Schwarzenegger Reprises Barbarian Role in THE LEGEND OF CONAN
If a reboot is rebooted with the original star, is it a reboot? My brain kinda hurts... Deadline reports that Arnold Schwarzenegger will be reprising his role as Robert E. Howard’s mythic barbarian in Universal's The Legend of Conan. The film will be produced by Fredrik Malmberg and Chris Morgan.
The Legend of Conan looks to skip over the 1984 sequel that Schwarzenegger starred in, as well as the 2011 reboot that starred Jason Momoa. Instead, it will be directly linked to the original 1982 film which launched Schwarzenegger's movie career.
Morgan, who's writing credits include the last four Fast and the Furious films, Wanted and 47 Ronin, hatched the story for Legend and may write the script. He explained the direction they want to take with the new film, saying:
The original ended with Arnold on the throne as a seasoned warrior, and this is the take of the film we will make. 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.
Malmberg added:
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.
The original film was directed by John Milius from a script that he penned with Oliver Stone. It was an R-rated action film that explored 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.
They're not sure whether they'll go for R violence like in the original -- I don't see how else they'd please fans if they didn't -- but Morgan promises to bring the same testosterone to the new film, and explains that they won't ignore the fact that the character has aged:
Will that level of violence be there? Absolutely, but only if it serves a character who lives by that barbarian law of the wild, who is capable of extreme violence and rage, but who 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'll be interesting to see Schwarzenegger donning loin cloths again. He's slowly getting back into action hero shape, but this will be a whole new ball game of bulking up *cough steroids*.
Schwarzenegger talked about his excitement for the role, saying:
I always loved the Conan character and I’m honored to be asked to step into the role once again. 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.
Universal is aiming for a summer 2014 release. What do you think of Schwarzenegger coming back as Conan? What do you think of their plans for the story?