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Stephen Lang on Khalar Zym’s Deadly Weapon

Another snippet from MTV: this time, Stephen Lang talks about his character’s martial prowess, as well as a little background information.

As reported on the article itself, there’s some discussion on Khalar’s look:

“The look we created in this film, I’ve never been prouder than the creation of this role,” he told us of his character, a merciless warlord named Khalar Singh…

A slew of photos of Conan himself, played by Jason Momoa, have already hit the web. But Lang’s character has remained under wraps…

…And the look for Lang’s villainous character is one he can’t wait for the public to check out.

“I wanted him to be like a knife,” Lang explained. “I wanted him, in profile, to almost disappear if possible. I actually have some photos that I am forbidden to show right now. I know there are these photos of Jason out there, this gorgeous stud of a Conan leaping around shirtless. Truth of the matter is, I kick his ass for almost two hours.”

Lang highlights a good point: there has been plenty of photography for Conan, but very little for the supporting cast. What’s the holdup? Principal photography’s been over for months now. We’ve seen more of the supporting cast of Green Lantern, a film which only ended principal photography less than a month ago, than we have for Conan. When even the cast are talking about photos that they’re forbidden to show…

Incidentally, the MTV article uses the name “Khalar Singh,” rather than the recent revision “Khalar Zym,” which Lang himself has used in other video interviews: perhaps this is merely a mistake on the part of the reporter, and that the film hasn’t reverted back to the old name.

In addition, Lang talks about Khalar’s main weapon:

I have a very cool, and difficult to master — it took me many, many years to master — a double-bladed, parallel scimitar which can do all kinds of things, can break apart and can turn into a scythe, and it requires tremendous dexterity and deftness and agility to handle it – none of which I’ve mastered! But in fact, we worked really hard with the fight team from 300, and those guys are just the best.

I have no idea what a “double-bladed, parallel scimitar” could be — and frankly, the description perplexes me quite a bit. Are we talking something like a sword with two blades on either end, like Darth Maul’s double-bladed lightsaber or Illidan Stormrage’s Twin Blades of Azzinoth, or something more akin to the ridiculous triple-bladed sword of The Sword and the Sorcerer? Not only that, but it can somehow be turned into a scythe. Even if we’re talking something with a modicum of historical precedent like the War Scythe, a weapon that basically breaks apart is a weapon that’s extremely unreliable.

Martial weapons of the Hyborian Age were ultimately realistic. They were weapons that wouldn’t be out of place in historical fiction: broadswords, longswords, two-handed swords, shortswords, sabers, scimitars, knives, poniards, dirks, tulwars, axes, hammers, pikes, spears, bows, crossbows, arbalests. Simple but effective warrior’s weapons. The most elaborate weapons were semi-mystical blades like the Yuetshi Knife, which was simply a broad crescent, and the occasional jewel-encrusted heirloom. There were no double-bladed swords, bat’leths, throwing glaives, arm blades, ring blades, swords-on-a-chain, or even triple-bladed axes.

It’s difficult to imagine how this film’s going to make a “double-bladed, parallel scimitar that breaks into a scythe” remotely believable, and I fear it’ll end up being viewed as nothing more than a flashy gimmick.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 9th, 2010 at 2:00 am and is filed under Conan Movie Rumours. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • http://www.amrathelion.com Curry ‘Amra’ Roberts

    A double-bladed, parallel scimitar, eh? Good grief Charlie Brown.

  • http://www.Nivekian.com Nivekian

    I don’t give a crap about realism, Conan is in a fictional universe based on stories by REH, and art filled with Frazetta, Buscuma, and Nord.

  • Wolfie

    Darn, I don’t want to see WoW (World of Warcraft) type of fantasy crap in Conan, so I just hope that this double-bladed parallel scimitar will turn out to be something a lot simpler than it sounds.

  • Gazonga

    Yiha! Aaaand here we go… more of the famous “leeway to please the masses”. Let’s not only change practically everything, but also change the Hyborian Age from a visual standpoint and ruin the last elements, that would at least clarify, this not to be a D&D movie.

    If you look at the rest of the production shots, this movie already looks like a Dragon Age / D&D Computer game, which is a damn shame! For all the faults that Funcom made, their artists at least put in a lot of effort to make most of the gear and scenery believeable in Age of Conan. Was it so hard to just follow down that road Paradox? Jeez….

  • m

    maybe you can get a glimpse in that greenscreen pic ? Sounds a bit strange and silly,I just have to see it to understand what the hell Lang is talking about.I thought it was just the art team from 300 that was brought on board , the fight team too?

  • Fayric

    Hm, yes very hard to undrstand what kind of weapon he is wielding. Split apart and turn into a scyte make me think of chinese hook swords (interlocked might be used as scyte?)http://www.gungfu.com/htm-weapons/chinese-weapons/weapons-chinese-weapons-wushu-wushu-tiger-head-hook-swords.htm

    Khalar is obviously one exotic character. Even if I agree with the general “simplicity” of the hyborean age, I dont think crossbows should be seen as simple, they were doomsday machines that the pope tried to ban several times, quite complex devices. I dont mind if they ad some exotic weapons, as long as it dont look like WoW blades.

  • Fayric
  • Roargathor

    Ony stupid children who watch too many cartoons would appreciate such a fantastic and ridiculous weapon design.

  • http://sillyswordfights.tumblr.com Mobu

    The double-bladed scimitar sounds like Zulfiqar – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zulfiqar

  • Fayric

    Well, at least if it can turn in to a scyte, I expect him to be riding a warchariot. Not entierly unheard of in the hyborean age.
    Didnt someone say they used half swords in 300 and added the cutting edges/top in post production? (also why Jasons sword looked so short in the fighting/ruins scene) If so, perhaps Lang dont know what it will look like in the actual movie;)

    @Mobu: thats an interresting referens, Id like it to be clean and simple as that, but I doubt its what they had in mind.

  • Finn

    I take double bladed to mean it is a blade that is sharp on both sides, and parallel to mean he has two of them. The scythe could be him putting one of them on the end of a stick.

  • Antmanx

    By Parallel I think he means like 2 swords if you held them in one hand. http://medieval.stormthecastle.com/images/swords/519dCi4vUmL__AA280_.jpg see how the blades are parallel? I think this sounds kinda cool.

  • http://facepolution.deviantart.com mike

    @Antmanx, thats exactly what came to mind. but a scythe requires a long pole-like handle, so it could be more along the lines of darth mauls lightsaber

  • niono

    i belive the sword will be just like zuko’s sword (avatar , the last airbender the cartoon)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOhD_0sYT8k

    it is a single sword that became two( single handed and bouth hands)

    sorry for my bad english

  • Steve Dilks

    Wow!Now I’m stoked! Hopefully Conan’s blacksmith father taught him some weapon making before he died and he can make a sword worthy to rival Khalar Zym’s. Hopefully it will have some hidden gadgets too. A long dagger hidden in the pommel and a button that when pressed has the blade shoot off and impales some enemies! Just like in that famous Howard Conan story I can’t quite remember the name of at the moment.Wow! When is this movie coming out? Next year?! How can we be expected to wait that long after all this salivating excitement? Crom!

  • Steve Dilks

    Looking at double bladed paralell samurai swords reminds me of those pointless posey twin necked guitars wielded by ’80s hair bands.

  • Wolfie

    One hopes that “double bladed” is meant to mean “double edged” (sharp on both sides). With the inner edge sharp, a scimitar blade might double as a scythe blade…

    Indeed, this might mean double edged staff weapon with blades at both ends. That’s almost the only thing that makes sense here and – as an aside – tells me that someone in production is very much attached to those Star Wars double-bladed lightsabers…

    Still, it is too much fantasy to insert in REH Conan, imho.

  • m

    this sword thing is hysterical, but remember as far as too much fantasy to insert in REh conan, well what about winged apes and elephant/alien/god things enslaved by wizards?btw to fayric ray steve finn ian and all who’ve been around here a while, finally got my ass on facebook. drop a line.

  • Antmanx

    You can see in the green screen shot that he’s holding a 1 handed sword and seems to have a 2nd in its sheath.

  • Steve Dilks

    M; Got your e-mail address sword brother. I think the argument against injecting too much exotic fantasy into the Hyborian age is that it weakens the credibility of it. Howard’s own agenda was to write thinly disguised historical stories with Conan. He introduced just enough supernatural elements too get him accepted by the editor of Weird Tales, which was his best paying market. If one one of the bigger paying pulps, such as Argosy, had liked his work I think the Conan adventures would have had turned out somewhat differently. I like the idea of Conan’s time being a reflection of our own classical/prehistoric past and not some sort of middle-earth Arabian nights Narnia where anything goes and everybody has exotic weaponry to go with their equally exotic names in a vain attempt to make things seem so much more… interesting. All I can say about Khalar Zym is that he will probabely make an interesting action figure for a ten year old. This is “Sinbad” via “Star Wars” for retards.

  • m

    oh yeah i do agree this whole weapon thing is really silly, can’t a well crafted sword as accurate(as can be) to whatever region this khalar zyngh (intentional misspelling there)is from just suffice?

  • Steve Dilks

    In my last post I meant to say -this is “Sinbad” via “Star Wars” BY retards.I agree that any exotic costume or weapon should reflect the land said personage comes from. Khular Zmyth must be of eastern origin (Vendhya?) which is obvious really due to the casting so a broad bladed tulwar or scimater should be enough really. If he is cast as a more exotic far eastern character then we can look forward to all sorts of kung-fu tomfoolery. I wager though that such groan inducing antics are being reserved for the female cast of this movie instead.Women who can’t fight are always portrayed as martial arts experts in film. Is it because the moves are more akin to dance and gymnastics?

  • Steve Dilks

    Have a look on the conan.com invboard at the post marked “sequel to conan film by crossplain pilgrim”, y’all. Seems this chap has read a draft of a new script in the works which is based on (wait for it!)-A ROBERT E. HOWARD STORY.

  • Fayric

    @m: Looked for “m” on FB but didnt find you ;)
    I cant say Im very active there (and if I post its mostly in swedish), but if you look for Fredrik Stolt, thats me.

    @wolfie: a scimitar that is sharp on both ends could double as scyte blade makes sense. I just hope its not some kind of morfing magic metal they think will look real because modern technology is so advanced it can make anything look good on film (no, it cant)

    @steve: “Sinbad” via “Star Wars” BY retards sounds fairly acurate based on what we know. I also second the notion that female warriors always get to do the kung fu/two samll blades fighting style, and it soon got quite silly. Anyway, all this exotic and magic stuff flying around might be an (overdone and obvious) atempt to show how Conans barbarian muscle and cold metal (and pure force of will) in the end take down all those fancy tricks of magic and martial arts (I think Lang hinted as much in the last clip). But thats the problem with all this: no subtlety or finesse in telling the story, they have to overdo it. Sure its high fantasy, but Id like more awe than “wow!”

  • m

    @ayric and anyone whos’ interested.sorry,shoulda realized i gotta put my name on there , doh! its mario geraci, which is what I’m gonna go by from now on after this post anyway.

  • Steve Dilks

    I will miss my chum M. Welcome then- mario geraci! Been thinking on the early draft script of the “sequel” thats doing the rounds. Looks likely to be an adaption of “Black colossus”. A good choice movie wise I think. If (and its a fairly big IF at this stage) it does get the green light lets hope we get a good director on board. Of course this is Nu/Millenium throwing stuff out to appease the fans which is a worrying sign in itself. Already promising that next time will be better (honest!) does not inspire confidence in the film they already have. Good to hear from you again Fayric!

  • mario geraci

    I just reread black colossus.excellent choice actually again its all speculative.I think I’ve said it before but I’ll throw it out there cause I’m curious as to who’d agree and who’d see it differently: I always felt a character like conan would lend himself well to a sword and sorcery type adaptation of a fistful of dollars or its original, yojimbo. it’s been done as a samurai pic a western and a gangster type flick( last man standing the weakest of the three and still a better flick than what was given credit for) why not a sword and sorcery fantasy flick. I think ( though it would never happen I know that) the characters motives action and plot could translate well. an even crazier thought , I think in theory ( with a lot open to change)the second indiana jones flick would make a good premise( though no mine cart chase. it may sound crazy and stupid but try to imagine those flicks’conanized????

  • mario geraci

    @steve : I have your stuff sitting here.I may have a chance to get it out tuesday, if not in a week. it’s all here though with your name on it. sorry things are hectic hell

  • mario geraci

    and you can still call me m steve if you feel like it.

  • http://AprilSpane.com April

    Hoping this is going to be a great story for me to watch…. I barely made it through Arnold….Sorry, just being honest. I liked the movie 300, so if the action can be even greater than that, I’ll pray for it to gross over 600,000,000.00….Salutations….

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