires to set against Gigandet and Bettany. Say, is Michael Sheen available?

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.

Gone is the morally ambiguous costumed vigilante trend for 2009, and in comes the stiff white collars! Just in time to compete with Jonah Hex and Preacher comes the resurrected Priest. According to The Hollywood Reporter, ScreenGems is reviving the project and has brought on Scott Charles Stewart to direct Cory Goodman's screenplay.

Hyung Min-woo's manga has been kicking around for a few years -- Andrew Douglas was once set to direct, with Gerard Butler and Steven Straight starring, but that version abruptly fell apart around the time 300 was released. (I wish it had taken off now, I would much prefer to see Butler in a horror-Western than another romantic comedy. Well, no one's playing Ivan Isaacs yet ... are you still into taking priestly vows, Mr. Butler?)

Fans of the manga have complained that the story has been simplified to the point of having little in common with the original -- and sadly, that doesn't seem to have changed. The movie will still center on Isaacs as a warrior-priest who turns his back on the church in order to hunt a pack of vampires who have kidnapped his niece. However, considering that Stewart is fresh off filming the biblical thriller Legion, perhaps he'll rewrite it to include those demons, zombies, crucifixions, and evil angels that make Priest something more than a vampire story.

I'm not that attached to the manga, so I shall merely hope they can make an awesome horror-Western out of it. I firmly believe cinema needs a High Plains Drifter with vampires, zombies, and demons.