Conan the Barbarian - A New Take ? (1 Viewer)

[Paul_Scott]

actually I think it will be more applicable soon if not already.
War and a war environment spills over into cultural attitudes.
Film noir, and its philosophical underpinings, was as much a result of the exposure of people to the horrendous behaviour man was capable of in WWII as it was the restricted budgets.
The 'gritty' and violent films from the late 60's/early 70's were clearly a reaction of people being made to face the unpleasant facts of the Viet-nam war.

A barbarian movie, if done properly, would be a license to print money at some point in the not too distant future imo.

 

[Seth Paxton]

I agree with that point Paul. It would seem that we are shifting a little bit back to tougher, darker films when you see the edge that went into X-Men or Batman even. Audiences have been asking for films to be more gritty I think and have responded well to films like that lately.

Just think of where Miami Vice is headed this summer.

 

[Lynda-Marie]

Chalk me up as a fangirl who would like to see Conan put on the screen RIGHT... yeah, Ahnold was okay, but let's get someone new, since he's busy being the Governator.

My brothers are trying to say The Rock would be terrific - if they can cut back on some of the stupid modernistic one liners they had him spouting all over the place in [I/]The Scorpion King[/i], I could almost see him pulling it off.

Make it mandatory, for WHOMEVER they decide to cast (known or unknown) that they read the short stories Robert E. Howard himself wrote. Some of the other writers who came along were okay, but only the Howard stories REALLY resonated.

As for the gripes about the gratuitous violence and naked ladies, solve that problem with putting in some strong female charcters. Valeria seemed able to hold her own in Barbarian. Just get an actress who can ACT, in addition to looking good in a scanty costume. Here's a suggestion: Lucy Lawless, who has warrior cred, to play a love interest or rival.

 

[JonZ]

"If anyone live in near Pa, I highly recommend a Saturday trip to the Frazetta museum"

I try to go every couple years. I was gonna try to get there again before the end of this summer. As impressive as his stuff looks in pictures, seeing them up close is amazing.

Yea I have Barbarian and Destroyer on the wall. Its Destroyer thats behind the statue...
[url=http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/2870/c7nl.th.jpg] [/url]

 

[JediFonger]

i haven't read the original short stories by Robert Howard, did he objectify women in his stories of Conan (like they did in the film romps)?

 

[Paul_Scott]

oops.
the bottom of that looks to be the same set of figures he used for the cover of Conan The Buccaner.
If I can scan the image later I'll post it. (it's on page 72 of Testament)

___________

ah...ok.
I didn't read the liner notes with the image

"The painting in it's present form is entitled " The Destroyer" (see Icon page 63).

 

[Andy Sheets]

For the most part, yeah, the women were there to look sexy and be rescued. On occasion, however, Howard would come up with a spitfire character like Valeria, Belit, or Red Sonya, and they would at least have some distinction in their personalities.

Conan's relationship with Valeria, who appears in the story Red Nails (one of the very best stories), was inspired to some degree by a real life relationship Howard had with a schoolteacher, Novalyne Price. There's a pretty good movie about them called The Whole Wide World. Features Vincent D'Onofrio in a really good performance as Howard and Renee Zellwegger as Price.

Edit: Just going on some more about The Whole Wide World, there's this one great scene in which D'Onofrio transforms and just totally becomes Conan in every way except his physique ("Conan? Conan's the damnedest bastard there ever was...Fightin's all he knows, ALL HE EVER WANTS TO KNOW!!!"). If they could have gotten him back when he was younger and built his body up, he would have been a *great* Conan.

 

[JonZ]

"the bottom of that looks to be the same set of figures he used for the cover of Conan The Buccaner"

Thats the same one Paul. It also goes by the name Destroyer. Im pretty sure thats its official name given by Frazetta.

Story goes that when Frazetta read Bucaneer trying get a idea for the cover, he found it long and boring (note:Buc isnt a Howard story).Unable to get any inspiration from the novel, he instead did a painting that he felt personified the character.

 

[Paul_Scott]

I'll be driving past Franks house just about 24 hours from now on my way to work in NJ (well, east on 80 anyway).

ever work in oils Jon?

 

[JonZ]

Yea but Im shit! No good at all.Painting has never been my thing really.

 

[DavidPla]

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=38941

 

[TheBat]

if you are interested in the new conan movie, I would recommend checking out the new conan game..its on ps3 and xbox 360. its been rated M. violences, gore and nudity. might give you an idea on what the new movie might be about or even the tone.. which is more based on the books then the arnold movies.
closer to 300 in violences and tone, but even better then that.
Jacob

 

[Ruz-El]

I always loved the first film, and have started reading the Howard reprints. I'd be up to new film if they got the tone right. Following the 300 style would be a step in the right direction.

 

[Andy Sheets]

That poster almost looks like a mock-up made using leftover materials from the Arnold film - his sword is the Arnold one - but with the new logo slapped on at the bottom. For that reason, I'm skeptical that this is official. Might be fan-made.

 

[Mark Maltais]

Even so it's sweet, this would be great and it's about time we got another shot at seeing Conan kicks some ass!

 

[JonZ]

Teaser posters often look fanmade.

The Wonder Woman one was a Adman Hughes drawing, X-Men had Wolverines claws crossed, with the blue gloves and so on.

http://www.canmag.com/images/front/m...omanposter.jpg
http://www.cinema.com/image_lib/3603_teaserposter4.jpg

 

[KurtEP]

I'm a surprised this concept has been dormant for so long. There are plenty of good stories out there by Howard. Most of these are far better than some of the lame Sci Fi fare that's been doled out the last ten years. I wonder if people thought that the role was too heavily associated with Arnold to be doable with someone else.

Edit: And I could see the Rock doing something like this. At least someone with a wrestling background would be pretty nimble. Plus, a lot of today's serious bodybuilders are more freakish than back in Arnold's day. I doubt most of them would look good on the big screen.

 

[JonZ]

Please, pretty please, not The Rock.

Theres gotta be someone out there, from Europe who can do this.

Cast a unknown who has the potential and no baggage.

 

[todd stone]

rock would be good

 

[KurtEP]

Well, these days, Van Damme's pretty much unknown, but I'm not so sure about the potential or lack of baggage. :frowning: