Brad Pitt may soon be horsing around in Calgary. A western starring the 41-year-old actor as gunslinger Jesse James is circling southern Alberta, the Sun has learned.

Calgary film commissioner Beth Thompson says our region is vying with New Mexico and Colorado to land the big-budget production, which will shoot in the fall.

"I think this is the only place they can do it. I think we outweigh New Mexico and Colorado in spades and I think we'll be able to show that to them," Thompson says.

It wouldn't mark the first time Pitt has made a movie in Alberta. When he was still just a rising star, he filmed the epic Legends of the Fall near Canmore 12 years ago. Ever since, it's been rumoured that Pitt owns property in the Bragg Creek area, something the actor has denied in interviews.

Pitt, who last starred in Ocean's Twelve and Troy, is currently in the midst of a media maelstrom over his split from wife Jennifer Aniston.

The untitled western project is based on the Robert Hansen novel The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and will be directed by Andrew Dominik, who made the Australian cult hit Chopper.

The story follows Ford who joined James' gang and was later branded a coward after shooting the legendary outlaw in the back. No other actors have been cast yet.

Thompson says the James movie is one of several film and TV productions that may shoot in Calgary this year.

Still a possibility is Chasing Montana, the father-daughter drama starring Michelle Pfeiffer that almost filmed here last summer.

If it comes here, Thompson says cameras wouldn't roll until late '05 because the script calls for snow.

Set to film in April is another episode of Into The West, the TNT mini-series executive produced by Steven Spielberg, that filmed for several weeks late last year.

Meanwhile, residents of Kamloops, B.C., are expecting Indiana Jones in their city shortly.

Harrison Ford will shoot the thriller The Wrong Element there for three weeks in April or May, it was confirmed this week. The movie also stars Paul Bettany and Oscar nominee Virginia Madsen.