Millenium and Lionsgate's new “
Conan” filming begins February 22, 2010 in Bulgaria, with
Marcus Nispel (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Pathfinder) behind the camera.
Looking to fill some slots,
Moviehole has gotten their hands on a casting sheet that outlines 21 different roles they are searching for, including the four leads.
Check out the descriptions of the lead and some supporting roles below and click
here to see the many other supporting roles, including a narrator.
CONAN: He's in his 20s to early 30s, Caucasian, powerfully built, broad-shouldered, sun browned skin lined with scars. Piercing blue eyes and square-cut black mane, tall. He is a savage killer that has matured into the refinement his father tried to teach him when he was young. Conan is very smart, almost inhumanly strong, and very cunning. His entire life, from the moment of his birth, has been shaped by violence. Being the last of his tribe and having to watch his father die a cruel death, he is determined avenge his peoples slaughter by killing all those who led the attack on the Cimmerians, including the all-powerful Khalar Singh. He is prepared to die in order to accomplish his goal. What Conan did not expect, was to find a reason to live.
TAMARA: She is 18 to 24 years old, Caucasian or Middle Eastern, open to all ethnicities; beautiful, studious, correct, a novitiate of a Greek influenced monastery. A master of martial arts, she has been trained to be the Queen's servant, bodyguard and best friend. She and many other female bodyguards to the queen have been in hiding most of their lives because of the curse of Acheron, which would take the queen's life to bring almost immortal power to its king. When Khalar Singh, a powerful warlord with ambitions to become the king of Acheron, storms the monastery and captures all of the novitiates, she is separated from Ilira, the one she must protect. With all of her strength and will, Tamara is determined to find and rescue her. She finds herself in league with Conan because of a mutual need to find Khalar Singh. She is not in the least intimidated by Conan's size or grim demeanor and their alliance eventually blossoms into something that surprises them both.
KHALAR SINGH: He's in his 40s to 50s, Asian or Middle Eastern, Central Asian, Mongol, Turkish, or Persian, open to all ethnicities; commanding in size and manner, a warlord and formidable warrior, brilliant, cruel, weathered and tanned by the many campaigns he has waged and won. He is driven in his quest to find the Queen of Acheron and has been building an empire to do so. His goal is to find the Queen whose blood will bring life to the demonic minions of Acheron while making himself king of this hellish power. With this power, Khalar will protect his legacy against the onslaught of master sorcerer, Thoth-Amon so that his weak son, Fariq may rule after his death. While riding into a Cimmerian village to recruit his old comrade, Corin, his large collection of mercenaries slaughters them to the last soul when Corin refuses to join them. The village's only survivor was young Conan. When Khalar's search has finally narrowed to the likely discovery of the queen at a monastery of female monks, he also learns Conan is older and hungry for revenge.
UKAFA: He's in his 30s-40, very dark-skinned African or African American, massively framed at six-foot-five, gold-toothed, hardened by a lifetime of war, a leader of Kushite Tribemen from the savannahs of Kush. Ukafa is Khalar Singh's second in command, jealous that Singh's son, Fariq, will one day be warlord. He obeys his leader but plots the overthrow of his son. He is a mighty warrior and unbeatable in battle until he comes face to face with Conan.
CORIN -Leader of the Cimmerians and Conan's father. He raises Conan as a single father and tries to control the little one's cruel nature (something about a hot blade needing to be cooled). Unless they do an extensive backstory (they won't), don't expect him to stick around that long.
ILIRA: She is 18 to 20 years old, Caucasian or Middle Eastern, beautiful, fun-loving, a novitiate of a Greek influenced monastery. She has been hidden away in a monastery since birth since she is the designated queen of Acheron. When Khalar Singh captures her among all of the other novitiates and start the process of killing them to find out which is the real queen, Ilira maintains her courage under unbelievably cruel circumstances.
REMO: He's in his 30s, any ethnicity, thin, feral, misshapen, a mysterious warrior of dark magic who travels by shadow and surprises men with a quick death. He leads a band of tracking Shadow Scouts under Khalar Singh's employ. He can be immensely fast and devious, his soul as twisted as his body.
Conan Wallpaper (1280 x 800 px)
Conan Wallpaper (1280 x 800 px)
It was said that “This movie promises to be a complete revamp that stays closer to the original source material by Robert E. Howard”, but the fact of the matter is that it is no where near what Robert E. Howard had written. The writers have no idea of who or what Conan is. The same can be said about their knowledge of Robert E. Howard. From what can be read so far about the cast call, this movie will not go to theatres or dvd but straight to SyFy.
Conan get’s to watch his father die. Again. This time it’s from torture. Blah. Sack the hell out of Venarium and burn it to the ground!!! That’s how Conan’s father should die if HE MUST BE INCLUDED. That’s how a Cimmerian should see his father go, dying in the bright madness of battle and not in some lame ass torture that is just completely lame. How do I know that it’s lame? Because it’s lame. Howard himself did not give a tale dedicated to Conan’s origin, L. Sprague de Camp stayed away from it, so now let’s hire D/O to fix all that. Sheesh.
Are they really going to cut out baby Conan and hand him to his dying mother? Blind archers? Being the last of his tribe, watch the father die a cruel death blah blah blah. Was cut from his mother’s womb by Conan’s father so that she (mother) could see him before she died? Ok. Where is Khor Khala City? Thoth-Amon again? Tamara is not in the least intimidated by Conan’s size or grim demeanor….not even just a little??
Ok, so this is the Riddle of Steel part two. Or rebooted. Resheathed. Whatever. Four Picts cross the path of Conan and he unleashes a savagery that goes to far for a warrior? What is he supposed to do, scream and tell them that his dad can kick their dads’ asses? C’mon man! Instead of his name being mentioned at the council fires this is going to cause his name to be whispered around the fires that pyscho boy Conan is unfit and should be cast out……..will stop there incase thats makes it into the script somehow. 10 year old Conan takes on four Picts and lives? Give that boy a flagon of wine and two women!
This is NOT Conan folks, this is BeastMaster Part 6.
This movie seems doomed to fail.
First, the film is written by Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer. These two screenwriters are widely ridiculed for their lack of creativity. They pen cliche, formulaic scripts with no soul. Worse, Donnelly and Oppenheimer are unfamiliar with Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories and they seemingly know very little about the Hyborian Age.
Second, the film is directed by Marcus Nispel, a B-grade director. His best film is “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (2003) and that film is rated at a miserable 6.1 on IMDB.com. Nispel was hired to replace Brett Ratner, another terrible director. Ratner disliked the script. You know a screenplay must be very bad when Ratner turns it down.
Third, the film ignores Robert E. Howard’s classic stories and neuters the character. Instead of faithfully adapting Howard’s famous Cimmerian, Hollywood is once again butchering the literary material in order to create a mindless action-movie.
In summary, poor screenwriters coupled with a poor director means a poor movie. They might as well replace Nispel with Uwe Boll and hire Ehren Kruger to butcher it even more.
1. Stop the current production.
2. Get an REH expert in the same room with the scriptwriters. Have them read the books and instruct them that the Conan stories will serve as the building blocks for the movie, and nothing else.
3. Use this film as a chance to reinvent the pop cultural idea of Conan.
Look at Casino Royale. Batman Begins. Pirates of the Carribean. All of these films took dead characters, dead franchises, and dead genres and reinvigorated them by not playing it safe. Even fans of Conan the Barbarian don’t want a rehash of that. We are twenty years older now, and we need something more sophisticated. Bryan Singer learned that the hard way with Superman Returns. This can NOT be a nostalgia project.
Visit http://www.amrathelion.com/index.php/Nemedian-Chronicles/An-Appeal-To-Paradox.html for more information.