The fine gents over at TheArnoldFans recently met with Schwarzenegger, producers, and even a certain Dutch filmmaker to glean some details about the upcoming sequel to the Conan franchise, THE LEGEND OF CONAN. Much has been discussed already for the long-desired sequel, but there’s a host of exquisite (oh yeah, I went there) details from Arnold, producer/CEO of Paradox Entertainment, Fredrik Malmberg, and director Paul Verhoeven that will certainly perk you up a bit, ranging in topic from Arnold’s physical role, story details, the use of the classic sword, potential creative teams, and just where Verhoeven stands on the film. Check out the excerpts below:
Arnold on his physical preparations for the role:
“…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, talks about what drew Arnold back to Conan:
“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.
Malmberg on their dream production effects team:
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.”
Malmberg on whether we’ll see Conan’s classic Atlantean sword in the sequel:
“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.”
Malmberg on whether or not he’s considered Peter Jackson to direct:
“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.”
Director Paul Vehoeven on the prospects of directing the sequel:
“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.”
Malmberg on The Viking element of THE LEGEND OF CONAN:
“It’s very Viking actually. We have these super-bad warriors, and they get old. Well, HOW are they going to die? They don’t want to die from old age or gout. That’s kind of what Howard writes about when he becomes king . . . when he’s lazy and when he had all the wine he wants . . . girls he wanted. It’s like all he really wants is to go back into battle. That’s what makes him truly live. That’s the moment we want to come back to in the movie when he has been king and he may have felt he would go off like an old animal and die. Then he realizes . . . I’m not going. I’m too strong to die. I’m going to go out and meet death when I want to meet death. On my terms.”
Malmberg on just where the sequel sits in the queue for Arnold:
“He wants to do Conan next, and his people want to do Conan next. It’s all a question of, can we get a great script done in time? After we get a go on the script, we can go into production within six months. As soon as the script is there, BOOM, we’ve got the green.”
That’s a bevy of awesome info if you ask me and it gets me even more excited at the prospect of this finally coming together. More exciting still is the prospect of Verhoeven directing the film, which would be culmination of not only seeing Arnold as Conan once more, but reteaming the TOTAL RECALL duo for another outing and making up for the loss of their failed-to-launch sword epic THE CRUSADES in the late ’90’s. Talk about killing two birds with one stone!
THE LEGEND OF CONAN is prepared to launch into bloody battle sometime in 2014.