New CONAN Nails Director
I’m not even going to begin to delve into the nature of a new Conan the Barbarian flick, is it a remake, reboot, sequel, etc., but we do know that this property has been bouncing around in development hell for quite some time now.
Last we heard, Brett Ratner had been developing the film for a while before backing out – thank God. But yesterday CHUD.com broke the news that popular horror remake director Marcus Nispel (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th) has signed on to take charge of the film (which Variety is calling a re-make). How fitting is that? Dude looks like a barbarian.
While I’m not a huge fan of the Conan films and mythos, I do think there is potential there to continue the property sans Schwarzenegger. I also think that Nispel is a solid choice to make the flick; though I wasn’t exceptionally blown away by his versions of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th – nor have I seen Pathfinder yet – I do think he’s a relatively sound director and this could be the universe where he shines. I’ve heard his commercial work is pretty impressive as well.
Millenium and Lionsgate had wanted production to start this summer, but with the Nispel signing on just now, that looks mighty unlikely. No other details about this new Conan are known, who will play the barbarian, etc. but we’ll report them as they pop up.
1 Comment
I saw Pathfinder, and I thought the action was impressive but I couldn’t connect with the secondary characters. I think that character development is an issue, at least from what I’ve seen. His strong suit is definitely intense action, and let’s be honest: Does anyone expect Conan the Barbarian to be anything more than 2 hrs of gratuitous violence? I think he’ll do a fine job.