Arnold Schwarzenegger’s acting comeback hasn’t exactly got off to the best of starts, with the likes of The Last Stand and Escape Plan failing to score the kind of success that the Austrian Oak enjoyed during the height of his career. However, things could change as Arnie starts revisiting some of his earlier work, and while the Twins sequel Triplets is unlikely to recapture the glory days, he’s got Terminator: Genesis due in 2015, and he’s also set to revisit his breakthrough role as Conan the Cimmerian for The Legend of Conan. Speaking to IGN, screenwriter Chris Morgan (Fast & Furious 6) has offered a few words about the fantasy sequel, describing it as Schwarzenegger’s Unforgiven…
“I don’t want to give away plot, but Conan’s Conan to me. Look, for my money, I don’t think that the right way. I’m not interested in passing on the torch. It’s Conan! It’s Arnold Schwarzenegger. We’re bringing him back for a reason. When I say Unforgiven, I mean it’s a guy who has to come back, and I want him to play his age. I want him to be looking at the later years of his life and have to contemplate this horrific threat. Sitting down and walking through the story with [Schwarzenegger], he’s amazing. It’s one of the projects that I am incredibly excited about, because I know when you hear Conan and you hear certain things, like the instinct is ‘There was just a Conan movie and we know those Conan things’ — this is different, I’m telling you. I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t perfectly fitting and built off that first movie and if it wasn’t awesome, and it’s awesome. It’s a great character journey. People think it’s just going to swords and hacking and effects. It is not. It is a character story. It’s awesome.”
Morgan then went on to discuss 2011’s failed reboot Conan the Barbarian, which starred Jason Momoa in the lead role, and how it compared to John Milius 1982 original: “Look, I think Jason is a really good actor. I love him, especially in Game of Thrones — holy s***, he’s great! But it is what it is. That’s the version they set out and did. The version that I am really interested in, the one that I went to Arnold with, and went to the studio with is, it’s a different version, and it really is a take on…Conan the Barbarian, people can say what they want about it, I think it’s actually a brilliant movie. I think the lack of dialogue in it…I think John did such a good job with it, such a good job. There’s a lesson about what it is to be a man and a warrior and ‘What is civilization in barbarism?’ and ‘What do you believe in?’ and lessons of life. I think there’s so much in that movie that we are now going to be able to jump ahead and build on that foundation that they built, those types of lessons. I think it’s going to be something really special and iconic and different than people expect.”
Are you excited for The Legend of Conan? Let us know in the comments below….
Originally published January 31, 2014. Updated April 11, 2018.
