Or is it? The headlines and the internet scuttlebutt say that it is. Arnie teased King Conan via online reports, and now the claims are that it is a real project with real momentum.
So what gives us pause? Well, the report many are quoting came from The National Enquirer, which is, for those of you who are from across the Pond to the East, like the Sunday Sport but without the tits and the laughs.
The reports say that Schwarzenegger is already in training for the role, aiming to get in shape for a return to the role that made him famous.
The 1982 version of Conan the Barbarian was directed by John Milius from a screenplay he co-wrote with Oliver Stone and was based on Robert E. Howard’s Conan comics.
It was in various stages of development from as early as 1970, and Schwarzenegger was attached as early as 1978. The producers could not raise the capital needed to make the movie.
Eventually, in 1979, Dino De Laurentiis purchased the rights, and his daughter Raffaella produced the film. They appointed Milius, and he rewrote Stone’s script to integrate elements from various Howard stories, as well as the Japanese films Seven Samurai (1954) and Kwaidan (1965).
Filmed in Spain, Schwarzenegger performed most of his own stunts.
The editing process took over a year, and several of the more violent scenes were cut out of the theatrical release. The film earned Schwarzenegger worldwide recognition. Conan the Barbarian is also frequently re-released on various home formats, meaning it has made the producers over $300 million to date on an outlay of $20 million.
Schwarzenegger has been dealing with a number of health issues as he has aged, and as a lifelong cigar smoker. He has had multiple open-heart surgeries and a hip replacement.
Arnold revealed filmmaker Chris McQuarrie had been hired to write and direct the film a few weeks ago, saying:
“They just hired a fantastic writer/director who did Tom Cruise’s last four movies. They just hired him to write and direct King Conan. Now, what they do is that they write the part. They don’t write them like i’m forty years old, you write it to be age-appropriate. I’ll still go in there and kick some ass but it will be different.
With King Conan, its a great old story that Conan was forty years as King and now he gets forced out of the kingdom and there’s conflict, of course, but somehow he comes back and there’s all kinds of madness, violence, magic and creatures and stuff like that. And now, of course, there’s all kinds of special effects. The studio has plenty of money to make those movies really big so i’m looking forward to all of those projects.”
So is it actually happening? Or has the National Enquirer picked up on the interview from a few weeks back, put their tabloid spin on it, and served it up as new news?
Arnie’s last appearance on the big screen was Terminator: Dark Fate, so hopefully whatever happens can replace that in our memories.
