Greg Keelor & Blue Rodeo to create soundtrack for GUNLESS

TORONTO , Nov. 16 /CNW/ - Songs from Juno Award(R) winning band Blue Rodeo will accompany an original score by Greg Keelor on the soundtrack for GUNLESS, a comic western starring Paul Gross and Sienna Guillory, written and directed by William Phillips .

The score will be in a contemporary western style and will include a number of original verses written especially for the film by Blue Rodeo band member Greg Keelor. The Blue Rodeo song, Don't Let the Darkness in Your Head, will be integrated into the score and will accompany the film's closing credits. Don't Let The Darkness in Your Head is featured on Blue Rodeo's newly released album The Things We Left Behind. GUNLESS will be the band's first soundtrack collaboration. Recording is currently under way in Blue Rodeo's studio, the Woodshed.

"At last a Western that reflects the Canadian experience with its unique migrations, its hinterland law and order and its rugged civility; all told with an underlying sense of humour that reminds us why Canada still rejects the culture of handguns," was Greg Keelor's take on GUNLESS as he prepared for the project.

Since the release of their debut album, Outskirts, in March 1987 , Blue Rodeo has established themselves as one of the premiere bands in Canadian music. Over the course of their stellar career Blue Rodeo has released 12 studio albums, two live albums, a greatest hits collection and an award-winning DVD, selling in excess of four million copies around the world.

Thrilled to be working with the band, Producer Niv Fichman commented, "It has been a long time dream to get Blue Rodeo to score a film I'm involved with, and this one just screamed for their style. Their music and wit will breathe fresh air into the genre and result in a soundtrack which I'm sure will become a classic in its own right."

When notorious American gunslinger, The Montana Kid, ( Paul Gross ) staggers into the tiny Canadian hamlet of Barclay's Brush, life for the town's 17 inhabitants is about to get exciting. The Kid immediately gets into an unfortunate altercation with Jack, the town's surly blacksmith, which leads to the The Kid 'calling him out' for some good old frontier justice - a showdown. But in a place totally ill prepared to deal with a classic gun fight and without a single working pistol to be found, adhering to the code of the American Wild West may prove difficult.

Not able to let go of the 'code', The Kid remains stuck in Barclay's Brush, getting drawn into a strange world of eccentric rituals and characters; among them Jane (Sienna Guillory), a smart, sassy woman who becomes his only hope of finding a way out... or perhaps his only reason for staying...

GUNLESS is produced by Niv Fichman of Rhombus Media, (PASSCHENDAELE, BLINDNESS, SILK) and Stephen Hegyes and Shawn Williamson of Brightlight Pictures (FIFTY DEAD MEN WALKING, WHITE NOISE, SLITHER). Alliance Films is scheduled to release GUNLESS across Canada in Spring, 2010.

    
    About Alliance Films
    --------------------
    

Alliance Films is a leading distributor of motion pictures in Canada , with motion picture distribution operations in the United Kingdom and Spain . The Company distributes filmed entertainment to theatres, on DVD, online and to television broadcasters. Alliance Films holds the Canadian distribution rights to the productions of leading independent studios, including CBS Films, Focus Features, The Weinstein Company, Apparition, Overture Films, The Film Department, A Bigger Boat, Groundswell Productions, Grosvenor Park and Relativity Media.

    
    About Rhombus Media
    -------------------
    

Rhombus Media is renowned the world over for its high-quality feature films, TV drama series and performing arts programmes. Since its inception in 1979, Rhombus has released over 200 productions that have been consistently acclaimed by critics and audiences around the world. Rhombus films have received literally hundreds of awards, including numerous Genies, Geminis, Golden Pragues and an Oscar. Some of the company's more notable projects include The Red Violin, Thirty Two Sort Films About Glenn Gould , The Saddest Music in the World, September Songs, Beethoven's Hair, Yo-Yo Ma: Inspired by Bach, Slings and Arrows, and most recently Fernando Meirelles' Blindness, and Paul Gross ' Passchendaele.

    
    About Brightlight Pictures
    --------------------------
    

Brightlight Pictures develops, finances and produces independent feature films and television projects for the domestic and international marketplace. Company principals and producers, Stephen Hegyes and Shawn Williamson , have produced over 80 productions in the last 12 years and over 50 productions since the launch of the company in 2001, including White Noise, starring Michael Keaton , which has grossed more than $100 million since opening in January 2005 . Brightlight has worked with such stars as Halle Berry, Justin Timberlake , Morgan Freeman , Al Pacino, Anne Hathaway , Ben Kingsley , Kevin Spacey and Nicholas Cage , among others. Credits include Canada/UK coproduction Fifty Dead Men Walking and upcoming feature No Clue, written by and starring Brent Butt .

For further information: Carrie Wolfe, Vice President, Publicity & Promotion, Alliance Films, [phone], [phone] (cell), [email protected]