EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures has made a deal for The Legend Of Conan, an action film that will star Arnold Schwarzenegger in one of his signature roles, as Robert E. Howard’s mythic barbarian. The deal brings Conan and Schwarzenegger back with Universal, which released the first film that launched Schwarzenegger’s movie career back in 1982. Universal has world rights on the film.
The film will be produced by Fredrik Malmberg and Chris Morgan. Malmberg is CEO of Paradox Entertainment, which holds the rights to Conan. Morgan is the Universal-based writer and producer whose credits include the last four Fast and the Furious films, along with Wanted and 47 Ronin. Morgan has hatched the story and might write the script. The caveat is that the studio wants The Legend of Conan for summer 2014, and Morgan might not be finished writing the seventh Fast and Furious installment by then. If that happens he will be a very active producer, because this is Morgan’s dream project.
“The original ended with Arnold on the throne as a seasoned warrior, and this is the take of the film we will make,” Malmberg told me. “It’s that Nordic Viking mythic guy who has played the role of king, warrior, soldier and mercenary, and who has bedded more women than anyone, nearing the last cycle of his life. He knows he’ll be going to Valhalla, and wants to go out with a good battle.”
There are no plans for Momoa to return. Morgan said that in his mind, The Legend of Conan not only skips over that film, but also the 1984 sequel that Schwarzenegger starred in. The direct link is to the original, which was directed by John Milius from a script that he wrote with Oliver Stone. That was a testosterone-laced exploration of Howard’s mythology of a child sold into slavery who grows into manhood seeking vengeance against the warlord who slaughtered his family and his village.
“After the original seminal movie, all that came after looked silly to me,” Morgan said. “Robert E. Howard’s mythology and some great philosophy from Nietzsche to Atilla the Hun was layered in the original film. People say, he didn’t speak for the first 20 minutes of the film, but that was calculated in depicting this man who takes control of life with his own hand. This movie picks up Conan where Arnold is now in his life, and we will be able to use the fact that he has aged in this story. I love the property of Conan so much that I wouldn’t touch it unless we came up with something worthy. We think this is a worthy successor to the original film. Think of this as Conan’s Unforgiven.”
Last edited by Scullibundo on 26 Oct 2012 10:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
This news is so good and the fact they are ignoring Destroyer and the Momoa one makes sense.
So the B-movie warm up that is The Last Stand in January, The Tomb with Sly later in 2013, Ten from the writer/director of Training Day/Street Kings/End of Watch and then King Conan.
It would be easy to create fake muscles pep. And with movies like 300 succeeding in creating that comic book feel for the background now is the perfect time for this.
You guys are ageist. Why is it that in countries like asia where you have shaolin monks that can handstand with 2 fingers as old men get so much respect but then in the west you guys are disgusted by old people? It just goes to show how fake some fans really are by buying into the image onscreen. First and foremost a person can look weak on the outside but have very healthy insides and supply his average looking muscles a lot of energy because his internal organs are healthy and his heart and lungs are healthy and his diet is good and he has a warrior spirit that gives him the mindset to do things beyond what he should be able to do at his age.
There are people with a lot of flexbility in their body too which makes them better at movement and speed which translates into better fighting technique where you don't need to waste energy.
Watch the original conan movie and see how he is being trained to use the katana. Some of the old age can mean he has become more skilled than the young version of himself through experiences. Now instead of raw power he can use better swords where speed is more important.
^seek to 21:00 into the movie where he learns to really fight. It's not only about his body. It's skills and the warrior mind. Older age can mean more skill and increased wisdom.
Don't just think of conan as a dumb muscular guy. It's not rambo 3 with swords.
Last edited by GameHED on 26 Oct 2012 01:04 pm, edited 5 times in total.
"A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad." -Shigeru Miyamoto
I think people here hate arnie and it is really sad. Is it jealousy?
What is so bad at being old and balding? Why have people become so judgemental of shallow things like that?
Just looking tough and being skilled are too different things.
If you had a choice between having skills that save life and knowing practical things that make you a better person, vs looking tough onscreen, you would go with skill.
Last edited by GameHED on 26 Oct 2012 01:44 pm, edited 3 times in total.
"A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad." -Shigeru Miyamoto
List of people that should be in expendables 3: Kurt Russel, (Tango and Cash, escape from new york, big trouble in little china) Steven Seagal, and Jackie Chan.
Wesley Snipes and Vin Diesal = villains. (one backstabs the other and escapes, becoming a central character for all future movies.)
I think they should consider a character who is neither a villain nor good guy in all movies, who just makes decisions based on his own path. This would break the 'good guy vs bad guy' formula of these movies. (something like the mel gibson character in the mad max movies who is more about the money and isn't 100% trustworthy all the time)
With all the action stars they can have three way fighting and more complex scenes. For example Jackie could be a former friend of Jet Li's character and they are rivals in many kung fu close combat bits. Or Vindiesal and Snipes have to deal with who should be the one to make the decisions, eventually having to fight each other for control while they are figuring out how to deal with the good guys.
Stallone and Kurt Russel would be a good match. I wonder what would rambo be like against Snake Plissken? Snake from Escape from New York is definiately more sneaky than rambo imo.
Not much they can do now that they are running out of 80s action stars...
"A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad." -Shigeru Miyamoto
Older age can mean more skill and increased wisdom.
