Speaking with
The Arnold Fans, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and producer Fredrik Malmberg talk about
The Legend Of Conan, which will see Arnie's return as the legendary Conan The Barbarian. Despite being 65 years old, Schwarzenegger still feels like he did 30 years ago when he shot the original
Conan film.
"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!"
Additionally, producer Fredrik Malmberg comments on the creative process of the film, and says that his dream is to have Peter Jackson's WETA Workshop provide the visuals.
"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." And since it has been said that an A-list director is being sought out, is there any chance that the
Lord Of The Rings helmer could be hired?
"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."
However, one director who would love a shot at bringing Conan The Barbarian back to life is Paul Verhoeven (
RoboCop,
Total Recall).
"If they asked me, I’d certainly love to – let’s put it that way," he says.
"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." For more comments from Malmberg, click the source link below.
Schwarzenegger has previously stated that filming could begin by the end of the year, possibly in New Zealand. Universal plans on releasing
The Legend Of Conan sometime in 2014.
About The Author:
Christian, former CBM editor, movie watcher, music listener, comic nerd.
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