Schwarzenegger returning for LEGEND OF CONAN!

[Toyland Chairman]

http://www.empireonline.com/news/feed.asp?NID=35606

Fans of Robert E. Howard's famous barbarian heaved a collective sigh of resignation and turned back to their dog-eared paperbacks following the disappointment of last year's Conan reboot. But fears that it would be another twenty years before Conan resurfaced onscreen have proved unfounded: Universal have just announced that they're at work on The Legend Of Conan, which will see Arnold Schwarzenegger finally returning to the role.

We've been here before: Arnold's adventures wearing the jewelled crown of Aquilonia upon his troubled brow were teased as early as the John Milius film in 1982, and Milius was attached to a film along those lines, the ultimately abandoned King Conan, in 2001. That one would have been produced by the Wachowskis.

The Legend Of Conan is not a resurfacing of that film, although Fredrik Malmberg of Conan rights-holders Paradox Entertainment suggests it will be a direct sequel to Milius' Conan The Barbarian, ignoring both Richard Fleischer's Conan The Destroyer, and the 2011 version.

"The original ended with Arnold on the throne as a seasoned warrior," says Malmberg, "and this is the take of the film we will make. It’s that 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."

Producing with Malmberg will be Chris Morgan, the in-house writer at Universal who was behind the last four entries in the Fast & Furious series, Wanted, and perhaps most relevent here, the forthcoming 47 Ronin.

"After the original seminal movie, all that came after looked silly to me,” Morgan says. “[Conan] lives by that barbarian law of the wild, capable of extreme violence and rage, but he has created his own code and operates from within it. By the end of that film, Conan became a certain character, and this film picks him up there, as he faces different challenges that include dealing with age. [It's] 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." 

The irony here is that, after years of studios persuing the idea that Conan need not be Arnold, and after a very credible turn by Jason Momoa proving just that (in spite of what might have been happening around him), we've come full circle, reinforcing the notion that no Arnold equals no barbarian. Notice also that nobody is yet quite displaying an intention to go back to the original stories. A King Conan film could give us an adaptation along the lines of Howard's The Phoenix On The Sword or The Hour Of The Dragon, but the source everyone seems to be talking about so far is Milius.

Still, it's early days yet, although The Legend Of Conan appears to be on a very fast track. Universal want it in theatres by the summer of 2014. The story is Morgan's, but Deadline believe that tight turnaround may mean he can't actually write the script, since it could clash on his schedule with Fast & Furious 7. In any circumstance, this seems to be very much his project, meaning he'll stay hands-on as producer. The next job is to find a director, but at least the film's star is sorted.

“I always loved the Conan character and I’m honored to be asked to step into the role once again," says Arnold. "I can’t wait to work with Universal and the great team of Fredrik Malmberg and Chris Morgan to develop the next step of this truly epic story.”

I've been hearing rumors about this, and COMMANDO 2, and a TWINS 2 but I'm not really sure. I'd love for him to do more sequels. He's older, so I hope he will be up to it.

[The Lurker]

http://www.empireonline.com/news/feed.asp?NID=35606

Fans of Robert E. Howard's famous barbarian heaved a collective sigh of resignation and turned back to their dog-eared paperbacks following the disappointment of last year's Conan reboot. But fears that it would be another twenty years before Conan resurfaced onscreen have proved unfounded: Universal have just announced that they're at work on The Legend Of Conan, which will see Arnold Schwarzenegger finally returning to the role.

We've been here before: Arnold's adventures wearing the jewelled crown of Aquilonia upon his troubled brow were teased as early as the John Milius film in 1982, and Milius was attached to a film along those lines, the ultimately abandoned King Conan, in 2001. That one would have been produced by the Wachowskis.

The Legend Of Conan is not a resurfacing of that film, although Fredrik Malmberg of Conan rights-holders Paradox Entertainment suggests it will be a direct sequel to Milius' Conan The Barbarian, ignoring both Richard Fleischer's Conan The Destroyer, and the 2011 version.

"The original ended with Arnold on the throne as a seasoned warrior," says Malmberg, "and this is the take of the film we will make. It’s that 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."

Producing with Malmberg will be Chris Morgan, the in-house writer at Universal who was behind the last four entries in the Fast & Furious series, Wanted, and perhaps most relevent here, the forthcoming 47 Ronin.

"After the original seminal movie, all that came after looked silly to me,” Morgan says. “[Conan] lives by that barbarian law of the wild, capable of extreme violence and rage, but he has created his own code and operates from within it. By the end of that film, Conan became a certain character, and this film picks him up there, as he faces different challenges that include dealing with age. [It's] 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." 

The irony here is that, after years of studios persuing the idea that Conan need not be Arnold, and after a very credible turn by Jason Momoa proving just that (in spite of what might have been happening around him), we've come full circle, reinforcing the notion that no Arnold equals no barbarian. Notice also that nobody is yet quite displaying an intention to go back to the original stories. A King Conan film could give us an adaptation along the lines of Howard's The Phoenix On The Sword or The Hour Of The Dragon, but the source everyone seems to be talking about so far is Milius.

Still, it's early days yet, although The Legend Of Conan appears to be on a very fast track. Universal want it in theatres by the summer of 2014. The story is Morgan's, but Deadline believe that tight turnaround may mean he can't actually write the script, since it could clash on his schedule with Fast & Furious 7. In any circumstance, this seems to be very much his project, meaning he'll stay hands-on as producer. The next job is to find a director, but at least the film's star is sorted.

“I always loved the Conan character and I’m honored to be asked to step into the role once again," says Arnold. "I can’t wait to work with Universal and the great team of Fredrik Malmberg and Chris Morgan to develop the next step of this truly epic story.”

I've been hearing rumors about this, and COMMANDO 2, and a TWINS 2 but I'm not really sure. I'd love for him to do more sequels. He's older, so I hope he will be up to it.

As long as there isn't a Junior 2.

[SJP]

I find it interesting that the guy who wrote the Fast and Furious movies would have the chutzpah to call ANYTHING silly, but ok.

And it's funny that they'd say they'd ignore Destroyer in continuity.  Destroyer was a one-off story and has no bearing on the life of Conan 30 years later.  It's really no more than one of the many endless adventures he could have had and subsequently forgotten about.

And it's nice to see Arnold come back, but I do agree that Momoa was sort of screwed...not his fault his movie was directed by a hack, and he tried to give a role a different angle.  But yeah, that particular series was going nowhere fast.

[RoninFox]

"Why did we never do another of these?"
-Arnold Schwarzenegger on the commentary track for Conan the Barbarian.

"Uh...you did."
-John Milius' response.

This could be the first Arnold movie in decades I get excited to see.

[KidFlash]

Yeah, it's important to remember that Milius and Arnold were so energized by that recording session that Milius went ahead and wrote a sequel script. Reportedly epic in scope and expensive as hell, it was going to be Arnie's next film after T3, but he decided to go into politics.

Been trying to finf a copy of that script for 12 years, maaan!

[Darth Geek]

Yeah, it's important to remember that Milius and Arnold were so energized by that recording session that Milius went ahead and wrote a sequel script. Reportedly epic in scope and expensive as hell, it was going to be Arnie's next film after T3, but he decided to go into politics.

Been trying to finf a copy of that script for 12 years, maaan!

Is that the Crown of Iron movie script that has been kicking around for years? I heard it was really good.

[Russell]

They're going to do this.... great I say. But get someone great to be a villain, a great actor yet physically intimidating... that's a pretty short list. Tom Hardy anyone? Oh... even better... Michael C. Hall?

[Sideswipe]

Michael C. Hall is physically intimidating to who?  Toddlers?

[RoninFox]

 Just wish Mako could still be around to be a part of the movie. I hope they still use his voiceover on the begining, it just doesn't seem like a Conan movie without his voice.

[Russell]

Michael C. Hall is physically intimidating to who?

To anyone who's not Michael C. Hall.

[Darth Geek]

I think they should just have Conan O'brien as the villain

[k1]

I wonder if there will be another 47 minutes without dialogue at the beginning after Mako speaks like the first one.

[Russell]

I wonder if there will be another 47 minutes without dialogue at the beginning after Mako speaks like the first one.

That movie really is glorious. Without Poledouris, I'd hope they could find a composer equal to the task; maybe Giacchino could do it. He channeled Maurice Jarre for a lot of the fantastic John Carter score.

Good call Imrahil. Giacchino did some excellent music on Star Trek (2009) as well. There are a lot of subtle motifs and styles he uses that echo some of Poledouris's style.

[Relaxing Dragon]

I wonder if there will be another 47 minutes without dialogue at the beginning after Mako speaks like the first one.

If Arnie gets another love interest, he'd better not say more than five words to her either.

[Russell]

I wonder if there will be another 47 minutes without dialogue at the beginning after Mako speaks like the first one.

If Arnie gets another love interest, he'd better not say more than five words to her either.

That's definitely for the best... one of the best moments in the original was when Sandahl Bergman's character was trying to swipe this ruby and Arnold catches her... and then gives her the jewel... without a word between the two. Excellent moment.