Conan the Barbarian producer Fredrik Malmberg had some very interesting remarks to share with Fangoria about the upcoming film. First he discusses why we will once again see a
Conan origin story in the movie. He then goes on to point out some things that he feels, separates this version of
Conan from the classic Arnold Schwarzenegger films so many of us are familiar with.
On telling the origin of Conan... “If we get Conan right, we have re-established the franchise and we can then go ahead with adaptations of the original stories. First we have to get the Conan character into people’s minds. He’s a complex character, and I believe we, like [1982 film director John] Milius, had to tell some kind of origin story. Fans don’t think that’s necessary, but we still have to please the studio system and the executives and marketing. And you see, the majority of the audience will not know where Conan comes from. They never saw the Milius movie. We need to create something that today’s audience will appreciate. ‘Give the people what they want but not what they expect’ is the mantra.” On distancing the film from the previous Conan movies... “We respect [that feature] for what it was, but we capture Howard’s Conan better. We really wanted this one to stand on its own. There were even a couple of actors from the original who came and wanted to do little parts, but we had to say no.”
“Jason just feels very contemporary, yet he fits the description that Howard wrote for Conan much more to me than Arnold [Schwarzenegger]. When you see Jason, you’ll say, ‘That’s Conan.’ Better than that walking special effect.”
“It’s a more gritty, realistic violence. This is a world where a sword cut is fatal and heads fly and arms get cut off. Marcus has an extreme visual knowledge. There are some scenes that will make you cringe. Then there are others where we said, ‘Maybe that’s a little too dark, and we’ll put that on the extended version.’ ” Marcus Nispel's
Conan the Barbarian featuring Jason Momoa, Rose McGowan, Stephen Lang, Ron Perlman, Rachel Nichols, Leo Howard, Saïd Taghmaoui and Bob Sapp is set to hit theaters August 19th.
Hawksblueyes: Personally, I can't wait to see this movie. Everything I've seen about this film indicates that it stays closer to Howard's writings than the original films ever attempted to.
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