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.

The holidays are over and the guys over in Hollywood wake up and the newssites are not far behind to spread the newest rumours on film projects like Conan. The newest rumour is that two guys where in the finals to play Conan, but Millenium has decided to look at another, until now, unknown actor to play the Cimmerian. It also seems that the beginning of shooting was pushed back to the 15th of March now.

Kellan Lutz

Those two are no less than yet another actor from Twilight (Emmett Cullen), who goes by the name of Kellan Lutz:

Jason Momoa

And a TV actor from well known Stargate Atlantis, who plays a somewhat “conanish” inspired barbarian fighter – Ronon Dex – named Jason Momoa.

We jump from pretty face to pretty face and the rumours (or Millenium?) keep pulling out worse contenders out of their magic hat of bad and non-suiting actors. Let’s see who that rumoured “unknown” other actor might be, I got a wild guess, he will be even prettier and less looking like any Conan that Howard ever described.

UPDATE

IGN is reporting, that their “Conan contact” knows the third contender is one of these men: Jared Padalecki, Karl Urban, Jay Tavare, Travis Van Winkle or Derek Mears.

Sometimes, something tragic happens, something that makes my heart weep and my tongue get dry in my throat within milliseconds, something that after I realized it had me silently shed a tear of respect. Dan “Painbrush” Goudey, a dear member of the official Conan boards and general REH fanatic died on the first day of the new year. A man full of life, a man as close to a real-life Conan in many ways as one can get in appearance and talk has passed on.

He is one of those unique personalities that one meets in life, that are so strong, so much larger-than-life, that they have the power to change your perception of things.

I never had the chance to meet him in real life and I am now very sad for it, because he was a guy I would have loved to bear-hug, because he had such a positively crazy personality.

Head on over to The Cimmerian, to read a very interesting and more detailed description of the guy that impressed so many people and afterwards raise your keg and drink to the shade of a literally Great Guy!

I bow my head and raise my keg and hope to hear your barbaric YAWP echoing through the misty void, when we finally meet again, somewhere, somehow… some-when.

Comicbookmovie did an interview with Daniel Cudmore at a Twilight Convention (Mr. Cudmore plays Felix in New Moon) and the actor said that he is a major contender for the role of Conan.

It’s interesting to see who else is “going to play Conan” these days, as there surely is no shortage of wannabe Cimmerians on the market.

Cudmore himself states that Kickinger is supposedly a major contender, which was debunked by Paradox, so it’s questionable if his self-nomination is worth the air ripple they produced, but we wanted to keep you in the loop and on top of the latest rumour.

UPDATE

Daniel Cudmore has posted on his twitter, that he just auditioned for the role, but nothing has come out of it yet.

The Boyana Movie Center wrote a letter to the Mayor of Pernik, to ask him for the permission to use the underground mine museum of Pernik as a movie set piece for the upcoming Conan Movie. In said letter they also mention to the mayor, that Arnold Schwarzenegger, the present mayor of California, would play a main part in the movie.

Since Avi Lerner stated a while ago, that he would try to get Arnold to play a cameo or a part in the movie, it doesn’t sound that implausible that this rumour can turn out to be true in the end. Arnold’s political term ends in 2009, so he would have the time to join the film production in 2010. As recent paparazzi photographs have shown Arnold would clearly not be in the shape to play a bare chested Conan, but maybe they are aiming for the part of his father, to literally “hand over the torch” to a younger actor portraying Conan.

I am not quite sure if this would be a good thing or a bad thing. It certainly would pull attention to the project, that is absolutely worth the “million” that Lerner wanted to offer Arnold to get him on board, but it would also mean the producers really aim to make a bond between Conan the Barbarian and the reboot of the franchise in this project.

UPDATE

As Gonar in the comments pointed out, Schwarzeneggers term as governator will not expire until 2011, so it’s less likely he will play a main part in the movie, because his everyday job clearly does not allow him to be away for several weeks of shooting a movie.

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.

We have been waiting a bit for an official answer on this rumour, but since we get the word from several angles that this might actually be true, we did not want to hold it from you any longer. It is rumoured that an actor for the role of the new Conan in the Conan Movie has finally been found: Andrew McLaren. (seriously good background music on that page )

He is a real tough guy and former military and it is rumoured he blew everyone away at the casting and won the job. Some who know him said he is already heavy at work with training to get into the right shape and reading up on REH’s yarns, to learn more about the character.

It remains to be seen if this rumour turns out to be true or if it is just another wishful thinking attempt of an actor that was part of the Open Casting Call for the Conan Movie. We will of course keep our eyes peeled on any official answer on this rumour and inform you in the instant we have an official word on it.

According to mania.com Conan will be masterfully painted (painted abs anyone?) from the same guys, that made the muscles roll in 300. Shaun Smith will be one of the monster/creature designers for Conan, while Scott Wheeler will be the Lead Makeup Artist. As reported by mania.com Smith is very excited to be on board.

Let’s hope those two talented guys will not be inventing four armed archers, nor blind ones. I think they did a very good job on 300 and therefore at least in this departement, quality was hired.

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.

The past few weeks have been turbulent to say the least. All fans of Conan, be it the Milius movie, the Marvel comics, the Dark Horse Comics, or of course the stories from the Master Robert E. Howard himself, got slapped in their face with the casting reveal and now with a plot synposis, that hints at a mediocre D&Dish fantasy flick at best, being far from what most of us had hoped for.

The REH community therefore organized a petition, to show, by the power of numbers, how many people would dislike a movie made off the present main plotline hinted at through the plot synposis or the casting reveal.

If you wanna join the cause, spread the word (the share button comes in handy) and sign the petition!

This is not meant to be the action of a bunch of childish upset fanboys, we really want to honestly portrait our deepest concern, through the power of numbers, that a movie like this could do serious damage not only to our REH-loving hearts, but the Conan license as a whole.