Purist quibbling aside, I can't complain overly much. Momoa certainly looks more like my conception of Conan than Arnie did, but then my main beefs about this film haven't been centered on Momoa (though, to be fair, I really have no idea if he's got the acting chops to pull off this role). If the rest of the film were similarly "good enough," I'd consider it a victory. I don't have high hopes in that regard, based on what we know of the movie so far, but it's possible the script and story are better than has been reported elsewhere, so I'm doing my best to adopt a wait and see attitude, even as my gut tells me that I'm going to be sorely disappointed.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
First Official Conan Pic
According to a post on the official Robert E. Howard forums, the first authorized photograph of Jason Momoa as the Cimmerian from the upcoming Marcus Nispel-directed film has been released. You can see it below:
Purist quibbling aside, I can't complain overly much. Momoa certainly looks more like my conception of Conan than Arnie did, but then my main beefs about this film haven't been centered on Momoa (though, to be fair, I really have no idea if he's got the acting chops to pull off this role). If the rest of the film were similarly "good enough," I'd consider it a victory. I don't have high hopes in that regard, based on what we know of the movie so far, but it's possible the script and story are better than has been reported elsewhere, so I'm doing my best to adopt a wait and see attitude, even as my gut tells me that I'm going to be sorely disappointed.
Purist quibbling aside, I can't complain overly much. Momoa certainly looks more like my conception of Conan than Arnie did, but then my main beefs about this film haven't been centered on Momoa (though, to be fair, I really have no idea if he's got the acting chops to pull off this role). If the rest of the film were similarly "good enough," I'd consider it a victory. I don't have high hopes in that regard, based on what we know of the movie so far, but it's possible the script and story are better than has been reported elsewhere, so I'm doing my best to adopt a wait and see attitude, even as my gut tells me that I'm going to be sorely disappointed.
Good God. This guy has never been in a fight in his life. Where are the scars? Also, how does he shave so neatly? And the complete lack of any body hair? Blerch. Not holding out a bunch of hope at this point--check out Mikkelsen's press photos for "Valhalla Rising" by contrast.
ReplyDeletereally. if he took getting the part seriously, he should have at least let someone like Brock Lesnar break his nose for him.
ReplyDelete"Also, how does he shave so neatly?"
ReplyDeletePeople have always managed a pretty good shave, actually. It's not that hard, technologically-speaking, although you wouldn't expect to see it in the middle of one of Conan's "adventures" when a rational person's mind would be on other things.
The chest hair thing is just modern culture in action. It hasn't been considered sexy since one Tom Selleck heated-up the airwaves in Magnum P.I. :)
Wow, you guys are harsher critics than I am by a long shot.
ReplyDeleteAwesome :)
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ReplyDeleteSome of us just naturally don't have chest hair, you know!
ReplyDeleteAlso: 1st sentence could use verbification. :)
Look at the original artwork ... this guy looks ALOT more like Howard's Conan than roid monkey Schwarzenegger did ... yet the geek forums have been abound for months about "oh that guy doesn't look like Conan" I think actually that statement should be rephrased to "he doesn't look like Arnold."
ReplyDeleteWhen Howard wrote Conan it is very clear that he didn't have a physique in mind that could only be attained with human growth hormone. Most people don't look at the original Weird Tales Conan art though ... hopefully readers of this blog would be more savy to that though. I believe most people tend to look at the horrible (yet classic to most as we all grew up with it) Schwarzenegger film as canon ... sadly.
Just wiki Conan and look at the original artwork (Brundage from 1932, depicting the Phoenix on the Sword for example). I will admit that many of the comic books from the 1970s depicted a overly muscular Arnold-esq. But look at all the earlier artwork ... the Ed Emshwiller 1955 Tales of Conan cover, etc.
As for Valhalla Rising ... looks cool but it had a budget of like 40 million dollars. Seems kind of high brow by comparison to Conan as well. Sort of like comparing an action movie to a well done drama or something ... a little apples to oranges it seems. Another Howard title we never saw in the US was Solomon Kane ... to my knowledge it still isn't available on DVD here or anything.
I think the weakest link on this film isn't Momoa as Conan but rather Marcus Nispel as director (he has only done a small number of projects and its been all bad horror sequels).
I'm also a little shocked that more people don't know Momoa. With so many Canadians here and fellow geeks who might have seen (and maybe even liked ... parts of it anyway) Stargate Atlantis. Which was filmed as most of Stargate stuff is .. in Vancouver British Columbia no less.
ReplyDelete>>As for Valhalla Rising ... looks cool but it had a budget of like 40 million dollars.
ReplyDeleteIMDB says a 4 million pound budget and that sounds right.
I saw it a few months ago at a film festival and it was awful. Frankly Conan the Destroyer was a better movie.
Yeah, Valhalla Rising was terrible. And I say this as a fan of both Mikkelsen and Refn.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know who is writing the score for the film?
ReplyDeleteStehpenie Meyer has lead writing credits and I believe Philip Glass has been hired for the sound track score.
ReplyDeleteI am vary confident with Momoa as the new Conan. He has expressed a desire for the part to be "true to Howard" in that AZN ambush interview.
ReplyDeleteI'm more concern about everything else: are the director and the writing is gong to be good and true to Howard; is it going to be a kid-friendly PG-13 suck-fest or an R-rated orgy of adult-friendly splendor (violence & nudity is never gratuitous in a Conan yarn); it the soundtrack going to meat or beat the greatness of Basil Poledouris (he really raised the bar on that one)?
Howard's description of Conan is pretty superficial but he's always described are having black hair. Why the fudge can't we have a movie Conan with black hair?
ReplyDeleteJohn beat me to it. Conan has black hair. Can't they spring for a dye job for these guys (Momoa or Arnold)?
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, if you went with Brundage's Conan you'd have to cast Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in heavy eyeliner.
ReplyDeleteThe black hair's the real buzzkill for me. For something so easy to do, you'd think they'd have Momoa dye his hair, or at least give him a decent wig.
ReplyDeleteWhen Howard wrote Conan it is very clear that he didn't have a physique in mind that could only be attained with human growth hormone.
Trying to guess what Howard was truly intending is problematic. However, Howard was a lot more vague in describing Howard than he was for many of his heroes: he never even left a height, like he did for Cormac Fitzgeoffrey, Cormac Mac Art and others. Using words like "massive," "huge," "rippling muscles" and whatnot can mean different things to different people.
That said, for *my* perception of Conan, I still think Momoa could've used a few more months at the gym. He could've used a few more months preparation in general: this film has been ludicrously rushed. I can't think of another fantasy film with a comparable budget that finished principal photography in a mere two months, only three months after casting their lead actor.
Does anyone know who is writing the score for the film?
Very little apart from a few cast and crew members have been announced. We don't even know who's playing all the supporting characters from the original cast list - Ilira, Fassir, Remo, Lucius, Cheren - and principal photography's already wrapped. Unless these character have been written out - and Ilira, Fassir and Lucius are central to the plot as we know it - it's very strange we don't know the actors playing them already. Either that, or they're deliberately keeping them under wraps.
I'm more concern about everything else: are the director and the writing is gong to be good and true to Howard
As long as the plot is "The tale of Conan the Cimmerian and his adventures across the continent of Hyboria on a quest to avenge the murder of his father and the slaughter of his village" I can't see it ever being "true to Howard."