Jason Momoa was among the stars attending the New York Comic Con, and here’s a video of the panel, with Rose McGowan and Stephen Lang. They discuss things like fandom interaction, comparisons with San Diego Comic Con, ideal roles, and Conan being a “family film” (tongue-in-cheek, of course). I can’t embed the video, so you’ll have to click the link, sadly.

There was more from the panel not recorded in the video, as FilmBuffOnline also has information:

Although it got trashed by the critics (scoring a 23% at Rotten Tomatoes) audiences who came out to see this past summer’s fantasy adventure Conan The Barbarian seemed to enjoy the film, giving it a “B minus” CinemaScore. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough audiences showing up to see the film to hit any higher than fourth place at the box office its opening weekend.

This weekend at New York Comic Con, the film’s three stars Jason Momoa, Rose McGowan and Stephen Lang appeared at a panel to discuss the film. Invariably, the subject of the film’s poor box office and the chance of a sequel came was brought up. Momoa, who had stated when he was doing promotion for the film that he had written a story for a possible sequel, stated that there was little possibility that a sequel would happen.

“I haven’t heard a word from anyone and it’s kind of sad because I feel a little cheated myself because we really busted our asses to make it amazing for the fans. I was a fan and I think we really hit it but to tell you the truth a lot of people didn’t go see it so I doubt that they’ll make a sequel. I would love it, but there would be less money there and [a sequel] is something that I would want to be bigger and better.”

McGowan jumped in to add that a fate of a movie can often be outside the control of its cast and crew, stating that the film’s R rating may have kept some audiences away while the PG-13 rated horror film Fright Night, which opened the same day, further siphoned off potential ticket buyers.

“People don’t understand behind the scenes stuff.  Lionsgate and Millennium, the people behind [the movie], to an extent did a really good job. But the entire distribution team at Lionsgate just got replaced. Also the second weekend Hurricane Irene happened and two-thirds of the country was shut down so it was just bad luck essentially.”

McGowan went on to draw an analogy as to what it was like to make a film she was proud of only to have it fail at the box office. “It’s essentially like giving birth to this really great baby, you hand it to the nurse and it falls out of her hands and flies out the window,” she said.

“They dropped my baby?” questioned Momoa after the laughter in response to McGowan’s statement died down.

“They did!” she replied. “They drop kicked it!”

Lang added that he has participated in a number films that weren’t successful right away but still went on to find their audiences. He also stated that he was disappointed that he wouldn’t get to see more of his castmate Momoa continue to explore the character of Conan in future films.

“It’s really easy to do a postmortem on the thing. I think that the R didn’t help the business of the film one bit. Maybe it was necessary for the movie. I see that. I think Rose says it pretty well that the distribution didn’t work out quite it should have. I sure wish this one had done much better than it did. I think it deserved a number of sequels and I would like to see Jason track that character for a long time.”

While my thoughts on the film’s marketing and quality are out there, I wouldn’t rule out Hurricane Irene as a contributing factor to its poor financial returns, what with over a thousand cinemas being closed over the end of the second weekend.  Ah well.

You cannot kill what does not live, and since Conan Movie Blog doesn’t technically count as a lifeform (yet) it continues to occassionally sound its barbaric yawp as the next piece of Conan-related movie news comes along. Today, it’s the trailer for the blu-ray release, as seen on Movieweb:

A home entertainment debut as fierce as the warrior himself, Lionsgate brings Conan the Barbarian to 3D/2D Blu-ray Disc, 2D Blu-ray Disc, DVD, Digital Download and On Demand this November. In an epic battle led by an epic hero, Jason Momoa (HBO’s Game of Thrones) stars as Conan, the Cimmerian set on avenging his father’s death. The action-packed film, directed by Marcus Nispel (Friday the 13th), also stars Rachel Nichols (Star Trek), Stephen Lang (Avatar), Rose McGowan (Planet Terror) and Ron Perlman (Hellboy).

Based on the character of Conan as originally created by Robert E. Howard, a boy born on the battlefield grows into a hulking warrior hell-bent on avenging his father’s death. But Conan’s personal vendetta soon escalates into an epic battle of impossible odds, facing the fiercest of rivals and the most horrific of monsters.

I like this press release a lot better than the one on Blu-Ray.com: it reads better, they choose better “as seen in” references for the stars (seriously, if you were Rachel Nichols, would you rather be associated with Star Trek or G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra?) and it’s a better description of the film itself. Movieweb also has artwork matching the pictures seen in our last report.

As for the trailer… I’m amazed they’re still using the terrible “beta” animation for the Mask of Acheron instead of the one that appears in the film (and the first bloody trailer), not to mention Movie Trailer Guy mispronounces Conan’s name despite the correct pronunciation being used by Rachel Nichols twice within the same twenty seconds, but to be perfectly frank, it’s kind of what I’ve come to expect from whoever makes these trailers. Ah well, the important thing is it lets people know Conan 2011 exists, and if you shied away from it at the cinemas, you can always rent it across multiple media platforms. Who knows, Conan 2011 may yet prove to have legs on the home video market.

And, just because, here’s the Conan 2011 Hungarian DVD:

I like it better than both the US and UK releases.

From Bluray.com:

In November, Lionsgate Home Entertainment will bring the recent Conan the Barbarian reboot to Blu-ray. The film debuted last August and played on both 2D and 3D theatrical screens.

Director Marcus Nispel’s film finds Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones) replacing Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Cimmerian hero. Teamed up with a beautiful monastery student (Rachel Nichols, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra), Conan undertakes a quest to avenge the death of his father (Ron Perlman, Sons of Anarchy).

Ultimately, his journey puts him at odds with brutal warring peoples, grotesque creatures, and the evil Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang, Avatar), a warlord determined to rule Hyborea alongside his sorceress daughter Marique (Rose McGowan, Scream).

Lionsgate presents the film in two Blu-ray editions – a standard 2D Blu-ray version and a Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray 2D/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack.

While the studio has yet to confirm their respective technical specifications, both sets will contain the following special features:

• Two audio commentaries
• A history of the Conan franchise featurette
• The Man Who Would Be Conan: Robert E. Howard featurette
• Two additional featurettes on the action and fight scenes

The 2D and 3D versions of Conan the Barbarian street on November 22nd.

Sounds like we’re not getting an extended edition, but will be getting some deleted scenes. I’m very intrigued/apprehensive about the “history of Conan” and Howard featurettes, and wondering who’ll be on the audio commentaries: I suspect one will have the stars, and one the production. Not sure if it’ll be enough to convince me to buy it, though.

The report also has two box art pictures up, though again, they could just be placeholders.  They’re very similar box art to the TBC mockups on Amazon, though with the “sword logo, and having swapped the oversaturated red and yellow with a blue & orange tint, inadvertently transforming Khalar’s soldiers into blue lobsters:

At least it doesn’t have those dubious single word endorsements from FHM and Nuts. “Brilliant!” “Awesome!” Put those along with “Monstrously Entertaining!” and “Top-Knotch!” I don’t know whether to be bothered or thankful that Robert E. Howard isn’t mentioned on either cover, but no doubt his name will be on the back.

Sorry I haven’t been keeping up to date on the blog, Cromrades: various factors have conspired, which shall be addressed after the jump.

First up, let’s look at the news I haven’t already reported on:

• Art Andrews has a massive collection of photographs of props and costumes from the film at his Flickr;
• David Pomerico talks to Suvudu.com about Conan the Barbarian: The Stories That Inspired The Movie;
• Michael A. Stackpole’s novelization of Conan the Barbarian is reviewed at CSI: Librarian;
• SummerGlauWiki (of all places) has scans from SyFyNow’s four page article on the film;
• Rose McGowan has interviews with Montreal Gazette and Comic Book Resources;
• Film School Rejects speaks with Marcus Nispel (and it explains a lot about how the film turned out, IMO);
• Jason Momoa has interviews with USAToday, Miami News Times, The Huffington Post, ;
• Collider has a neat interview with Ron Perlman and Leo Howard;
• Gotcha Movies has a report on the Alamo Drafthouse Premiere (you can see a couple of familiar Howardian faces in the front row);
• The Sofia Echo reports a 24th August gala premiere for Conan the Barbarian (and with the way box office has been going stateside, I bet the producers are praying for the highest grossing film in Bulgarian history)
• Hollywood Outbreak chats with Rachel Nichols in a podcast;
• Honolulu Pulse brought the disappointing news that Jason Momoa couldn’t make it home for Hawaii’s premiere;
• The Daily Billboard has some nice images of the Conan billboards;
• at least seven new images from the film are up at filmering.at; 
• Conan: The Mask of Acheron has sold out;
• Bakersfield Now has photographs of the US Premiere;

The final report on Conan the Barbarian’s takings this weekend are up at Box Office Mojo, and… well, I’ll let the report speak for itself:

Conan the Barbarian went the way of past August fantasy/ancient action movies and flopped hard. Joining the ranks of Kull the Conqueror and The Last Legion and grabbing less interest than even The 13th Warrior, Conan reaped an estimated $10 million on around 4,500 screens at 3,015 locations. It was a far cry from the 1982 Conan, which had over three times the attendance on its opening weekend, though it had a similar gross ($9.6 million).

The Conan remake’s marketing relied on the brand name and generic fantasy action instead of presenting a compelling story and strong characters. The movie’s director, Marcus Nispel, was also responsible for the similar dud Pathfinder. With roughly 2,100 locations, 3D was 61 percent of Conan‘s take. Distributor Lionsgate’s exit polling showed that 65 percent of Conan‘s was male and 69 percent was over 25 years old.

Until we know how the film did on the international market, though, we can’t put the “flop” stamp on it just yet. In terms of opening weekends, however, it does appear to be something of a disaster.

State of the Blog

Alright Cromrades, I feel it’s my duty to inform you about what’s happening with the blog now that the film’s out.

In short, it’ll still be running, but not at nearly the same level of regularity as it has been. There are a number of factors: the first being burnout. I and others have been working hard on the site, and I’d rather slow to an easy pace than crash into a wall at high-speed. Another is more insidious: my general opinion of the film itself. As I said in my review, I, uh, had problems with it. The fact that I had such problems with it led to a sort of crisis, as I felt I had spent so much time and energy on a film that I feel didn’t deserve the effort. I felt angry, insulted and ultimately depressed. Now that I’ve learned the film hasn’t exactly been doing gangbusters over the weekend, I feel a great draining of energy.

Nonetheless, I’m not beaten: I just need to pick my battles, as it were. Future posts on the CMB will either be short links posted on a regular basis, as seen above, or longer ones posted irregularly. I don’t want to use a schedule, as there can be no telling when news will come and at what saturation, but I hope the community which has emerged in the past few years will mean there’s always something for new visitors each day, be it in the comments or forums.

It might interest you all to know that we recently reached a significant milestone, passing 1,000,000 individual views yesterday. The film might not be doing great, but the blog’s chugging along for now. I couldn’t have done it without you all, and although the film wasn’t what I was hoping it to be, I couldn’t be more overwhelmed at the community that’s flocked around it. You are the vital spark which kept me galvanized, even through the disappointments, trials and tribulations. For that, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Well, let’s not get all maudlin: coming up, I’m putting together a pool of the best reviews – not in terms of how well/poorly they rate the film, but in terms of insight, perspective and eloquence, that they might help us look at the film from a different perspective. Until then, keep on clicking: maybe we’ll get another 2 million before we’re done!

Gearing up for the big day!

The Conan 3D Facebook page has a new picture of Leo Howard’s young Conan running amid fire and chaos in his home village:

For more, you will know it by the click of the link.

Chicago Sun Times has an illuminating interview with our man Jason:

How does a man know he has found his inner barbarian? For Jason Momoa, it revolved around reaching out to his he-man friends.

“I wanted to have my nose broken for this role but wasn’t sure how to accomplish it,” says the Iowa native.

So, he enlisted a friend with a fist.

“I was like, ‘Dude, I have this idea. I think you should break my nose. Would you do it?’” Momoa recalls. “My buddy just did it right away, damn it. After it was over, I said, ‘Dude, didn’t you want to think about it for a minute?’ But we’re guys and he said, ‘You don’t have to ask me twice. Done deal.’

“Just please don’t tell my wife about it,” he begs. “I wonder if she reads your newspaper?”

Yes, boys will be barbarians in the new installment of “Conan the Barbarian,” the film franchise that made Schwarzenegger a superstar. Dark-haired, beefy Momoa is at the forefront of new epic battles against very muscular rivals and a few horrific monsters as his Conan tries to save the great nation of Hyboria from supernatural evil.

“He’s a man. He fights, he f—s. He’s a pirate thief. He’s flawed,” Momoa says. “He’s a soldier and a warrior. He won’t fall in battle. Plus, women think he has this animalistic, primal side to him that’s sexy. Above all, he says what he means.”

The 32-year-old was born in Honolulu but grew up in Norwalk, Iowa. After high school, he returned to Hawaii, where he broke into acting with a role in “Baywatch.” Momoa also has starred on series including “North Shore,” “Stargate: Atlantis” and “The Game.”

He also plays Khal Drogo in the hit HBO series “Game of Thrones” and marvels at his newfound fame, including a recent appearance on Jay Leno’s show.

“I did refuse any makeup,” he says. “Someone wanted to put powder on me and I said, ‘Are you nuts? I’m a barbarian.’”

You sound a little upset.  What irks Conan?

I just talked to some of the foreign press, and they thought the movie was violent. It’s “Conan”! People know they’re going to watch “Conan” and not “The Prince of Persia.” Conan is supposed to kick ass. I think this movie does a great job of reinventing a classic. Tonight, I’m going to go watch an early screening of it with a bunch of my buddies and then go drink some beers. I know they’ll love the action in the movie, and I’m not worried about what they think of me as an actor. They know I’m an idiot.

How were you cast?

I was cast because I do “Game of Thrones” and the film had a mutual casting director who knew my work. He said, “This kid is our new Conan.” Actually, being cast as Conan wasn’t a nail-biting thing. Getting the HBO series was the nail-biter because I had to wait to find out, plus they didn’t want to cast out of America. It was seven months of ups and downs. With “Conan,” I was equally thrilled because it was a truly iconic role and a departure from who I am. Plus, it is iconic, so I had a feeling of, “Let me show you what I can do with it.”

3 Any worries that audiences  will be comparing you to Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Of course, but then again, Sean Connery and Daniel Craig are both James Bond and both phenomenal. We saw Jack Nicholson do the Joker in “Batman” and thought no one else could do it. Then Heath Ledger came along and won an Oscar for it. It’s apples and pears or peaches and cream. The point is that it’s a new day for Conan. … When I started this movie, I watched the first Conan movie and Arnold did a great job, but it’s 30 years later. It’s actually shocking that no one redid Conan before now. … [Schwarzenegger] saw the movie and passed on a message that I did a good job. That was fantastic to hear.

Did you bulk up for the role?

I did a lot of weight training to transform my body. I also learned Asian movement because I have to wield that big sword. Basically, I wanted to do that with the gracefulness of a cat. I even studied big cats and the way they walk and hunt. In the end, I put on about 35 pounds for both “Conan” and “Thrones.” It was fun to put on just weight for “Thrones.” I ate pizza and drank Guinness. On “Conan,” I had to put on muscle, which was tough. I had to eat lean protein and keep a crazy level of training up.

Did you come away with any good injury stories?

Oh, I almost died on the horse a few times. Once, the horse’s feet went out underneath him and I slid off his neck. When the horse fell, his butt almost crushed me but missed me by a narrow margin. I was also bucked off and broke a rib. You heard about my broken nose. Don’t tell my wife. There were also mornings where I had to crawl out of bed because my body was hurting so bad. So, I’d just put some Epsom salts in my tub and sit there. Then I’d go back to the set and do a few more stunts, knowing that if something really happened to me, I’d be … word deleted.

TR3S has some soundbytes from Rose McGowan & Rachel Nichols on the women (and men) of Conan:

Who says the new Conan the Barbarian movie is just for guys? Despite plenty of sword fights, explosions, and bone-crunching stunts, this latest theatrical reboot also includes some pretty dynamic female characters. Star Trek’s Rachel Nichols plays Tamara, a headstrong love interest for the Cimmerian warrior, and Rose McGowan portrays Marique, an evil witch. Both actresses spoke exclusively to Tr3s about their roles at a recent Conan press conference.

“It was fun being able to play a witch,” McGowan explained. “I don’t think I’ve ever played a character that was so unconstrained. Normally you’re asked to pull back with a character, but not here. We had a lot of fun with it.”

Interestingly Rose has played a witchy woman before, back in the early 2000′s, when she had a starring role on the cult series, Charmed. But for Conan, she’s exploring much darker territory. Her character uses magic for pure evil and comes with her own very unique look.

“I think Marique is kind of amazing looking,” McGowan said. “But it took six hours in the makeup chair to get that way.”

Rachel, on the other hand, plays the lady heroine of the film and a very sexy love interest for Conan. When asked about her chemistry with star Jason Momoa, Nichols had nothing but praise.

“I loved working with Jason,” she said. “There’s something about him. He’s a huge presence. He’s a big guy and he’s got that booming voice, but there’s also something really sweet about him.”

Don’t worry fellas, this revamped Barbarian is anything but soft. Throughout the film, Jason racks up quite a body count with some insanely intense action sequences (as Rose can attest).

“This movie has amazing swordplay,” McGowan said. “Seeing Jason and [villain] Stephen Lang go toe-to-toe was amazing. It was very impressive.”

Rachel was quick to chime in on the topic too, making sure that fans knew the women in the film are just as capable of swinging a blade as the boys. When speaking about her character Tamara, she said,

“Tamara definitely gives Conan attitude. There’s some hostility in their relationship. She is not the typical damsel in distress. I really like the modern idea of ‘I don’t need Conan to save me, I can save myself’.”

You can see just how “epic” Rose, Rachel, and Jason’s scenes get when Conan the Barbarian arrives in theaters next Friday.

The Daily Hampshire Gazette has an article about two local entertainment lawyers who were tied into the upcoming film, which has a lot of fascinating information about the rights situation and eventual production of the new Conan film:

NORTHAMPTON – Bringing a barbarian to the big screen takes a lot of civilized work behind the scenes. Just ask Northampton entertainment lawyer Frederick Fierst and his son, Daniel Fierst.

Both are in Los Angeles today for the red carpet premiere of the new “Conan the Barbarian” 3D movie. The elder Fierst, 63, is credited as an executive producer on the film for his role transferring the Conan franchise to new owners. The film opens worldwide Aug. 19.

California-based Paradox Entertainment Inc. acquired Conan and other intellectual property of author Robert E. Howard in 2003 for about $6 million, Fierst said.

Daniel Fierst, 28, worked for Paradox for three years as its president’s personal assistant. A 2002 Northampton High School graduate, he got to see the Conan reboot in its early stages, arranging meetings between Paradox and the relatively unknown production company that made the movie, Millennium Films.

“Everybody in Hollywood thought we were crazy for going with Millennium rather than one of the major studios,” Frederick Fierst said. “But we were convinced they were going to make the film instead of (sending it to) development hell.”

Paradox has been the licensing authority for other Conan commodities, including a comic book series and an online game, for years. But until 2007 all the Conan film rights belonged to Warner Brothers.

Fierst said the studio never followed through with a feature, and so when its claim lapsed, Paradox took it over.

The film is directed by Marcus Nispel, who is known for remakes of “Friday the 13th” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” as well as documentaries on musicians including Janet Jackson and George Michael.

In the title role is the heavy-browed Jason Momoa, who played another barbarian in the recent HBO miniseries “A Game of Thrones,” and also starred in the final season of “Baywatch.”

Daniel Fierst said Paradox wanted a “Conan” that was true to Howard’s stories from pulp magazines of the 1930s. He said the Conan played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in a 1982 film was a “hodgepodge bastardization,” borrowing a villain from a different Howard series, “Kull of Atlantis,” and making the hero a slave.

“That was outrageous to fanboys,” Daniel Fierst said. “They’d say Conan would die before he became a slave.”

Indeed, in a trailer for the new film, Momoa’s Conan says, “No man should live in chains.”

Frederick Fierst said Paradox went out of its way to make peace with Conan purists, donating to the fan-run Robert E. Howard Foundation. He said part of the new movie was screened at the group’s recent convention in Texas, and it was well received.

Last summer Frederick Fierst traveled to Bulgaria to see some of the filming. He said many of the special effects shots were done in a former Soviet propaganda studio, and there was also location shots around the country, including one in a gigantic cave where the movie’s climactic final scene takes place.

A partner at Fierst, Pucci & Kane on Gothic Street, Frederick Fierst formerly represented Mirage Studios, which sold the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise to Viacom in 2009 for $60 million. He said Nickelodeon is now developing a new Turtles animated series.

Acquiring the Howard universe involved a lot of trademark and copyright work, in which Fierst said he was helped by two associates at his firm, Amanda Schreyer and Hun Ohm, and paralegal Diane Kleber.

The New York Times has an interview with Stephen Lang about his career, touching upon his time as Khalar Zym in Conan, and with a quote from Marcus Nispel:

THE news that “Conan the Barbarian” was being screened for journalists in New York brought a mischievous grin from the ferocious warlord Khalar Zym, a k a Stephen Lang. “Do I own it?” he asked. “It’s an innocent question. I’d like to think I could do a romantic comedy, you know? But villains are a necessity. Without them, what’s your hero got?”

Mr. Lang is quick to joke. (“He’s so warm and inspiring and infectious,” he said of one director. “Not in a diseased way. In an enthusiasm way.”) But he combines charm with discipline. As Mr. Nispel put it,  “I wasn’t aware how extensive his theater background was, but doing ‘Conan’ is theatrical. It’s swords and sorcery, and even in the world of such theatrics there has to be an authenticity. You have to be able to deliver those kinds of lines and be believable. A lot of people just can’t.”

Inhabiting the author Robert Howard’s hallucinatory, hyperviolent world of Hyboria couldn’t have been further from Mr. Lang’s “White Irish Drinkers” character, an alcoholic laborer and his family’s own domestic terrorist.

(“Hallucinatory”?)

Here’s an unexpected interview, a 26 minute(!) chat with Alina Puscau, who talks about her experiences, including (of course) Conan:

Anyway, the next batch of videos are interviews with TalkingPicturesTV. First off, Jason Momoa, where he talks about picking nude Bulgarian women, bringing Howard’s prose to screen, and keeping Conan’s humanity:

We also have an interview with Rachel Nichols (pictured above in a backless dress, undoubtedly a remarkable feat of engineering), and sadly, though this is her first sex scene in a film, we find she had stunt boobs (hand-picked by Jason Momoa himself), so all those who are nothing short of obsessed with seeing more of Rachel may be disappointed. Those concerned about spoilers should probably miss this one, though, since Rachel gives away the ending(!):

The rule of three dictates a final interview, and it’s with Rose McGowan:

In more general Robert E. Howard news, the creator of Conan got into 68th place in NPR’s Top 100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels list. Since these lists are inevitably popularity-based, I’m taking it as a great sign that Howard’s on the list at all, rather than worrying about placement. One can only hope that the new film will boost REH’s popularity, and that we’ll be seeing him talked about a lot more, and in favourable terms.

So, the premiere has passed. I’ll leave it to the likes of Examiner to analyse the upholstery of the attending ladies (“Elsa Pataky wore a pleated chiffon cream colored dress with black detailing at the neck, which matched her black pumps” while “Rachel Nichols’s cream sequined dress with the side cutouts was a winner as well”), but I’ll provide a few pics and snippets I found of interest. According to various reports, castmembers Jason Momoa, Rachel Nichols, Rose McGowan, Ron Perlman, Leo Howard, Bob Sapp and Milton Welsh were in attendance, as well as director Marcus Nispel. I’m afraid I don’t know who Elsa Pataky or Tom Arnold are, but they were there, as was Patrick Muldoon (who will always be Zander from Starship Troopers to me) and I’ll assume their presence at the premiere was indeed vital and entirely necessary.

For the earliest reviews punctuated with pictures, videos and interviews…

PopCandiesTV has an impressive number of clips from the premiere featuring various cast and crew members.

Nonso Anozie (Artus) was there, and he comes across as a thoroughly loveable and eloquent chap:

Gisella Marengo (Maliva, Khalar Zym’s beloved wife, and Marique’s mother) looking absolutely gorgeous:

Leo Howard (young Conan) signs autographs like a pro – mark my words, this kid’s going places:

Marcus Nispel gets in on the signings, scribbling away with a flourish like a mad artist:

Alina Puscau (erm, Slave Girl #1) looking glamorous:

And hey, Bob Sapp (Ukafa) too! We’ve seen so little of the big guy, it’s almost like catching a sighting of the Loch Ness Monster. All we need now is Steve O’Donnel as Lucius…

I thought this was a rather lovely picture of Jason Momoa and his lass Lisa Bonet:

Here’s Rachel Nichols, whose backless attire is undoubtedly a masterful work of engineering future archaeologists will study for centuries:

Here’s a nice group shot of much of the cast, with Jason Momoa flanked by Rose McGowan and Rachel Nichols, backed by Ron Perlman, Bob Sapp and what could be Milton Davies:

Marcus Nispel was present, of course, and frankly, with that wild beard of his, I’m starting to wonder whether it would’ve been better putting him in front of the camera rather than behind:

Sean Hood dropped by Conan Move Blog to tell us more about the after-show party:

The premiere and after-party were a lot of fun. Jason was rambunctious and humorous. Rose and Rachel were radiant. Executives and Producers were in high spirits, and Leo Howard got the biggest round of applause for his bad ass portrayal of young Conan.

Here’s the man of the hour putting up his dukes:

And finally, here’s Bob Sapp with a tiny lady.

Early Reviews

One early review can be found at French site SciFiUniverse.com, and unfortunately I’m still not any better with my French, so I’ll leave it to Babelfish and Google Translate to guide us, and hope our Francophone Cromrades can illuminate us. From what I can tell, it’s a fairly balanced review, though it almost exclusively concentrates on comparing it to the 1982 film, almost entirely ignoring the fact that Conan had been around for 50 years beforehand. I realise that comparing a film to previous films is inevitable, but I don’t see why it should dominate a review any more than Captain America reviews should be dominated by comparison to the Reb Brown or Matt Salinger films. Looks like a job for the Gallic Shieldwall: get on it, lads! Here’s the summary, translated as best I can:

Conan 3D is not the MTV Zack Snyder version of the Cimmerian as foreshadowed in the trailers, very reassuring, and made between a mixture of shows like Rome, Spartacus: Blood and Sand and The Iron Throne (which also starred Jason Momoa) with the pure B movie exploitation (combat violence, gore, sex …). Marcus Nispel new offer of cinema popcorn is well done, excessively generous, but also a bit disembodied (still missing a little something in his films). It is frankly fun, at least if we take the film for what it is and not for what it could have been, and what was once the movie Conan. Conan is 3D carnage, rather fun and very diverting, but too hollow to qualify as a successor to the Conan of John Milius and Schwarzenegger (which remains the best incarnation of the character).

Another review comes from MyMozaik.lu, and it’s also fairly positive (even if it makes the “remake” mistake):

Rarely is a remake better than the original, but in the case of Conan the Barbarian which premiered yesterday evening at Utopolis, the remake is streets ahead of the original Arnold Schwarzenegger 1982 effort.

Directed by Marcus Nispel (Friday the 13th, Pathfinder), the film stars Jason Mamoa who has previously had mainly roles in TV series to date. He excels in the role of Conan. Although he does have lines in the script which he delivers adequately, it’s fairly safe to say that he got the role for his physique and sword-fighting scenes.

The storyline is based on Conan, a Cimmerian, being born in the middle of a battle – literally – and his quest to avenge the death of his father. He aids a damsel in distress (Tamara, played by Rachel Nichols) from the evil Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang of Avatar fame) and a powerful witch, Marique (Rose McGowan). That’s the simple version, the extended version having a lot more intertwining sub-plots and various other characters.

Not for the squeamish, and action-a-plenty. There are plenty of travel scenes with astounding scenery – the film was shot in Bulgaria, including along its Black Sea coastline – and many fight-scenes. One such scene that sets the tone for the film is when the young Conan joins other youths in a race, with the winner earning the right to fight as a warrior; the group comes across a group of wild machete-wielding natives and Conan is the only one not to turn back – instead, he succeeds and brings back their heads. Gruesome, but utterly effective.

One of the benefits of being an Albannach* means I can be a sort of time-traveller: many parts of the world, especially America, are a few hours behind, so I can almost speak from the future. For instance, right now it’s 2AM (late night for me), but in Los Angeles, it’s 6PM – and thus, Conan the Barbarian has its Hollywood premiere on US soil in two hours’ time, with Jason Momoa arriving at the LA Airport some three hours ago.

In a few hours, we may be hearing the first “free” reviews of Conan the Barbarian beyond those ones previously reported on Conan Movie Blog, in that (as far as I know) they won’t be bound by anonymity or legal ramifications. If anyone’s attending the premiere, or if anyone finds a review in the coming hours, don’t hesitate to link or comment in the comments section: pictures, photos, hints, reviews, quotes, anything. The more reviews there are available, the more comfortable I’ll be in being honest and fair in my review on Monday.

*Scotsman for non-Gaels.

In this Associated Press interview, Jason (quite rightly) addresses the Arnold question by bringing up Sean Connery and Daniel Craig both being awesome James Bonds, and Jack Nicholson & Heath Ledger being fantastic Jokers, which is exactly the sort of thing people should keep in mind:

After the break we have more interviews, including a tantalizing glimpse of the best poster for this film I’ve seen yet. But the only way forward is through the gates of the silver click…

The Huffington Post has an interview with Tyler Bates, where discussion of his work on Conan naturally arises. Here are the parts relevant to Conan, but the interview is fairly lengthy and detailed, and offers some intriguing insight into his creative process:

Mike Ragogna: Tyler, you composed the music for the new 3D movie Conan The Barbarian. Just how humongous was the orchestra this time out?

Tyler Bates: (laughs) Well, we got creative with layering the orchestra, probably due to some of the restrictions on our resources, but it sounds pretty huge. That comes from years of making the most of what I have to work with in a given situation. I would say the first one I really had to stretch production value was 300–the music budget was probably 1/10th of what they spent on Troy. So, we recorded that in three days. The way you do it is first off, you have to have a great team and you have to come in extremely prepared and understand what your objective is. Fortunately, Tim Williams, who has worked with me for a long time, is really fantastic at helping prepare for that, he’s my orchestrator and talent.

MR: Did you conduct?

TB: No, he conducts, I prefer to be in the booth, and his conducting career really started with me also.

MR: How so?

TB: We used to be next-door neighbors, we literally met at the end of the driveway eight or nine years ago. Tim is a fantastic conductor as well as orchestrator, and the reason I like to be in the booth is because I’m listening to the music in a different way. It’s a much more critical listening environment at least for me. I can hear intonation and timing and expression, everything is so emotional when you’re out with the orchestra. Sometimes, those things can be overlooked. Also, I like to be in the booth with the director and the producers, in case there are any questions or any suggestions or thoughts, that way I can address those immediately.

MR: How much layering of additional synths and extra percussion were added, as opposed to just the recording of the orchestra for the three days?

TB: We recorded no orchestral percussion as far as our orchestra sessions are concerned. All of the percussion is stuff that was programmed or played by Brian Cuccia, and Greg Ellis did some of the work. He’s gone back many years with me, especially on 300. He did a big job there, but Brian works with me every day, so we set up his studio with timpani and kettledrums and a ton of ethnic percussion. He spent 24 days consecutively recording that stuff, and it was a pretty heavy load for him, but he did a fabulous job. There was so much happening at the eleventh hour, it took all of our resources to make it happen.

MR: Your resume is pretty phenomenal, you have 300, The Stand, Badass, and the Rob Zombie movies. How did you approach Conan differently then you did the more horror films or more dramatic movies?

TB: One of the most important aspects of the Conan film and the music is emotion, theme, and soul. It has to be soulful. I consider The Devil’s Rejects to be soulful even though it’s one of the most disturbing scores I’ve ever worked on. Actually, with Conan, it gave me an opportunity to work with a couple of themes throughout the film and more motifs than I have really done. The score is fairly brutal if you’ve heard the majority of it, very percussive, and very aggressive on the strings. But there are more emotional and epic moments.

MR: A composition like “Egg Race,” for example.

TB: (laughs) These titles, man, so eloquent aren’t they? Overall, the sound of the score is supposed to feel primal, but again, epic in scale. And what I wanted to do was instead of go right to the sword and sandals sound–some of which was established in 300–I wanted to create a time period that felt long ago and wasn’t too specific, but at the same time, have a contemporary edge to the music. I think we got there pretty well. There are just so many different aspects of what the music is and the creation of the music for this movie.

MR: Were there any challenging pieces for this? Like, they gave you footage and you weren’t sure what you were going to put to it?

TB: I think Marcus Nispel really shoots great stuff, so there was nothing that was really a technical challenge as much as it was a challenge to do something that was complimentary to the film or helped take it to another level. I never sit down in front of any picture and say, “I got this,” I always feel like I will never know what the hell I’m going to do next. I try to block out the whole lore of Conan, all of the expectations of the hardcore fans, the amazing music that Basil Poledouris did in the past. The only way I could do a good job is to put all of that out of my mind and treat this like it’s a new film without that history.

MR: Obviously, you’re overwriting because scenes have been edited. How is it for a composer who writes music for a scene that goes from A-Z, then they take out P, Q, and R. How do you truncate all of that?

TB: That’s actually a really difficult challenge. Honestly, it’s not as much of a problem in action oriented movies because it’s more frenetic. What happens that creates an issue is when a few frames are added here or there to a scene–especially if it’s a very rhythmically oriented piece because you have to still hit your cuts–and it doesn’t really make musical sense. It’s all very difficult to conform your music once you feel it and written it a certain way. There’s definitely a scene in Conan where I managed to get it back. It’s where Conan is born on the battlefield and we go into the first Conan theme and the theme was originally quite a bit longer. I wrote the first piece in about a day. And to adjust the piece when I got the new cut took me about two and a half days because I was trying to maintain the emotion. Any of those adagios are very difficult to truncate, because one chord is just held long enough to evoke the emotion before changing to the next. When you speed up the sequence of those chords, especially if they are in a format that requires one leading to the next, there is some sort of diatonic structure and you’re in a pinch.

MR: What would you say are the major differences between Conan and some of your other scores?

TB: I learn from everything I do and I try and do a better job on every next movie. From my experiences, there is some correlation between 300 and Conan–of course, 300 was one of the films Marcus Nispel discussed with me when he hired me. He was very interested in how I integrated the non-organic matter with the orchestra and the choir. We didn’t do as much of that on this because this movie ended up feeling more natural to me. 300 was, especially at the time it came out, a very hyper-stylized movie visually. Some of the cutting…Zach has done a lot of the slow-mo action into ramped speed events, so that elicited more hyper-realistic statements, whereas this movie plays more in a linear fashion as 300 is. That presents its own challenges. When you’re playing action in the background and there’s a quiet narrative on top of it, there has to be some duality to the music that services both aspects and both dynamics. It ultimately gave us a license to do a lot of different things. I started writing 300 a year and half before the movie was made, so they showed me the comic book and we started developing ideas from the beginning. Zach knew he wanted a big choir, he knew he wanted rock ‘n’ roll and he got me figuring it out early on.

MR: What are you predicting will come first–Conan The Barbian 2 or another Rob Zombie movie?

TB: Bring them on. I always love the opportunity to work with Rob. I know he’s about ready to get started on something else in the fall when he’s done touring. Hopefully, Rob and I will get back out at the beginning of next year.

Oman Tribune talked with Rose McGowan on the phone about various subjects, including her time in the makeup chair, character development and filming for Conan:

McGowan is on the phone to talk about Conan the Barbarian. Set for release on Aug. 19 and based on the pulp-fiction saga created by Robert E. Howard, the film follows the eponymous hero (Jason Momoa) as he seeks vengeance against Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang), the power-mad villain who killed his father. McGowan plays the villainess Marique, a half-human/half-witch who also happens to be Zym’s approval-seeking daughter.

“I think Marique absolutely cares more about winning the approval of her father (than killing Conan),” McGowan says. “The studio was really nervous. They cut down some moments that shaped the relationship of the characters. She really quite inappropriately loves her father, and he’s obsessed with resurrecting his dead wife. So in some ways that’s really cool. It gives it more pathos than the simple story of the guy who wants all the power or wants to kill Conan so he can have all the power in the world and blah, blah, blah, that kind of thing.

“He’s just really terribly distraught over his dead wife and he wants to resurrect her,” the actress says, “and I’m jealous of my dead mother. And for that I kill.”

McGowan sports a typically exotic, otherworldly look in Conan the Barbarian, from her costume and hair to her skin and talon-spiked fingers. Achieving that look required as long as six hours daily in a makeup chair.

Sure, it got draining, McGowan admits, but it was worth the time spent.

“If anybody else was tired, I was like, ‘Listen, chump, why don’t you get here at 2 in the morning and we’ll talk about tired, OK?,”‘ she says, laughing. “It was interesting, because a lot of people sleep during the makeup process, and I couldn’t, because it was so critical that I not move a muscle.

‘’‘M.T.’ has always been my nickname in makeup chairs,’’ McGowan adds, “because I’m a moving target. I’m always turning my head and seeing what’s going on. I have a really hard time sitting still. I just get so bored and I don’t want to be in the chair anymore. But I was very impressed with (makeup supervisor) Scott Wheeler. Scott is immensely talented, and his team had some people from Bulgaria and some from the States, and they were all so amazing.

“I owed it to them to sit in the chair,” she concludes, “and I wanted to look as good as possible as Marique. I wanted her to look flawless. And I think she’s quite majestic in her own way.”

Conan the Barbarian was shot in Bulgaria, with much of the filming done outdoors, on location. McGowan credits German director Marcus Nispel for masterfully juggling the location challenges, a huge cast, nonstop action, loads of FX, a largely Bulgarian crew and …

“A lot of producers and that (crazy) accent,” McGowan says, laughing again. “You know, Marcus was there with his orange pants and his bucket hat and this ridiculously long beard that he refused to shave while he was doing the movie. So pretty much his neck had gray beard hair shooting sideways. He refused to shave it while he was filming. And he always had a smile on his face, no matter what.

And as a little extra, Rose McGowan explicates to Movieweb why she turned down Red Sonja:

Finally, courtesy of the Robert E. Howard Forums’ thundarr and CMB commentator poirot (and cleaned up a bit by yours truly), the best – by FAR – poster for the upcoming Conan film I’ve seen yet, which looks like a John Buscema design brought to life. Man, what I wouldn’t give for a clear 300dpi copy of this poster…

Look at it. Isn’t that just magnificent? I think even the staunchest Arnold fan would be forced to admit Jason looks every inch the bronzed giant borne of Robert E. Howard’s imagination.

First, a new image of Alina Puscau in the costume she wears in the film:

Alina has been featured in the Pepe Jeans and Victoria Secret campaigns as well as in magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Allure. In 2009 she was featured on the cover of Playboy magazine in a shoot by Hollywood director Brett Ratner. Alina is signed with Elite Model Management.

On August 11th Alina will make her acting debut in the upcoming summer blockbuster Conan the barbarian in which she plays one of the slaves who rebels against oppression.

For more news, click onwards.

A fairly big piece of news next, as the exclusive Red Carpet gala premiere for Conan in the US will be on Thursday 11th August at 8:00PM:

Instead of doing a pre-screening for SACC-GLA, we have something better to offer. We have been given 10 exclusive red carpet premier tickets to Conan The Barbarian 3D This Thursday and We Are Giving Them To You!

How Do You Get The Tickets?

You have to be a member of SACC-GLA to be eligible to win a ticket. To become a member, please click here and sign up.

SACC-GLA members, simply email us your interest at info@sacc-gla.org by submitting your full name (first and last) and email address and we will submit you to the draw. You have until 6pm Tomorrow 8/9.

The winners will be announced shortly after and will be emailed the complete details of the event.

Tickets are personal and non- transferrable. The tickets are for a single person only. Persons that are not on the list will be turned down at the door.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to mingle with the stars of Conan the barbarian 3D and 9 other lucky SACC-GLA members.

Best of Luck!

SACC-GLA

This is pretty big, as we’ll probably get some reviews following the film’s screening, and you can bet we at Conan Movie Blog will get on it.

We also have another new interview with Jason Momoa up on Youtube:

This Fangoria interview is coming last because there’s something I really have to get off my chest.

The August 19 release of Lionsgate’s 3D CONAN THE BARBARIAN marks yet another rebirth of the most legendary fictional barbarian of all time. Since his creation by writer Robert E. Howard in 1932 in a series of fantasy stories published in Weird Tales magazine, the character has evolved over eight decades through numerous licensed books, comics, films, television shows, video games and role-playing games, cementing himself in pop-culture history as a tough, masculine hero with no allegiances.

“I think the appeal of Conan is that he doesn’t conform to anybody,” explains director Marcus Nispel, who helmed two other reboots fright fans are probably familiar with: THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and FRIDAY THE 13TH. “He’s not politically correct. He’s not living by anyone else’s moral standards. He’s a barbarian who depends on no one but himself.”

With such a pedigree, you’d think a new origin story wouldn’t be necessary, but the new film’s creators say such is not the case. “If we get Conan right, we have re-established the franchise and we can then go ahead with adaptations of the original stories,” explains producer Fredrik Malmberg, who bought the rights to the character 10 years ago and has fought to get a film made since. “First we have to get the Conan character into people’s minds. He’s a complex character, and I believe we, like [1982 film director John] Milius, had to tell some kind of origin story. Fans don’t think that’s necessary, but we still have to please the studio system and the executives and marketing. And you see, the majority of the audience will not know where Conan comes from. They never saw the Milius movie. We need to create something that today’s audience will appreciate. ‘Give the people what they want but not what they expect’ is the mantra.”

While it’s hard to deny the impact Milius’ movie had on the character’s popularity, Malmberg also acknowledges that times have changed. “We respect [that feature] for what it was, but we capture Howard’s Conan better. We really wanted this one to stand on its own. There were even a couple of actors from the original who came and wanted to do little parts, but we had to say no.”

Jason Momoa (Khal Drogo in GAME OF THRONES) took the lead role and the heavy task of portraying a cultural icon. “Jason just feels very contemporary, yet he fits the description that Howard wrote for Conan much more to me than Arnold [Schwarzenegger],” Malmberg boasts. “When you see Jason, you’ll say, ‘That’s Conan.’ Better than that walking special effect.”

Speaking of special FX, Malmberg adds that the new film will appeal to horror fans and gorehounds who are unfamiliar with the titular savage: “It’s a more gritty, realistic violence. This is a world where a sword cut is fatal and heads fly and arms get cut off. Marcus has an extreme visual knowledge. There are some scenes that will make you cringe. Then there are others where we said, ‘Maybe that’s a little too dark, and we’ll put that on the extended version.’ ”

Fright fans should be familiar with not only the film’s director, but its composer too: Tyler Bates has composed for films such as SLITHER, SEE NO EVIL, Zach Snyder’s DAWN OF THE DEAD and Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN, HALLOWEEN II and THE DEVIL’S REJECTS. If all else fails, audiences will be treated to “dark drums that really elevate that feeling of a prehistoric, gritty, dirty world.”

The film’s 3D status shouldn’t be much of a surprise to anyone who’s attended a movie theater over the past few years, but Malmberg promises this isn’t just another ploy to put more butts in seats. “I believe 3D is really great for getting immersed in a world,” he says. “ ’Cause otherwise people say, ‘Oh, Conan, it’s a big guy with a sword,’ and that’s where it ends. But that’s not enough today; fans now are so much more sophisticated. It was Lionsgate and their marketing team who were saying, ‘We really want this to be a spectacle and big event.’ I think 3D will really work to give it depth.”

CONAN is slashing its way onto North American screens over 25 years since the barbarian’s last big-screen appearance, and Nispel believes this is a particularly opportune time to be revisiting the iconic hero. “We live in a very artificial world,” the director says. “We spend most of our day in front of computers, borrowing knowledge, borrowing real experiences. Conan gets you into a world where you still get dirt under your fingernails and where you don’t have to ask everybody for permission.” Adds Malmberg, “Conan’s a man who lives now. He’s not gonna brood over past times much. It’s a refreshing theme of barbarism vs. civilization. Many people feel it would be nice to be in control of your own destiny, because we’re all squished inside this civilization and feeling hopeless. Conan represents freedom.”

Editorial

Alright, I’ve been charitable with the film’s approach with catering to all fans, but I really have to speak my mind here.

I’ve made no bones about my stance. I’m a Howard purist of the Rusty Burke definition: pastiches (that is, any Conan story composed by someone other than Robert E. Howard) are perfectly fine, as long as they don’t claim to be part of some shared universe that has equal bearing with Robert E. Howard. This was a source of great controversy with L. Sprague de Camp, who credited himself alongside Howard even in collections consisting entirely of Howard stories, giving an impression of co-authorship which was entirely unwarranted.

When people start talking about how people’s perceptions and expectations of Conan have changed, how the books and comics and games which came later have to be acknowledged… that’s reinforcing that very sensibility that Howard purists had been railing against for decades. Saying that the character has “evolved” over the years gives the impression that that “evolution” has contributed to Conan not as a franchise, but as a character. To me, that’s like saying Neil Gaiman’s “The Problem of Susan” should be considered an example of C.S. Lewis’ Susan Pevensie “evolving” over the decades.

Some might bring up characters like James Bond, Dracula, Tarzan or Sherlock Holmes, how their characters have indeed changed due to public perception. The difference is that most (though not all) Bond/Holmes films which aren’t directly based on a story don’t try to sell a film as being “deftly adapted” and “faithful to the mythology and psychology” of Fleming’s, Stoker’s, Burroughs’ or Conan Doyle’s creations. I should say that this isn’t a rant, per se: I just think that this could lead to some confusion over what is Howard and what isn’t. My biggest worry about the upcoming film is that, should it fail, people would assume that it’s because of its closer fidelity to Howard, and that Milius and company were right to stray. That makes me edgy when it comes to things like this.

I’m sure Fredrik’s dismissal of Arnold as “that walking special effect” and claims that the new film captures Conan better than the 1982 film will rankle some, especially that demographic who take it as some sort of personal affront that Jason Momoa hasn’t seen the 1982 film. And obviously CPI want to do their best – it’s in their financial interests, right? The fact that Conan Properties International is continuing to put out new Howard publications – including the recent collection directly tied into the upcoming film by way of billing itself as “the stories that inspired the movie” – already makes things far different from the old Conan Properties Incorporated. Back in 1982, CPInc didn’t see fit to re-release the original Conan stories to coincide with it – not even reprints of the phenomenally successful Lancers. Contrast that with CPInt, where we have the REH Foundation printing as-yet-unpublished Howard documents and stories in addition to keeping them in print, even ones that are in the public domain of several countries.

I don’t know. Maybe I’m just getting a bit testy with the film coming up, especially the US premiere on Thursday, and going to London with the spectre of the riots going on. But I’m not going to let a bunch of malcontent thugs get in my way. I am from just outside Glasgow, after all.

Being a dweller in the proud nation of Alba, I’d been precluded from viewing the latest edition of The Tonight Show, and thus stewed at my American fellows for being able to see the new footage of the upcoming Conan seen on the show. However, NBC has deigned to allow access on their own site, where we can see it:

Not as long as “When Blood is Spilled,” but we see more main characters, including adult Conan and more.

EDIT: I’ve been getting reports that the clip cuts off before the footage, so I tried looking again and… it cuts off before the footage. Now I’m very annoyed. NBC, you made a liar out of me! I’d be very grateful if someone could direct me to a version of the video not under the draconian region-specific software that makes things such a preposterous pain for people who don’t live in the United States.