Arnold Schwarzenegger Talks The Legend of Conan; Paul Verhoeven Interested in Directing
Arnold Fans
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We all know that Arnold Schwarzenegger is coming back for the new film The Legend of Conan, and in a perfect world it will be the serious-minded and bloody sword and sandal flick we’ve all been hoping for. But will we get it?
The Arnold Fans recently caught up with the man himself to talk about the upcoming sequel…
“Well, age doesn’t mean anything to me because I work out every day,” says Schwarzenegger of the physicality of the film at his age. “I work out twice a day, as a matter of fact. At night I work out with weights, and in the morning I do cardiovascular training. So for me, to get on the set and to swing the sword around again and to ride the horses and all those things doesn’t mean anything [and does not scare me] because I feel like I did thirty years ago. So as long as I stay in shape, that’s the key thing, and to keep your body young. Even though you do feel the pain when you wipe out and when you do your fight scenes and you get more sore and the body doesn’t come back as quickly and all this . . . but just grind through it, you know? That’s what it’s all about!”
Fredrik Malmberg, President and CEO of Paradox Entertainment also spoke a bit about what to expect from Arnold in the new film.
“I think he said himself, he really wants to spend a few months to really get in shape for the role,” says Malmberg. “He’s pretty big still. We want him to be comfortable in the role and play a realistic warrior of this age. So we don’t want him to look like a 45-year-old. But I don’t see a problem with him taking off his shirt or whatever and showing still a big and beefy body with scars, gashes and see this man has really been through every battle there is. And of course Arnold is all about fitness, and he’s still into it. We had breakfast not too long ago, and he talked about his health and his oatmeal and what he eats every day. He knows exactly what he’s putting into his body and the effects. I wouldn’t be surprised if he took off his shirt, but definitely he’ll be having pumped-up arms.”
Malmberg continues, “As you know, right now we’re concentrating on the story and the script, and then we’ll go out and find the right director who has the same passion as the rest of us in the group. And you always have to let the creative side and let the director put his stamp and mark on it so you never know what’s going to happen with the production design. I mean, we’re trying to get the TOP production people involved. We’re talking all the time about who we’d see doing the production, and our dream would be to have the WETA Workshop guys, the LOTR and Hobbit guys. They are huge Conan fans, and they would be great to be involved on the creative side. But if they wanted to pay homage to the old swords, we could do it. But will the director and the whole team think that’s a cop-out or is that an homage? So you never know.”
Now here’s where things get interesting. The Arnold Fans also caught up with director Paul Verhoeven to see if he’d be interested in directing the film.
“If they asked me, I’d certainly love to – let’s put it that way,” says Verhoeven of the possible gig. “But I don’t know what the script is. I don’t know what Arnold wants. I’m a big fan in fact of Conan. That’s a great movie, and I found that the composer, Basil Poledouris, basically inspired many of my movies [the soundtracks] like Flesh and Blood, RoboCop, Starship Troopers, and Total Recall. The score of Conan is great. The style of editing that Milius used was very beautiful, and Arnold does a great job. He was really the perfect choice.”
Now let’s be clear: Verhoeven getting the job is an extreme longshot, but could you just imagine the possibilities? Wow. Stay tuned for more about The Legend of Conan soon!
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