‘Conan the Barbarian’ opens in theaters today and Jason Momoa and Rose McGowan were on hand promoting the film that has everyone buzzing.

‘Conan’ is based on the 1930’s short stories and novels by Robert E. Howard. Although this is a remake of the 1982 version starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, don’t expect this version to have the same campy style as the original. According to Jason Momoa who stars in the title role, “ours has a whole new, different, and exciting energy to it. They’re completely different movies…The world that Robert E. Howard created is such a really cool world…we can do so much more with technology now…A whole new audience can experience Robert E. Howard’s world now, and I think that’s really damn cool.”

This version of the movie follows the adventures of Conan the Cimmerian and his quest to avenge the murder of his father and the slaughter of his village by the supernatural evil Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang). As he tracks Khalar Zym, Conan battles monsters, henchmen and Marique (Rose McGowan), a powerful witch.

Jason Momoa  was in New York to preside over the Closing Bell of NASDAQ (in celebration of the release of the movie) and to appear on the Conan show to talk about the film. The two Conans discussed the proper way to pronounce the name as well as the method Momoa used to get that intense barbarian mode you see in the film. The two had some great symmetry going on during the interview which was fun to watch. Below is the segment in case you missed it last night:

In other ‘Conan’ news, Rose McGowan was interviewed about her role as the magically evil villainess Marique. Marique is the daughter of Khalar Zym who helps him obtain the items needed to resurrect her dead mother in order for the family to take over the world. Although the role was initially written for a man, the role was slightly altered to adapt it to McGowan.

McGowan was interviewed by ScreenRant and talked more about her role in the film as well as her experiences on the set of ‘Conan the Barbarian’. She spoke about how much she enjoyed playing the villainess and the lonely life she lives when she films a movie:


(video courtesy of Screen Rant)

The role of Marique is said to have an Electra-like complex with her father, Khalar Zym, and McGowan has been asked several questions about this dynamic between her character and Stephan Lang’s. In an interview with Cinema Blend, she puts her own take on the situation:

Can you talk about the playful side to your character, how quickly did you find that?

I kind of love her, I kind of feel sorry for her. I think she’s a bit heartbreaking, really. She obviously has a bit of an Electra complex with her father. Which I was happy to add a twist to a summer movie, my own kind of twist. You have to add a little pathos to the situation. I do think she was funny, I would actually laugh when they would say cut, I would start laughing, because she made me laugh. It was so over the top evil, like “HA HA HA,” because when do you get to do that? You don’t really. Unless you’re playing, let’s say you’re playing evil and you still kind of look like you, it’s all verbal this and that, this is everything, I mean I looked bananas. I think she’s kind of majestic and amazing looking, but Bulgarians actually thought I looked like that because before I’d get in wardrobe, after the prosthetics and the hair, I would go get coffee in the
morning, walking across the sets, and I’m just wearing sweatpants and sweatshirts. They must have thought, “Oh my God, this poor girl, what is her issue?” They had never seen anything like that. I never explained it, I thought it was funny. I thought it was hilarious. So if anybody says, “Hey Bulgaria, what do you think of Rose McGowan?” “She has a very high forehead.”

So does she actually lust after her father, or does she lust after power and pursue her father as a means of getting that?

No, I think she’s incredibly jealous and has been her whole life. I think she’s sick of hearing about her dead mother who he’s desperately in love with. I think she would like to just take the place of her. I think it’s not a power thing. One of the things I really liked about the film is that Khalar Zym, Steven Lang’s character needs Conan and this other stuff so he can resurrect his dead wife. Usually when it’s a movie where it’s like good versus evil, the bad guy wants all the power just because he wants all of the power, there are no real particulars. He just wants all the power. I liked the added level of strangeness to it, that it’s not just about that, he’s got this obsession. Whereas Marique is just, “Enough already, really?”

Can you talk about building the dynamic with Steven Lang?

It was great fun. Acting with him, okay, if I knew how to play tennis, what I imagine it would be like to play tennis, just hitting a great volley,  about having a great volley. Steven and I just, we didn’t really have to talk much about it, we just kind of clicked, we both just kind of got it. He would make me laugh, and I would make him laugh, in character, not on screen. We would cut and we’d both start laughing, it was pretty funny. It was great times, I’m really sad he’s not here today.

Sounds like this ‘Conan the Barbarian’ is definitely a big departure from its 1982 predecessor! We’ll be reviewing the movie over the weekend so make sure you return to see if all the buzz and hype was worth the millions it cost to make.