Who shot the dwarf?

And, of far greater significance, who bought the rights to The Last Rites of Ransom Pride?

Anyone wondering whether they’d heard the last about the quirky western, filmed in Alberta two years ago, might be in for a big surprise.

Starrring Scott Speedman, Liz Caplan, Kris Kristofferson, Jason Priestly and Dwight Yoakam, the graphic novel-style film was originally slated for release last June. That was before former PayPal executive Jack Selby arrived in Dodge.

“He has 150 million subscribers and bought out the rights to our production company, Horsethief Productions,” said John Boncore, a Chase screen actor who plays a villain in the $8-million movie. “He’s using the film as a pilot project and making two more films.”

If Selby’s plan to take the movie straight to online release — bypassing theatres, festivals and DVD — doesn’t change moviemaking ground rules, it certainly raises the stakes on new media and distribution. Last Rites will be released next month as a paid download with web-streaming options, available on leading digital platforms such as Facebook and MySpace.

“This is totally innovative in the industry,” Boncore said. “I had no idea it could possibly be done.”

For the past couple of years, some Hollywood films have been released straight to DVD. Flicker II, shot last summer in Kamloops, is expected to be one of those projects. As for the conventional theatrical release of Ransom Pride, don’t wait for it. Selby, now managing director of the hedge fund Clarium Capital Management, has seen the light. It’s not coming from projectors but from computer monitors.

“We’re not looking for distributors anymore,” Boncore said. “This guy’s actually setting up new online cinema. He already controls the market on the Internet, which is huge.”

The medium is the main message in Selby’s game changer. Horsethief is galloping toward online release with viral marketing strategies. Short trailers introduce characters in the film. Online contests invite viewers to write songs and create comic books for the movie. Whokilledthedwarf.com is dedicated to the character of The Dwarf, played by Peter Dinklage. A songwriting contest invites fans to submit their own trailer songs, with the winner to be announced by Yoakum.

The overall promotion strategy is to interact directly with potential viewers. To that end, anyone interested can email Boncore at splittingthesky@yahoo.com and say hello.