We’ve waited for official pictures, to spread the news and be respectful to the producers and Paradox Entertainment, so they get a chance to show off their main hero and the movie in the best way possible. They passed on that opportunity and let practically anyone spread horrible pictures, blurry, shaky mobile pictures around the world, without ever coming forward with even the same pictures, that were already leaked in high quality. Since this is a fansite for the Conan movie, we didn’t want to keep anyone waiting any longer.

So here is a collection of all Conan Set pictures, that we could find on the web so far. We apologize to Paradox Entertainment for putting this public, but we’ve waited months for better shots and at some point, we have to give the interested what they come here for: The newest info and rumour on the Conan Movie.

We will extend the Conan Set Gallery when new stuff arrives and we gladly take down all those shaky, blurry shots if Millenium or Paradox decide to put out high quality set shots and stills of the movie. We really don’t want to damage the Conan movie or it’s public appeal, but now that really every film site on the planet has leaked those shaky pictures, there is not much harm, that we can do with it.

Today, after having a major stroke, Frank Frazetta, the definite master of heroic fantasy art, passed away at the age of 82. Mr. Frazetta was a gifted artist from a very young age, being able to paint out of his mind, without referring to photographs or puppets. In addition to that, all of his art has a phenomenal kind of fluid motion frozen in the moment, that immediately captures the viewer with it’s energy. He is the inspiration for so many great modern fantasy artists and his contribution to the world of Conan is invaluable. For many people Frank Frazetta defined the look of Conan and the grittiness of the Hyborian Age. His image on the lancer paperback back in the 1970′s were one of the reasons they became such a major success and started a Conan boom unheard off until then.

Rest in peace Frank Frazetta, creator of worlds. Your art will continue to inspire and I hope you are united with your loving wife, wherever you are now.

Funcom’s MMORPG Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures steps into the next cycle and on the 11th of May they will release the expansion Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer. Today they have released the epic launch trailer and I thought I had to share it with you, because not only am I employed by Funcom as the German Community Manager, but I am also a vivid fan of Conan and REH.

• Launchtrailer in HD
• Launchtrailer in SD

Don’t kill me for going Offtopic, but I just love the trailer, Conan’s voice in the beginning, that we used parts of the Phoenix on the Sword dialogue and the music. After all I am still a Conan fanboy

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!

Thanks to the comment made by “Stampfer”, we were directed to an article on filmneweurope, that reveals some of the shooting locations that the new Conan movie is supposedly shot at. The locales range from a river consisting of very large boulders, over mountain locations in the north of Bulgaria to the Mediterranean looking coastline of the Black Sea. Certainly Bulgaria has a lot to offer when it comes to spectacular and versatile backdrops for a movie, taking place in pre-ancient times.

Since we know that Conan travels a great distance in the movie, it’s good to see that they will use actual locations and not try to make too much in the studio. I like it when movies are shot on location, because it delivers a certain realism, that even the most advanced foam rocks, artificial forests and the like cannot transport. Let’s see how they mould, light and cut those already nice looking locations into an illusion of an Hyborian Age, that is worthwhile exploring.

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.

It seems we are going to have a lot of motherly love in Conan, because the trusted source revealed, that another mom of one of the main cast – in this case the witch mother of Marique (Rose McGowan) – Italian actress Gisella Marengo has been cast. So far Gisella Marengo has been mostly active in Italian movies. Besides the fact that she will play the role of the witch mother of Rose McGowan, not much is known about her part in the movie, so we have to wait until more is unveiled of how large the part, that she will play, really is.

It’s interesting to see, that the smaller the part, the more “howardian” the women get. Even though she will play a mom, she throws in a more voluptuousness  than all of the other actresses that were cast up to this point. We will see if they will utilize her in any sensual way, or if she will be wrapped in layers of witch clothes. All I can say is, the more sensual women we get, the better; especially if they are of Italian heritage (this has nothing to do of course with me being practically married to an Italian woman )

According to a trusted source, the mother, who gives birth to Conan on the battlefield and dies in the process, has been cast. It’s Laila Rouass! A UK born actress spending most of her career so far on the TV screens of the world. According to the plot synopsis and her casting description, the role for Conan’s mother is not really that extensive, so we won’t see much of her on screen.

She certainly is a pretty woman – with the right curves on the right places – though I wonder how the mixture of Perlman and her should produce a son like Momoa. Perlman looking like a brutish man from the stone-age (that is meant in the most positive way possible) and she looking like a delicate Indian flower. As always it will be down to Make-up, how she will look in the scene. The whole blood and mud combination though can produce practically any effect and look one can imagine. She has a very strong face and I hope those beautiful eyes are able to capture the viewer in her dying moments and evoke some emotion.

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.

As reported by Hollywoodreporter, another actor from the G.I.Joe team joins the cast of the Conan Movie. Said Taghmaoui, who played the Breaker in G.I.Joe is going to join the cast and take over the role of a thief, that will be rescued by Conan. He will later on team up with Conan, to fight the character played by Stephen Lang. Now the really interesting part in this rumour is the short line stating:

Lang is a ruler in search of a queen whose blood will bring life to the demonic minions of a long-lost god.

The former used “Acheron” is clearly not a long-lost god, but a kingdom. Does this mean the rewrite by Lobel and Hood has been so substantial, that it may fix some of the butchering of Conan lore? We can only hope that this quote was not taken lightly, but really based on a new story arch, that is more in line with Howard’s stories and world lore.

As I already wrote in the last article, the seed of hope has been planted in my heart and this little quote, yet again is a gush of water on dry earth.