Viggo Mortensen is set to make his second film as director.

The project is a period western titled The Dead Don’t Hurt, which Mortensen will be directing, writing and co-starring in. On board as lead is Vicky Krieps, whose credits include Paul Thomas Anderson film Phantom Thread and M. Night Shyamalan film Old.

The Dead Don’t Hurt is a western love story set in the 1860s, following a fiercely independent French Canadian woman named Vivienne Le Coudy, to be played by Krieps. Vivienne embarks on a relationship with Danish immigrant Holger Olsen, played by Mortensen.

The two meet in San Francisco and end up moving to the quiet town of Elk Flats, where they start a life together. But, they are soon separated by The Civil War, which leaves Vivienne to fend for herself in a location controlled by powerful rancher Alfred Jeffries (played by Garett Dillahunt). When Olsen returns, he and Vivienne must confront and make peace with who they have become.

Danny Huston is also on board, playing a corrupt mayor that aids Dillahunt’s troublesome rancher.

Mortensen’s previous film as director was the 2020 family drama Falling, which received mostly positive reviews but failed to receive strong, wide distribution.

Cameras on The Dead Don’t Hurt will begin rolling in Canada on October 12th.