Wild Side has made a preemptive mid-six figure swoop on French rights to the AFM horror Western to star Kurt Russell, Peter Sarsgaard, Richard Jenkins and Jennifer Carpenter. CAA and UTA co-represent the package and US rights.

Novelist S Craig Zahler’s feature directorial debut relates the story of a sheriff, a gunslinger, an old man and a cowboy who saddle up to rescue a group of captives from a tribe of cannibalistic cave dwellers.

Dallas Sonnier and Jack Heller will produce through Caliber Media Co and have earmarked a spring 2013 start in New Mexico.

Zahler wrote the Black List script The Brigands Of Rattleborge, which is under development with Park Chan-wook. His author credits include Western A Congregation Of Jackals and sci-fi Corpus Chrome.

Thw writer has sold spec scripts The Big Stone Grid to Sony with Michael Mann attached to direct and Conflicts Of The Last Progenitors to Andrew Adamson.

Caliber Media is in post on Dark Was The Night starring Kevin Durand and Warren starring and directed by Alex Beh, among others.

CAA and manager Rick Nicita represent Russell and CAA and manager Jon Rubinstein at Authentic represent Sarsgaard.

Gersh and manager Bill Treusch represent Jenkins and WME, Untitled and attorney Karl Austen represent Carpenter. UTA and Caliber Media represent Zahler.