It was reported over a month ago that Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed on to reprise his role as Conan the Cimmerian warrior in The Legend of Conan. The film is set to be produced by Frederik Malmberg and Chris Morgan with Morgan having provided the story and potentially writing the script. Morgan spoke with Hero Complex about the film and the process, because it wasn’t easy convincing Arnold to pick the sword back up.
Morgan told the actor to think of the film as ‘catching up’ with an old friend. Not a reboot, not a remake. Just an update. Where has the character been all this time? A catch-up with Conan.
The story that Morgan has plotted will pick up late in Conan’s life while still ruling over his kingdom.
He says: Hes not going out and fighting battles, but he ends up getting drawn into something and he has to access the barbarian he was in his youth. I love that Conan has been many things in his life, notably a pirate, a major tactician and a commander of men. In this movie, were going to tap into some of those things things you havent seen on screen yet.
I want the warrior whose joints have started to fuse together, who has to crack the cartilage so he can pick up a sword again. I want the guy whos not necessarily lost a step, but theres some rust he has to shake off. I want to embrace that. It makes it a greater hero story.
Conan needs to be faced with challenges. The greatest challenge to him isnt the armies that are set before him. Its, on some level, self-doubt, a little bit of slowing down and forcing yourself to be heroic beyond what people expect of you. What I dont want is for him to step back in and look the same. That would defeat the purpose of our story.
Morgan hasn’t officially signed on to write the film, but he will be involved with it in some capacity.
No matter what, Ill be there every step of the way. Whether its penning this quickly or selecting the writer, its me guiding the process or being a real honest-to-god producer. Im excited either way. Im really, really stoked.
The film is said to be a direct sequel to 1984’s Conan the Barbarian and will ignore the events of both Conan the Destroyer and of the most recent reboot, 2011’s Conan the Barbarian, which features “Game of Thrones” star Jason Momoa in the lead. Universal is aiming for a 2014 release.
