Scott Stewart's horror-western Priest started shooting in Los Angeles this week (Stewart's Twitter account promises it already earned its R rating), and given the excess of cameras in that city, it's really not surprising that the first photos of Paul Bettany, Cam Gigandet, and vampire henchmen have already cropped up on JFX Online and IESB.net. Normally, first photos are kind of boring unless they give glimpses into awesome costumes and make-up, and the Priest ones offer that in spades. Check out the cross on Bettany's forehead! Straight off the manga cover it is.

I really suspected they'd abandon the western part of the horror-western storyline, but these photos reassure me that Stewart really is going to the Wild West with it. The costume of Sheriff Cam Gigandet looks exactly as I hoped it would! How often does that happen? (Isn't he more interesting in cowboy boots than as a sparkly vampire? I think so, but the opinion of Twilighters may differ.)

Unfortunately, the first days of shooting seem to lack the presence of Maggie Q and Karl Urban, who I am dying to see primarily becauseany character named Black Hat has to have an outfit worth seeing. But even more disappointing is the lack of one Stephen Moyer. But with paparazzi following his and Anna Paquin's every move, I'm sure we'll be seeing him in his gunbelt, boots, and spurs by next week.