Former Phantom Gerard Butler may be on his way to playing a priest. The actor is currently in negotiations with Sony’s Screen Gems to take the lead role in a movie adaptation of the Tokyopop graphic novel “Priest” by Min-Woo Hyung.

The comic is a vampire western about a priest who disobeys church law to assist a sheriff and priestess in saving the priest’s niece from a band of renegade blood suckers. Butler would play the priest, and Steven Strait (soon to make his debut in Screen Gem’s The Covenant) is in talks to co-star as the sheriff.

The Hollywood Reporter says Cory Goodman is adapting the script and Amityville Horror remake director Andrew Douglas will helm it. They’re scheduled to start shooting October 1 in Mexico.

Butler is currently busy filming another graphic novel adaptation, a big screen version of Frank Miller’s “300”, and he’s just finished wrapping Butterfly on a Wheel with Pierce Brosnan and Maria Bello.