Craig Russell will star in the British action thriller The Priest, which has completed shooting on location in Cornwall, U.K., according to Variety.

Russell, repped by Felix de Wolfe and known for Protein and Queen Cleopatra, plays a parish priest whose buried past resurfaces when a woman from his old life arrives at his confessional. A local crime lord then draws him back into violence. The film marks the feature directing debut of Will Saunders and was written by Maisie Davies, Sonny Barton, Zuzu Hanley and Jamie Moody. Variety

Luca Matteo Zizarri plays crime boss Vale. Zizarri, repped by Twenty-Nine Five Group, is known for Rogue Heroes and Peaky Blinders. Imogen Mackenzie plays Holly, with Sally Nash as her younger colleague Angie. Munday plays Detective Emma Carter, a cop whose missing-persons case collides with both Vale's operation and the priest's hidden history.

The production made full use of Cornwall's landscape — cliff-top industrial ruins, working harbour settings and historic churches. Becks Bouron, an RTS Award winner, served as cinematographer. The stunt unit was headed by coordinator Ermar Alexander, alongside Giedre Jackyte and armorer Ty Hopkins. Alexander's credits include Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw and Marvels; Jackyte's include Star Wars: The Acolyte and Slow Horses; Hopkins' include Fast X. Action Xtreme, the British action studio behind the film, ran the stunt operation.

What gives The Priest a distinct origin story is where it came from. It is the first feature to emerge from the MA Feature Filmmaking course, a post-graduate program within Falmouth University's School of Film & Television, where students partner with Action Xtreme. Kingsley Marshall, head of the school, said the film was made by a crew of over 60 emerging filmmakers. Marshall also serves as a producer on the film, alongside Ethan Lee — another RTS Award winner — Noel Goodwin, Martin McQuillan and Chee Keong Cheung of Action Xtreme.

Goodwin, an Action Xtreme executive producer who oversees talent development and formerly ran the BFI Future Film Festival, is one of the bridge figures between the university and the studio. The collaboration builds on Falmouth's prior work with director Mark Jenkin on the BAFTA-winning Bait, as well as Rose of Nevada, Enys Men, and Dean Puckett's The Severed Sun with Grasp the Nettle.

Action Xtreme's track record includes the Nigerian feature Son of the Soil, which landed a Netflix Africa deal and reached No. 1 on Netflix Nigeria. The studio's next title, the POV action thriller Bad Day at the Office, directed by Cheung and starring John Hannah and Radha Mitchell, debuts at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on 13 August ahead of a U.K. and Ireland theatrical release on 30 October.

No release date has been announced for The Priest.