TheArnoldFans - News - Exclusive: Arnold, Co-stars and Verhoeven Talk Conan with Us!
about 12 hours ago
Bad news: Schwarzenegger will NOT be starring in the new Conan movie! Well, that’s at least what I’ve been telling myself so I wouldn’t be devastated if the project didn’t work out sometime down the line. Sure, The Legend of Conan is still a GO with Universal Pictures, but you have to understand where I’m coming from. Very few of you know my history, so let me share with you my coming-of-age story. At the age of 11, I snuck into my first rated-R movie and arrived about a minute into the start of the film. Basil Poledouris’ epic score was blaring as the Cimmerian village was being raided. I sat down in awe and watched the brutal butcherings and decapitations, and l listened to the lamentations. I was sucked into a John Milius masterpiece. Minutes later, I was introduced to the powerful presence of Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger. Without a father figure in my life, I saw this Austrian Oak as the ultimate symbol of machismo, and he would be the one I’d look up to and teach me what’s best in life. From that day on, I was an Arnold fan for life. At the age of 11, I was hooked and as many of you DO know, thirty years later, Conan the Barbarian remains my all-time favorite Schwarzenegger film.
I’ll get back to my history with the Conan franchise in a minute, but FIRST the good news! TheArnoldFans, having just returned from Los Angeles, came back with some fantastic Legend of Conan exclusive details and comments direct from the cast (including Arnold), a potential director (Paul Verhoeven), and Paradox Entertainment (the rights-holders of Conan)!
I asked Arnold, at age of 65, what his physical goal is for Conan.
Schwarzenegger: “Well, age doesn’t mean anything to me, because I work out every day. I work out twice a day, as a matter of fact. At night I work out with weights, and in the morning I do cardiovascular training. So for me, to get on the set and to swing the sword around again and to ride the horses and all those things doesn’t mean anything [does not scare me], because I feel like I did thirty years ago. So as long as I stay in shape, that’s the key thing, and to keep your body young. Even though you do feel the pain when you wipe out and when you do your fight scenes and you get more sore and the body doesn’t come back as quickly and all this . . . but just grind through it, you know? That’s what it’s all about!”
Fredrik Malmberg, president and CEO of Paradox Entertainment, next chimes in on Arnold’s physical appearance.
Fredrik: “I think he said himself, he really wants to spend a few months to really get in shape for the role. He’s pretty big still. We want him to be comfortable in the role and play a realistic warrior of this age. So we don’t want him to look like a 45-year-old. But I don’t see a problem with him taking off his shirt or whatever and showing still a big and beefy body with scars, gashes and see this man has really been through every battle there is. And of course Arnold is all about fitness, and he’s still into it. We had breakfast not too long ago and he talked about his health and his oatmeal and what he eats every day. He knows exactly what he’s putting into his body and the effects. I wouldn’t be surprised if he took off his shirt, but definitely he’ll be having pumped-up arms.”
Arnold’s age plays a significant factor in The Legend of Conan, and we want him aged appropriately for the role. This is where we last see Arnold sitting on his throne at the end of Conan when he has a gray beard and he’s tired from his battles.
Fredrik: “The whole idea that got Arnold so enthusiastic about the new creative take is, CAN HE live up to the legend he is? Conan is 65 now, so he will have to fight through an aging warrior body, having cracking bones, aches and having to get back into the battle.”
Malmberg’s company not only owns the rights to the Conan character, but this man also has a lot to say regarding the script in development. Conan is his baby and he’s working with the writers to suggest fantastic ideas, the look of Arnold as Conan and suggest his weaponry to be used in the movie.
Since Universal is once again involved, I asked if they can use the same swords such as the Father’s sword and the Atlantean.
Fredrik: “We can. As you know right now, we’re concentrating on the story and the script, and then we’ll go out and find the right director who has the same passion as the rest of us in the group. And you always have to let the creative side and let the director put his stamp and mark on it so you never know what’s going to happen with the production design. I mean, we’re trying to get the TOP production people involved. We’re talking all the time about who we’d see doing the production, and our dream would be to have the WETA Workshop guys, the LOTR and Hobbit guys. They are huge Conan fans and they would be great to be involved on the creative side. But if they wanted to pay homage to the old swords, we could do it. But will the director and the whole team think that’s a copout or is that an homage? So you never know.”
It was also brought up that the sword may very well be likely to show up at least on the wall in one shot, but Fredrik has his heart set on a new weapon in Schwarzenegger’s hands.
Fredrik: “I would like to see that Conan has it still [the original sword], but it would be cool to pick up on some new fighting techniques. Wouldn’t it be nice to have Arnold fight with a double-axe? In the comics, he always has that swinging double-axe. I’m all for double-axes. But the sword is so classic, and it has to be in there sometime.”
Fredrik poses with my licensed Atlantean Conan sword signed by most of the cast members.
Arnold mentioned that this new film may be filmed in New Zealand and that an A-list director will be attached. Since Paradox told me they may want to make two or three Conan movies and that they would really like to use WETA Workshop for production on this film, I asked if Peter Jackson is a likely director candidate.
Fredrik: “I’m a huge fan of Peter Jackson, but he must have spent over ten years in fantasyland, and maybe his storytelling is slightly different from Conan’s. I’m not so sure Jackson would be attracted to Conan. It’s more fast-paced. LOTR and The Hobbit are great films of course, but his are maybe more high fantasy and Conan more down and dirty.”
So how about Paul Verhoeven? Brandon Krum from TheArnoldFans and I just found ourselves sitting down with the director of RoboCop, Basic Instinct and Total Recall to interview him for Brandon’s upcoming documentary, Arnold’s Army, and to see if he’d be up for reteaming with Arnold for The Legend of Conan.
Verhoeven: “If they asked me, I’d certainly love to – let’s put it that way. But I don’t know what the script is. I don’t know what Arnold wants. I’m a big fan in fact of Conan. That’s a great movie and I found that the composer, Basil Poledouris, basically inspired many of my movies [the soundtracks] like Flesh and Blood, RoboCop, Starship Troopers and Total Recall. The score of Conan is great. The style of editing that Milius used was very beautiful, and Arnold does a great job. He was really the perfect choice.”