Poor Jason Momoa. Just a year after he helped reboot the Conan the Barbarian franchise, original Conan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Universal Pictures have struck a deal to reboot the reboot, putting Arnie back in the role of the muscled, sword-swinging warrior.
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Actor Stephen Lang, award-winning veteran of stage, film, and television, earned his biggest success to date playing the hardened Colonel Miles Quaritch in James Cameron's Avatar. But in the wake of Avatar, the character actor was looking for a departure of sorts, and he found it in the mythic fantasy landscape conceived by Robert E. Howard playing a bloodthirsty warlord in Marcus Nispel's Conan the Barbarian.
When Jason Momoa assumes the mantle and broadsword of Robert E. Howard's iconic hero Conan the Cimmerian in Marcus Nispel's re-envisioned Conan the Barbarian, he's got eight decades of popularized novels, artwork, and the specter of Arnold Schwarzenegger's famous '80s-era barbarian to contend with. Which is why, with Hawaiian-born Momoa's distinct look, his influences, and the circuitous route he took from Baywatch hunk to Game of Thrones fan favorite, you should be happy that this isn't your grandpa's Conan.
Meeting Rose McGowan over the weekend at Comic-Con, she instinctively offered her left hand first. Having injured her other arm weeks ago in the goriest window-related accident I've ever heard, she'd flown into San Diego to promote this summer's Conan the Barbarian, touted as one of the bloodiest action pics of the year. But to hear her tell it, Conan the Barbarian's got nothing on McGowan's last few years when it comes to struggle and pain -- and yet, she credits the summer swords 'n' sorcery pic with changing her mind about quitting Hollywood.
Some titles tell you everything you need to know about a movie, and some tell you pretty much nothing. After giving the world such to-the-point movie titles as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, and the forthcoming Conan the Barbarian (admittedly, all remakes of iconic genre films), Nispel's keeping things mysterious with his next movie, a horror pic simply entitled Backmask.
Hot on the heels of Fast Five's post-racial success at the box office comes the first trailer for Lionsgate's Conan the Barbarian, a suitably metal-scored, sword-swinging affair featuring hunky Jason Momoa as the titular warrior. Coincidence of timing or part of a brave new movement in big, beefy action filmmaking? Consider this: the baddies are played by Rose McGowan and Avatar's Stephen Lang. Ah, fantasy: The great equalizer!
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