Conan the Barbarian is a 2011 sword and sorcery film based on the character Conan the Barbarian created by Robert E. Howard. The film is a new interpretation of the Conan mythology, and is not related to the films featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger. It stars Jason Momoa in the titular role, alongside Rachel Nichols, Rose McGowan, Stephen Lang, Ron Perlman, and Bob Sapp with Marcus Nispel directing.
The film had spent seven years in development at Warner Bros. before the rights were shifted to Nu Image/Millennium Films in 2007, with a clause wishing for immediate start on production. Lionsgate and Sony Pictures entered negotiations for distribution, with the film seeing many directors, prominently Brett Ratner,
before settling on Nispel in 2009 and subsequently bringing together a
cast and crew. Filming began on March 15, 2010 and concluded on June 5,
2010. The film was first released on August 17, 2011 in four countries: France, Belgium, Iceland and the Philippines.[4][5][6] It was released in North America on August 19, and received largely negative reviews.
Plot
Conan is the son of Corin (Ron Perlman), chief of a barbarian tribe. The youth (Leo Howard)
is a skilled but violent warrior, who his father believes is not ready
to wield his own sword. One day, their village is attacked by the forces
of Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang),
a warlord who wishes to reunite the pieces of the Mask of Acheron in
order to revive his dead wife and conquer Hyborea. Thousands of years
ago, the Mask, crafted by a group of sorcerers and used to subjugate the
world, was broken into many pieces, which were scattered among the
barbarian tribes. After locating Corin's piece of the mask, and
murdering the entire village, Zym leaves. Conan is the only survivor,
and swears revenge.
Years later, Conan (Jason Momoa) has become a pirate, but still seeks revenge. In the city of Messantia, he encounters Ela-Shan (Saïd Taghmaoui), a thief being chased by a man whom Conan recognizes as Lucius (Steven O'Donnell),
one of Zym's soldiers from years before. He allows himself to be
captured alongside Ela-Shan. Conan escapes imprisonment and confronts
Lucius, forcing him to reveal that Zym seeks the pure-blood descendant
of the sorcerers of Acheron; sacrificing the descendant will unleash the
mask's power. Conan helps the rest of the prisoners to escape, and, in
gratitude, Ela-Shan tells Conan that, if he ever needs him, Conan will
find him at the City of Thieves, Argalon.
Zym and his daughter, the sorceress Marique (Rose McGowan)
attack a monastery where they hope to find the pure-blood descendant.
Sensing something is wrong, Fassir (Raad Rawi), an elderly monk, tells
one of his students, Tamara (Rachel Nichols),
to run away and return to her birthplace. Tamara's carriage is chased
by Zym's men, but Conan rescues her, and also captures one of Zym's men,
Remo (Milton Welsh). After forcing him to reveal Tamara's importance as
the pure-blood, Conan catapults Remo into Zym's nearby camp.
Zym and Marique confront Conan, who pretends to be interested in
exchanging Tamara for gold. Conan attacks Zym, but Marique saves her
father by invoking soldiers made of sand and then poisoning Conan with a
poison-laced boomerang sword. Tamara rescues him and they return to
Conan's ship, stationed nearby, where his friend Artus (Nonso Anozie)
helps Conan recover. The boat is attacked by Zym's men, and, although
they kill several of Conan's men, they are defeated. Conan orders Artus
to return to Messantia with Tamara and departs to confront Zym in his
kingdom. Artus tells Tamara that Conan left a map behind and she follows
him, meeting with him in a cave, where they make love. The next day, as
she is returning to the boat, Zym's men and daughter capture her.
Conan learns of Tamara's capture and departs to Argalon, where he
asks Ela-Shan to help him break into Zym's castle unnoticed. Zym
prepares to drain Tamara's blood, mending the mask. After confronting an
octopus-like monster that guards the dungeons, Conan infiltrates Zym's
followers and watches as Zym puts on the empowered mask. Conan releases
Tamara, and she escapes as he battles Zym with the castle falling around
them. Marique attacks Tamara, but Conan hears Tamara's scream and
defeats Marique, cutting off her hand. Tamara kicks her into a pit,
where she is impaled on a large spike. Zym comes and, finding his
daughter's corpse, he swears revenge upon Conan.
Conan and Tamara become trapped on an unstable bridge as Zym attacks
them. He uses the mask's power to call forth the spirit of his dead
wife, Maliva, a powerful sorceress who was executed by the monks from
Tamara's monastery for attempting to unleash occult forces to destroy
Hyborea, and Maliva's spirit begins to possess Tamara. She begs Conan to
let her fall, but he refuses, and instead stabs the bridge before
jumping to safety with Tamara. The bridge collapses, taking Zym along.
The power-hungry ruler falls to the lava below the immense precipice
screaming the name of his wife, implying his demise.
Conan and Tamara escape and he returns her to her birthplace, telling
her that they'll meet again. He then returns to Corin's village and
tells the memory of his father that he has avenged his death and
recovered the sword Zym stole from him, restoring his honor.
Cast
- Jason Momoa as Conan
- Leo Howard as Young Conan
- Rachel Nichols as Tamara: A beautiful and studious novitiate of a monastery who is actually of a bloodline of Acheronian necromancers.
- Stephen Lang as Khalar Zym: A ruthless empire-building warlord and the main antagonist of the film. Khalar seeks Acheron's powers over life and death to resurrect his wife Maliva who was burned for her evil. The character was originally going to be called Khalar Singh[8]
- Rose McGowan as Marique: Khalar Zym's daughter and a powerful witch. She is the secondary antagonist of the film.
- Ivana Staneva as Young Marique
- Bob Sapp as Ukafa: A leader of Kushite Tribemen from the savannahs of Kush and Khalar Zym's lieutenant. He is jealous that Zym’s daughter, Marique, will one day be warlord. He obeys his leader but plots the overthrow of his daughter.
- Steven O'Donnell as Lucius: The leader of Khalar Zym's Legion of Aquilonian Mercenaries. Lucius is disfigured by Conan during the ransacking of the Cimmerian village. He became warden of a prison soon after.
- Diana Lubenova as Cheren: A blind archer who leads a similar band of blind archers in Khalar Zym's mercenary army.
- Ron Perlman as Corin: A blacksmith, a leader of the Cimmerians, and Conan's father.
- Nonso Anozie as Artus: A Zamoran pirate and friend of Conan.
- Saïd Taghmaoui as Ela-Shan: A thief who owes a debt to Conan.
- Milton Welsh as Remo: A mysterious warrior of dark magic.
- Raad Rawi as Fassir: An elder monk and leader of the monastery charged with the care of Tamara.
- Anton Trendafilov as Xaltotun
- Aysun Aptulova as Sacrificial Victim
- Daniel Rashev as Acolyte Priest
- Morgan Freeman as the Narrator
Production
Development
There had been talk in the late 1990s of a second Conan sequel following Conan the Destroyer, about an older Conan, set to be titled King Conan: Crown of Iron; however, due to Arnold Schwarzenegger's election in 2003 as governor of California, this project came to an end.[9]
Warner Bros. spent seven years trying to get the project off the ground, with development attempts made by Larry and Andy Wachowski, John Milius, and Robert Rodriguez who was closest to completing development but left the project for Grindhouse. Boaz Yakin was hired in 2006 to start again, however, in June 2007 the rights reverted to Paradox Entertainment, though all drafts made under Warner remained with them. Paradox's CEO, Fredrik Malmberg, told Variety
"we have great respect for Warner Bros., but after seven years, we came
to the point where we needed to see progress to production." Paradox
were auctioning the rights after and various groups took interest in
producing, including New Line Cinema, Hollywood Gang, and Millennium Films.[10]
Due to development-time frustrations felt when the rights were with
Warner, Malmberg made deal terms where he was asking for $1 million for a
one-year option, with another $1 million for each year's renewal. In
August 2007, it was announced that Millennium had acquired the right to
the project in a unrevealed seven-figure deal, with Malmberg and
Millennium's Avi Lerner, Boaz Davidson, Joe Gatta, and George Furla set to produce.
The deal was brokered by Gatta, who originally made the deal between
Paradox and Warner in 2002. Production was aimed for a Spring 2006
start, with intention of having stories more faithful to the Robert E. Howard creation.[11]
After the partnership on Rambo, Nu Image Films, Millennium and Lionsgate
partnered on this film due to the strength of that relationship, and
the happiness by Millennium producers with the handling of Rambo. Lionsgate were announced to be handling North America's distribution in January 2008. At this point, Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer
had been courted to write the script. Nu Image/Millennium founders
Lerner and Danny Dimbort were set to fully finance the film at an
estimated $100 million.[12] With a brief effort of developing Red Sonja with Rose McGowan as the lead, Robert Rodriguez had mentioned in July 2008 he had been in discussions to produce Conan also.[13]
Dirk Blackman and Howard McCain were announced in August to have been
hired for a re-write of the script, with the intention of returning to
the original source material and in the desire of making an R-rated film.[14]
In November 2008, Brett Ratner was prematurely announced to be the director of Conan to The Hollywood Reporter by Lerner, something which displeased him as he pointed out "I am not doing Conan now. This is totally premature. For now, Conan is only a development deal. I have a deal at Paramount and I'm doing Beverly Hills Cop [IV] first, no matter what. Avi shouldn't be telling you or anyone else in the press what I'm doing."[15][16]
However, Gatta revealed in May 2009 that after six months of
discussions on developing the film, Ratner was off the project due his
busy schedule. Regardless, Gatta was hopeful of still meeting the
intention of Millennium to start filming on August 24 in Bulgaria.[17] June 2009 revealed Marcus Nispel would take the reins as director to the film.[18] Sean Hood was announced in February 2010 to be rewriting the script once more for the producers.[19]
Early in the pre-production process Conan was a temporary title for the film, until it was changed to Conan 3D. Finally, early on December 2010, the title was definitely changed to Conan the Barbarian, as was titled the John Millius 1982 film.[20]
Casting
In January 2010, Jason Momoa was selected for the role of Conan.[21] Momoa beat Kellan Lutz
for the role. He was enrolled in an intense six-week training program
at a stunt and martial arts academy in Los Angeles for his part, while
still finalising negotiations for the film. Momoa intended to add 10
pounds of muscle to his 215 pound frame, with the help of The Bourne Ultimatum's stunt performer David Leitch, and the martial arts stunt coordinator for The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, Chad Stahelski.[22]
There is also some speculation as to the types of exercises as well as
the diet used by Momoa to achieve his 10 pound muscle gain.[23]
Leo Howard was cast as the younger Conan in the film, as the first 15 minutes will focus on Conan's youth.[24]
The casting call for Conan's father, Corin, reveals the character to
be "powerfully built, intelligent, graceful, master swordsman, skilled
blacksmith, de facto leader of Cimmerians and Conan's father. He
resolves to answer the terrible request of his dying wife and cuts Conan
out of her so she can see him. He then shoulders the burden of raising
Conan, which proves to be daunting given the boy's savage nature. Corin
teaches his son the meaning of the sword: a hot blade must be cooled and
tempered. When Khalar finally corners him and tortures him to death, he
shows no regret nor pain, hiding his concern for his son's safety from
the eyes of the enemy."[25] Mickey Rourke
first entered negotiations. Originally talks had happened before but
after a period of no talk, offers were returned to Rourke in February
2010.[26] Rourke had however left the project for a second time, in apparent favour of the Immortals film. Ron Perlman took on the character in March 2010.[27][28]
Bob Sapp
portrays Ukafa, "a leader of Kushite Tribemen from the savannahs of
Kush. Ukafa is Khalar Zym’s second in command, jealous that Zym’s
daughter, Marique, will one day be warlord. He obeys his leader but
plots the overthrow of his daughter. He is a mighty warrior and
unbeatable in battle—until he meets Conan."[29]
Rachel Nichols
joined the cast as Tamara, described as "the Queen’s servant, bodyguard
and best friend. She and many other female bodyguards to the queen have
been in hiding most of their lives because of the curse of Acheron,
which would take the queen’s life to bring almost immortal power to its
king. When Khalar Zym, a powerful warlord with ambitions to become the
king of Acheron, storms the monastery and captures all of the
novitiates, she is separated from Ilira, the one she must protect. With
all of her strength and will, Tamara is determined to find and rescue
her. She finds herself in league with Conan because of a mutual need to
find Khalar Zym. She is not in the least intimidated by Conan’s size or
grim demeanor and their alliance eventually blossoms into something that
surprises them both."[30]
Stephen Lang
will play Khalar Zym, described to be "commanding in size and manner, a
warlord and formidable warrior, brilliant, cruel, weathered and tanned
by the many campaigns he has waged and won. He is driven in his quest to
find the Queen of Acheron and has been building an empire to do so."[31]
Dolph Lundgren had spoken to the producers in November 2009 for an unspecified role.[32]
Variety announced on March 2010 that Rose McGowan would also star as an "an evil half-human/half-witch".[33]
She will play the daughter of Stephen Lang's character, Khalar Zym
called Marique. Although originally written as a male character called
Fariq, McGowan impressed the producers with her take of the role,
therefore slightly re-writing her character to be female.
Filming
Filming was first hoped to be started in Spring 2008. Nothing was set
until Ratner came on board. Filming had a set date for August 24, 2008,
in Bulgaria.
Ratner however departed in May that year, and the start-date for
filming was pushed back, with South Africa being revealed as another
filming destination.[18] Filming finally began, in Bulgaria, on March 15, 2010,[33] wrapping on June 15.[34]
The Bulgarian shooting locations are Nu Boyana Film Studios, Bolata, Pobiti Kamani, Bistritsa, Sofia, Zlatnite Mostove, Pernik and Vitosha.[35][36]
The film had a 3-D conversion in post production.[37]
[edit] Release
Conan the Barbarian was first released on August 17, 2011 in France, Belgium, Iceland and the Philippines. It was released in Australia, Italy and Israel on August 18, in the United States, Canada and Spain on August 19,[38] in Switzerland on August 21,[39] in the United Kingdom on August 26,[40] among others.
As of December 21, 2011, the movie had a worldwide gross of $48.8m,
making it a complete box-office failure earning back less than its
estimated $90 million production cost.
Critical reception
As of August 30, 2011, the film has largely received negative
reviews, attaining a 23% aggregate approval rating based on 128 reviews
on the review-aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.[7] The website provided a consensus that "while its relentless, gory violence is more faithful to the Robert E. Howard books, Conan the Barbarian forsakes three-dimensional characters, dialogue, and acting in favor of unnecessary 3D effects."[7] The film also received a score of 36 out of 100 from review aggregate Metacritic, which indicates "generally unfavorable" reviews based on 29 reviews.[41] CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was a "B-" on an A+ to F scale.[42]
However not all reviews were negative. Scott Weinberg of
Twitchfilm.com stated, "Some action scenes are tighter and more cohesive
than others, but there's little denying that Nispel's Conan
moves like a shot, tosses a lot of hardcore lunacy at the screen, and
shows a decent amount of respect for basic matinee action-fests."
Although criticizing the stock characters and cliché ridden script, Variety
magazine also gave a mildly positive review, stating "With all
earnestness, Nispel embraces the property's classic roots, placing this
new Conan squarely within the tradition of sword-and-sorcery pics."
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