As part of a general Comic-Con preview, Empire Online will host a little special about the upcoming Conan Movie in their next Empire episode. As usual they also preview the content in a very low resolution, but the keen eye of our community member Stampfer noticed, that the image used in the article is an unseen image of Jason Momoa as Conan.

It looks like Millenium finally started giving out image material to he press, so we can look forward to seeing more material popping up, the closer we get to Comic-Con and afterwards. Jason certainly looks quite impressive in the latest images we saw of him, very much buffed up and his hair getting the proper post-processing dark treatment.

We are looking forward to seeing (and receiving? *wink at Paradox*) more from the movie.

NuImage finally released the image of the already leaked version of Conan, from the Cannes presentation, on the web. In addition the NuBoyana Filmstudios announced, that they completed the shooting of the Conan Movie. In the official version of the picture they’ve also given Conan blue eyes, as the actor Jason Momoa originally has brown ones. They chose to change this afterwards with CGI instead of using blue contact lenses.

Most would agree, that by now the visuals of the actor Jason Momoa as Conan are close enough to what most would have wished for. Especially his facial expressions and strong general features are met with positive feedback throughout the community. The blue eyes effect on this image though looks quite unrealistic and I personally don’t understand why they would go for CGI if it doesn’t look more real than contact lenses – blue contacts always look kinda fake, since they are opaque to hide the darker original colour and do not reflect the light realistically. I suppose this was just a quick edit and the final result that is applied to the real film will be a lot better, so nothing to be worried about.

We appreciate to finally see a first glimpse at the real still photography of the movie and can’t wait to see more of it.

Patrice Louinet, a long time Howard purist and editor of his works, got to see several photographs from the Conan movie set and actors. Fredrik Malmberg, the CEO of Paradox Entertainment showed them to the REH fan and allowed him to open up his personal opinions on what he saw to the public to some extend. Fantasy.fr now sat down with Patrice, to direct some more in depth questions in his direction.

To summarize; Patrice is pleased with the visuals presented on the photographs, and reports that most of the actors on the set are reading Howard’s original works, to get into the mood and that he specifically liked how Momoa looked as Conan. Though Patrice hasn’t read the latest version of the script, he states, that he isn’t optimistic about the scripts direction and he assumes this movie will not be true to Howard on the script department.

This being said, I won’t delude myself into thinking this movie is going to be faithful to Howard, not by a long shot. I greatly fear to discover what’s in the final script.

Patrice’s opinion and insight is greatly appreciated and at least visually we are obviously in for a treat. Though I agree with his fear, that on the story side of things this movie will be a little flat-footed to say the least. If all things go well, we will not see a story that resembles Howard’s description of Conan’s life, but maybe at least the depiction of the character itself and the world that surrounds him will be true to Howard. Fredrik Malmberg has shown great respect to all Howard fans, by being so open with Patrice, and I praise him for taking that step. It demands in return, that we show the same respect to him and his project and not lay down arms, but together with Paradox carry the sword home, in hope of greater things to come. Stick together swords-brothers!

A journalist of Sofiaecho.com had the chance to visit the Conan film-set in Bulgaria in the Nu-Boyana Filmstudios in Sofia, to linger on the set and meet some of the movie’s stars in person. Jason Momoa, Rachel Nichols and Rose McGowan were not present, but Stephen Lang, Ron Perlman and Bob Sapp were there to meet him. The first article is only about Stephen Lang and he only quickly scratches the fact, that he is interviewing him in the trailer on the movie set. In the second article he talks to Ron Perlman in his trailer and asks him some questions and insight as to why he chose to play Conan’s father Corin.

It goes without saying, that the journalist praises the quality of the film-sets in the highest fashion. After all his article is for a local magazine, so take his words with a grain of salt   It’s sad, that the writer did not provide any set shots, to back his opinion.

It’s also interesting that Perlman says, he took the job to play Corin, because of the quality of the script. I hope that Andrew Lobel’s hands worked a magical job and Sean Hood follows through with what he started, so that we too can say: We like the movie… because of the quality of the script. After all… it’s a movie about a character, created by one of the most esteemed and praised writers of modern Fantasy.

After Paradox and Millenium kept themselves pretty closed up about the recent casting rumours, that have been going around on the web and the start of principal photography, they released a press announcement on their company portal, in which they unveil and confirm pretty much all of the casting rumour we’ve been telling you about. Note: Rose McGowan rumour officially confirmed, you heard about it here first

Principal photography started today (15th March) in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Nice to finally get some confirmation on the rumours, best would be a new story synopsis or a better casting description, because the present casting list and character (even name) description might be very much outdated. All we lack now is some spy in Bulgaria, that makes some set shots or connects us with the people working on the production. If anyone lives in Sofia Bulgaria and wants to participate in this lil project, contact me on Facebook.

Rumour has it, that Rachel Nichols (G.I. Joe, Star Trek) is going to be Tamara, Conan’s love interest in the upcoming Conan Movie. Since there haven’t been many official announcements about the casting, we have to go by the rumours flying around and see what we make of it.

Here is the casting description for Tamara:

She is 18 to 24 years old, Caucasian or Middle Eastern, open to all ethnicities; beautiful, studious, correct, a novitiate of a Greek influenced monastery. A master of martial arts, she has been trained to be the Queen’s servant, bodyguard and best friend. She and many other female bodyguards to the queen have been in hiding most of their lives because of the curse of Acheron, which would take the queen’s life to bring almost immortal power to its king. When Khalar Singh, a powerful warlord with ambitions to become the king of Acheron, storms the monastery and captures all of the novitiates, she is separated from Ilira, the one she must protect. With all of her strength and will, Tamara is determined to find and rescue her. She finds herself in league with Conan because of a mutual need to find Khalar Singh. She is not in the least intimidated by Conan’s size or grim demeanor and their alliance eventually blossoms into something that surprises them both… LEAD

Rachel Nichols certainly is a very beautiful woman. I recently rewatched G.I. Joe and I think she has the physicality that is needed for her role and the acting talent, to fill out the wide variety of emotions her character will go through.

UPDATE

Rachel Nichols officially confirmed that she is cast as Tamara.

RachelNichols1
@der_waldgeist well…he wasn’t lying…the deal is closed and i am going to be TAMARA. i am thrilled. xxx.

Desmoinesregister made their way to the training grounds of Jason Momoa, to talk to him and his family about the present situation and his preparations involved for the shoot of the Conan movie. Jason’s training started in early February, were he was enrolled in a six-week training course, to bulk up and get in shape to play the role of Conan with a bit more of muscle. He hopes to build up 10 pounds of muscle under the supervision of David Leitch, stunt performer on The Matrix and Bourne Ultimatum, before the shooting starts. Jason also did “research” with the original books instead of taking his inspiration on how to play Conan from the Arnold Schwarzenegger movies.

All in all, the interview/report seems fairly standard, but it doesn’t sound like Jason is totally hyped to play Conan, to be honest, since he says that this role is an “opportunity” for him, to play other roles. Of course, in the world of Hollywood one role is just a catapult for the next, but I would have loved to see more enthusiasm by the actor who plays such an important fantastical character as Conan in his first interview. I would have wanted to hear something in the line of “I hope this movie is going to be a big success, as I would love to grow this amazing character”. Maybe that is just his personality to play it cool and I hope he knows that playing Conan is not just an opportunity, but first and foremost a responsibility for a Legend in Fantasy.

After some days of struggle and uncertainty about some unknown secret actors still being in the race for Conan, with the slight hope for all of us to be saved from the two mediocre, third class actors, the decision is finally out. Millenium decided they go for Jason  as Conan. The pseudo-rasta wearing hawaiian model-became-actor from Stargate Atlantis.

Here are more shocking news from Latinoreview and more details on the selection of Momoa. Apparently the script rewrite (the secret rewrite) was done by Andrew Lobel, who wrote and directed a short horror film as his only work prior to rewriting the Conan script now. We will see what even the most magic hands could do to the mediocre storyline and writing quality of the last draft of the Doppenheimer script.

But the news don’t stop here. According to Latinoreview, Micky Rourke was cast as Corin, Conan’s father. While I think Rourke is a great actor, I don’t know if that choice is a wise one, because combining a hawaiian actor with Rourke will look completely out of place.

Well I hate to send you off with these horrible news into the weekend, but stay tuned for any debunking, as we will make sure to update this news instantly if that happens.

UPDATE

Here is a little example of how Momoa could look like without the beard, the dreads and with a Conan wig put on.

UPDATE 2

It has been officially confirmed by NuImages website, that Jason Momoa is cast as Conan the Cimmerian.

Paradox Entertainment sweeped their forums in an attempt to clear out some quotes and links to the October 09 version of the Doppenheimer Conan Movie screenplay. Together with the cleanup, they also posted a statement in which they tell us that a rewrite with “quite a few changes” is currently under way. Most importantly though the rumours of a Conan actor being chosen already, have been debunked.

Jay from Paradox wrote that they are even extending the casting call to the UK, to find the perfect guy for our favourite Cimmerian and there is no actor chosen yet, nor anyone they have as a clear front runner. The search continues in the US and Europe and we will see what comes off it.

Paradox is doing damage control, which is a good thing in my opinion IF it’s not just a cover up, but an honest attempt to rewrite the script to make any Howardian sense.

Over the course of the last weeks and month REH fans have been in on a coaster-ride when it comes to the movie project. It all began, when the first writing team was announced (Oppenheimer/Donelly) and because of their track record did not earn many claps from the community. Later the writer team Blackman/McCain joined the cause, both showing a real interest in the works of REH, with active participation in the conan.com boards. Together with their passion for their own project Outlander and their open approach to communication on their blog earned them some appreciation with the REH fans.

Suddenly all was turned around, when it was announced that instead of B/M the O/D script was the one that “nailed” it, against public disdain for the first leaked versions of the script. The last weeks were filled with new, very disturbing rumours, a very disturbing casting call character description and a new review of a more recent version of the O/D script which didn’t show any improvement when it came to quality or REH respect. While everyone will understand, that liberties have to be taken, there is absolutely no reason to completely change the character of the stories into an emo-rock-hero type.

Now, after a petition has made it’s round through the web, Paradox has chosen to report another detail on the production of the movie on the official Conan boards. There is another team of unnamed writers to start with yet another rewrite of the script. We will see how that turns out for us fans of quality fantasy and REH.