A supposed to be preview of the first draft of the screenplay by Thomas Donelly seems to have slipped into public and some reviewer got its hands on the script. Latinoreview.com have published a preview of the screenplay in a kind of video-podcast where a speaker talks about the rough ongoings in the Conan script.

Nothing in the script connects to what REH has written about Conan’s life, his character, the ethical background of barbarism against civilization or any other important part of REH’s Conan for that matter. It’s a complete departure from REH. They created an evil sorcerer, just like in the first movie with Arnold, and gave Conan motivation by having the sorcerer come up with a plan that wipes out the whole Cimmerian race (?) – turning pet wolves into werewolves. Later Conan goes on by killing soldiers to get to that evil sorcerer to dispose him, because he is such an evil-doer. He also has a love interest, a female sorceress.

We will try to get in touch with Paradox to confirm or trash this rumor instantly.

UPDATE: We could not get any comment on the script or the preview itself from any official source, so this rumor will stay a rumor until we get more news.

This guy is really not letting any of his fishes slip. Yesterday MTV interviewed Ratner and asked him some questions about Conan casting. While MTV might over interpret his answers, as he is just stating what he thinks might be best, this could also mean that Mr. Project Ratner, the man of a thousand projects is trying to tackle Conan too.

I think after him stating that he is doing so many movies and Conan being his least choice and that he read the Comics (and if he’d heard of the books he would have mentioned it at that point).. its really time to ditch this director. He doesn’t know and openly stated doesn’t care enough about this license.

But until we have any official confirmation on the who’s going to direct Conan it seems Ratner likes to keep himself in the talks. Perhaps that’s also his (obviously working) strategy to look like a wanted man in Hollywood.

Since the latest news hinted at a soon to be started shooting of the new Conan movie, this news reported by geeksofdoom (via CB) hints at the fact that Ratner might just miss his opportunity to ruin bring our most beloved Cimmerian to life.

Ratner’s next movie seems to be a team-up project of Chris Tucker and Eddie Murphy called Trump Heist. Since it was stated that his next project will neither be Beverly Hills Cop 4 nor Conan (and he said himself that BHC4 would come before Conan), the chances are very good that he will not be the director for the new Conan movie, since even a very effective and on-time working Ratner cannot pull off two movies within less than half a year to meet the summer shooting plans for Conan.

Lets see how this turns out and if Ratner is just as unhappy about this leaked information as he was about Lerner leaking he was on Conan. Hollywood’s a never ending tornado of rumors and missed opportunities, so you never know what might blow up around just around the corner.

As announced in this swedish press release, which thankfully was translated by Gullbrand Millenium Films extended their option on the Conan movie license.

Option on Conan films extended for around four million kroner (Swedish currency)

The production company Millennium Films has, in accordance to the agreement, extended it’s option to produce films with Paradox Entertainment’s character Conan. The company has received 500 000 dollar for the extension. The extended option matures in November 2009. Any further extension after this is possible for a further nine month period, at which time the option must be exercised, or the rights return to Paradox Entertainment.

Just now Millennium Films are conducting preparations in its studio in Nu Boyana, Bulgaria, for a planned film start this summer. Fredrik Malmberg, who is creative producer for the film, works together with Millennium and its distributor Lionsgate with the hiring of key personnel, right now mainly a director, but also actors, production designer etc

This is great news and it further pushes the hope of this movie really becoming reality!

In times when true men patiently wait for more news or rumors on the upcoming Conan movie, they often refer to distraction and since the lamentation of the women would be a too obvious choice, we fall back to more standard distractions.

First we start with a refreshing remake of “Barbarian” from the C64. This flash game is quite a well done remake of the old classic Barbarian, and lets you fight against a human opponent or a computer enemy. They even included a well done remake of the old SID soundtrack. Play it and distract your thoughts!

Anyone who has grown up in a certain time and day might remember the quite cheesy comic version of Conan in TV. A fellow named Bleeek79 uploaded most (if not all) of the series to youtube. If you feel the need to shorten the waiting and if you just finished rereading Howard and if rewatching Ahnuld flex his muscles is too tiresome, then jump into the old cartoonish take on Conan and have a good laugh

Rumours, Rumours everyday, but what would we do without them? We would be bored, right?

Drew McWeeny wrote in an article on hitfix that even though he thinks it seems unrealistic how many movies Brett is doing right now he was together with Avi in Bulgaria.

Because Ratner was in Bulgaria this week.  With Avi Lerner.  I’m pretty damn sure about that.
And Bulgaria is where Avi Lerner is producing “Conan.”  I’m pretty damn sure about that, too.

The fact that he’s so damn sure about it really makes us think how Brett can pursue so many movies at the same time and why Avi would bring such a man to Bulgaria, if he is so occupied with other projects, that come first in the mind of Brett Ratner, as he stated himself in December. Why show your studios to a director that wants to do 2-3 movies before Conan that have not even started filming?

We will see what the future brings and if the fact that Ratner really is a busy man will bring us another director, that has more heart for the new Conan movie.

One of the companies involved in the production of the new Conan movie is Nu Image/Millienium Pictures. They have a studio facility in Bulgaria. In fact, Fredrik Malmberg confirmed that he expects at least some filming to take place in Bulgaria.

So now we may have a sneak peak into the sets that may be used or adapted for Hyborian locations. Nu Boyana studios built a sizeable “ancient Rome” backlot set for such features as The Roman Mysteries.

And we know that many of Conan’s adventures take place in ancient lands not unlike the ancient Roman empire.

You may be able to see a slideshow here:

http://nuboyana.com/

Select “facilities” then “Roman set”.

With almost 900 sq.m, Nu Boyana offers one of the grandest standing Roman sets in the world. It comprises a central city square, a mini colosseum, a roman garden, narrow streets and alley’s, training quarters and a variety of interiors. Productions who used this set include Spartacus, War Inc. and Roman Mysteries.

Exclusive Conan Movie Interview with Fredrik Malmberg

Who’re they going to cast as the muscle-bound king?

The hype for the release of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures was enormous, and at Ten Ton Hammer we saw a huge influx of new faces as the game neared its scheduled publication date. Over the last few years, the popularity of Conan has continued to rise as Dark Horse released a new comic book series, a new set of novels based on the Age of Conan mythos was released, and a single player Conan game hit stores. But the one thing that hasn’t occurred as of yet is the release of a brand new Conan film. As enormous fans of the franchise, the Ten Ton Hammer staff took some time to track down Fredrik Malmberg, the president and CEO of Paradox Entertainment (the company that controls the rights to the Conan Properties) and talked with Fredrik about the latest attempt at a Conan movie and how it might be tied in with the Age of Conan MMORPG.

Ten Ton Hammer: Conan comics and games have seen a great resurgence in recent years, is this what lead to the property now being re-introduced on film?

Fredrik Malmberg: In part, yes. Although “Conan” is such an iconic character it was more a matter of time before it would be back on the big screen, I think the comeback in comics, videogames and collectibles proves to the film community that we (Paradox) know what makes fans tick about the character and they now listen to us more.

Ten Ton Hammer: In articles about the film, it has been stressed that staying true to the Robert E. Howard material is critical, how do the writers plan on adapting his work for both true fans and a larger audience?

Fredrik: Very good question. My team worked closely with the writers throughout the process, which has been more than a year now. It is critical that we reach a bigger audience than the existing fanbase to justify the budget, and yet we are dealing with an R-rated badass hero with not all politically correct values. New fans need to understand what made Conan who he is, so we focused on the character traits that Howard gave us and hope that this will shine through.

Establishing the world is also important so that it’s obvious that this is but the first in many movies about Conan. But to answer your question, Josh Oppenheimer and Tom Donnelly were very well versed, had read all the REH stories, knew the comics, and got in with the latest Dark Horse adaptations. We sat down and played the games with them and they had all the Funcom Age of Conan visuals in front of them as well. In fact, Josh made a movie in college which was a Conan spoof. I think they nailed it.

Ten Ton Hammer: How will the movie differ from the Schwarzenegger film? Will it be set up as a series?

Fredrik: Yes, this is the first in a series of films. It has nothing to do with the 80’s film continuity-wise; we’re starting from scratch.

Ten Ton Hammer: Casting Conan is a real challenge, as he is not just some muscle bound brute in the stories. What traits would you look for in an actor who could possibly play this part?

Fredrik: Errrr… acting capabilities? What I mean is first and foremost, [we look for] a good actor. Second, this needs to be somebody who understands Conan’s character. Preferrably, with a personal depth. Physical presence, a big guy but in my mind but not a bodybuilder. Someone with a rugby-player physique, you know? Ultimately, this is a director ‘s choice because the chemistry must work between them.

Ten Ton Hammer: Will Howard’s themes of nature and human will against civilization and corruption be outlined in the film?

Fredrik: Absolutely. We will try to stress pivotal themes such as this to show what sets him apart from superheroes. Just imagine how Conan would deal with the problems on Wall Street today.

Ten Ton Hammer: What artistic style can we expect in the film? With recent achievements like Frank Miller’s 300, will we see a sweeping landscape for Conan’s backdrop and will Frank Frazetta’s influence be seen?

Fredrik: Frank has influenced a generation of fans and every director I met always brought up his art in their pitches. The world is so much more than that though, and I think Funcom did a fantastic job in Age of Conan. I am doing everything in my power to involve their art director, Didrik Tollefsen, into the film project because I think the six years of thought he and his team put into the visuals really pop on the screen. In fact, I talked with the WETA Workshop guys and showed his stuff and they said it was on par with what they do.

Ten Ton Hammer: Pre-production is around the corner, what stage are you in now with the project? There has been a lot of talk on finding the right director, has a decision been made? How close are you? What can we expect in terms of schedule, will the film be set for 2010?

Fredrik: We are happy with where the script is, always polishing until the final shoot of course. We are hoping to announce our director in January, and we have budgeted the script and looked at locations for shooting. The majority will be done in Bulgaria and some in China, and the film start date is set for June for a summer 2010 release.

Ten Ton Hammer: Being in charge of Conan Properties, what is your personal favorite thing about the Conan works?

Fredrik: That’s a broad question….”thing” huh? Probably that every time I pick up a Howard short story, I am stunned with how fresh and relevant it still feels. I like how simple Conan’s choices are and his moral fiber. Wouldn’t we all want to be like him? Yet, like someone said before, “I am not sure I would want him as a drinking buddy”.

As deadlinehollywooddaily interpreted yesterday on the basis of the quarterly report from Lionsgate, their financial situation is not the best one. Since Lionsgate signed up to be the Publisher for the new Conan movie it may be a bad sign for the publishing situation which could result in no publishing or cheap publishing – meaning less advertisement and less broad starting cinemas – lets hope that either Lionsgate catches up some speed in the coming quarters or Millenium Films decides to publish together with someones else, that does not stand on shaky feet.

Luckily the Conan Movie Producer decided early on that they were going to pull of the financing part of the movie alone and not involve the publisher too much, that at least gives us hope, that we will not see Lionsgate pushing out a cheap, cash-in version of a Conan movie.

Even if this is a bit old news, Dirk Blackman, one of the screenplay writers of the new Conan movie has created his own blog. The main topic of the blog is his new movie Outlander, that was directed by his Co-Writer from Conan and other movies – those guys make for a great team it seems – but after a while he also posted some articles about the new Conan and the situation and answered some user questions.

On a sidenote, if you are from the US, watch out for Outlander in some cinema near you, its not really advertised enough, but its a really good movie and for all the others: Buy the DVD once its released