In a recent interview with Empire, producer Chris Morgan opened up about some updates on the planned return to the world of ‘Conan the Barbarian’ that’s in the works. Aside from Arnold Schwarzenegger returning to yet another role that he made famous decades ago, they also landed Will Beall (‘Gangster Squad’) to help write the script, which Morgan was very excited about:
“Andrea Berloff [Straight Outta Compton] did a draft, and then we had Will step on. I approached him early on in the process, but at the time he was unavailable and couldn’t do it. But then a couple of weeks after he passed on the project I got this package from him in the mail, and I opened it and it was a Conan sword, and on the envelope it said, ‘This you can trust!’ So when he called back a while later and said he’d had a slot open up, we slammed him in immediately. He’s just perfect for it; he loves it as much as I do and he has a great voice of Conan. It just makes you happy!”
For those not fully aware, the idea is that the “Legend of Conan’ will pick up where John Milius’ 1982 ‘Conan the Barbarian’ left off, finding an older Conan sitting as a King upon his throne. The new film will ignore the 1984 ‘Conan the Destroyer’ movie, as well as the reboot from 2011, which most fans will most likely be fine with. As for source material, Morgan says they continue to look at the work of original ‘Conan’ author Robert E. Howard, but they are not directly adapting his work for the new film.
“We look at all the source material and we love things that kind of speak to that tone. We’re incredibly respectful to Howard. I’m a huge fan of the stories and books, but I’m a super-huge fan of the first movie, because that crystallised and distilled it all for me. Milius just killed it. He did such a good job. And Legend Of Conan is really resonant and it really digs into the legacy of that original film. I’m already very proud of it.”
Although there is no release date yet, and production is still being discussed, it seems the wheels are definitely moving on this, and if Morgan has his way, ‘Legend of Conan’ might find its way to theaters before the decade is out. Check back here for any new information released as the process continues!
Source: Empire
