Nomadic Pictures has linked arms with Texan filmmaker Tiller Russell on The Last Rites of Ransom Pride, sending the violent western to camera in Drumheller, AB until Oct. 14.

The feature has a low to medium budget, says Nomadic producer Chad Oakes, and is coproduced by his Calgary prodco (60%) and Lock and Load Pictures of Austin, Texas (40%), with assistance from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Nomadic (Broken Trail) picked up the project after viewing a teaser produced by writer/director Russell. Shot in Austin, the teaser helped Russell and coproducer Duncan Montgomery raise 65% of the budget needed for the full-length feature.

This film marks Russell's directorial debut on a feature after a run of TV projects including Bad Boys of Summer, CMT Big Break and A Day in the Life of Television.

The cast includes Scott Speedman (The Strangers), Dwight Yoakam (Panic Room), Lizzy Caplan (Cloverfield), Jason Priestley and Kris Kristofferson. The story centers on a woman's blood-spilling quest to bring a murdered outlaw home to Glory, Texas for a proper burial. Along the way, she must do battle with a cast of murderous outlaws, played by Yoakam, Kristofferson and others.

The film is a period piece, set on the Texas-Mexico border, with a "western genre feel," says Oakes, but is rife with contemporary overtones, though it owes as much to Sam Peckinpah as Quentin Tarantino. All post-production will take place in Canada.

No major distributors are on board yet, but a pay-TV deal with Super Channel has been inked. The Last Rites of Ransom Pride is scheduled to be complete in the spring, when it will go on the festival circuit.