Brett Ratner is the oddest bird. I have never met him personally, but he seems like more of a slovenly wannabe playboy than the man of style he seems to think he is. I mean, wasn’t he fooling around with Lindsay Lohan at one point? The guy just sorta gives me the creeps, but I doubt you care too much about my opinion on Ratner and are here for the news. Well, it appears the news from “The Hollywood Reporter” earlier this week claiming Ratner had decided to direct the new incarnation of Conan prior to Beverly Hills Cop 4 may have been jumping the gun a little bit.
Producer Avi Lerner recently spoke with the “Los Angeles Times” blog The Big Picture to say that while he sent out a press release to the “Reporter” the deal wasn’t quite done. “We still have a few obstacles,” he said. “Brett is only committed if we agree on a budget, on how to do the special effects and exactly where we’d shoot the film.”
To read that quote you would say Lerner seems rather optimistic if not downright confident Ratner is aboard and ready to go with just a few deals to hash out. Well, the “Times” also spoke with Ratner about the situation and he said, “I am not doing Conan now. This is totally premature. For now, Conan is only a development deal. I have a deal at Paramount and I’m doing Beverly Hills Cop first, no matter what. Avi shouldn’t be telling you or anyone else in the press what I’m doing.”
Lerner apparently wants to start production next summer, but with the lead role uncast and Ratner supposedly working on BHC4 it sounds to me like Lerner won’t be getting his wish or he is going to need to look for a new director. One last bit he added with Patrick Goldstein at the “Times” was just what they were looking for in terms of who to cast as Conan. “To be honest, we’re looking for a younger Arnold Schwarzenegger, someone we could sign to a three- or four-picture deal, because I see this as a real long-term franchise.” Lerner says he offered Schwarzenegger $1 million just to do a one-day cameo in the picture.
You can read the entire report right here.
