The Hollywood Reporter says Paul Bettany is in negotiations to star in Priest, a horror Western that Michael De Luca and Stars Road Entertainment's Josh Donen are producing for Screen Gems. Mitchell Peck also will produce.

The move would reunite Bettany with director Scott Stewart, for whom he just finished starring in Legion, an upcoming Screen Gems supernatural thriller.

An adaptation of the TokyoPop comic book, Priest is set in a world ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampire and follows a warrior priest (Bettany) who turns against the church to track down a murderous band of vampires who have kidnapped his niece.

Cory Goodman (The Brood) wrote the screenplay.

"I knew the moment I saw Stewart's first cut of 'Legion' that Bettany was Priest and so I mentioned it to him immediately," Screen Gems president Clint Culpepper said.