Conan 2009 Teaser Poster

[Grue]

But I am a howardian Purist.

Well Howard certainly wasn't. Wonder why there seems to be quite a few Conan the pirate short stories? Or Conan wandering around African-like savannah? It's because they were pirate stories or Kane stories or what have you rewritten as Conan stories because they originally didn't sell.

I like REH but one thing to remember is that he was a pulp writer. There's a habit of associating HP Lovecraft with the pulp heyday but Lovecraft was the exception. While Lovecraft would slave over one story a month (and sell one), REH would submit three (and sell one). His characters are essentially totally interchangeable. Nothing wrong with that, but one thing to remember is that REH was selling adventures and excitement, not setting or characters.

 

[Someone]

Well Howard certainly wasn't. Wonder why there seems to be quite a few Conan the pirate short stories? Or Conan wandering around African-like savannah? It's because they were pirate stories or Kane stories or what have you rewritten as Conan stories because they originally didn't sell.

Wasn't that true for the very first Conan story Howard wrote? IIRC it was a Kull story that was previously rejected.

 

[Tewligan]

But still, the original Conan film is still a favorite of mine. Mainly for that fabulous Basil Polederous score and the fantastic set design. If they do not use that soundtrack for this film, I will not be happy.

You should probably start bracing yourself for unhappiness now. Barring the last Superman movie, how often do remade movies use the original soundtrack?

 

[Tewligan]

If this movie's going to be more true to REH, they'll need to put a lot more racism in there this time around!

 

[Tewligan]

I hope to watch Conan the Barbarian before the remake comes out.

Good luck with that one! Y'know, they oughtta come up with some kind of store that has a bunch of movies on DVD that you could go into and pay money in exchange for borrowing one or more of the movies for a few days. That would be a totally awesome place.

 

[Grue]

Wasn't that true for the very first Conan story Howard wrote? IIRC it was a Kull story that was previously rejected.

It's been a long time since I read that bit of REH lore, but I'm sure a Kull story was one of the rewrites (just don't remember if it was the first one or not).

 

[jester47]

Well Howard certainly wasn't. Wonder why there seems to be quite a few Conan the pirate short stories? Or Conan wandering around African-like savannah? It's because they were pirate stories or Kane stories or what have you rewritten as Conan stories because they originally didn't sell.

I like REH but one thing to remember is that he was a pulp writer. There's a habit of associating HP Lovecraft with the pulp heyday but Lovecraft was the exception. While Lovecraft would slave over one story a month (and sell one), REH would submit three (and sell one). His characters are essentially totally interchangeable. Nothing wrong with that, but one thing to remember is that REH was selling adventures and excitement, not setting or characters.

I am quite aware of the fact that Conan stories seem to jump genres. From what I understand is he would either write a conan story that didn't sell and change it to a different genre, or he would take a failed genre story and resell it as a conan yarn. But when it comes to the character that he intended, conan is generally the same guy through all the stories. I don't think this is because Howard wrote him as an interchangeable character, he is simply a character that transposes to other genres well. Pirates, Cowboys, Barbarians, Sailors and Boxers (and Boxer Sailors), generally are the same type of charcter. All are conan-y. So Conan fits in all those places. Some of his other characters don't exchange well with Conan.

Every other writer that has taken a crack at Conan has changed the subtleties of the character in ussually lame ways. Thats why I really don't respect other people's versions of Conan.

 

[Someone]

It's been a long time since I read that bit of REH lore, but I'm sure a Kull story was one of the rewrites (just don't remember if it was the first one or not).

My wiki-fu is strong. Looks like that if it wasn't exactly the first Howard's Conan-related work, it was his first published work. The rejected tale was a Kull story called "by this axe I rule", which became "the phoenix on the sword"

 

[SilentJay]

I don't want people to be disappointed, so I have to mention that the companies behind it are responsible for most of the Sci-Fi Channel Originals (including Mansquito) and the Wicker Man Remake.

Their repertoires: Millenium Films and Nu Image Films

With their combined track records, don't expect the movies to be good, or even to make it to theatres.

 

[Knightfall]

From here...

John McTiernan, Gerard Butler to Direct, Star in New Conan Movie?

"He's already proven he can rock a loincloth as convincingly as anyone since Marc Singer in Beastmaster -- so will Gerard Butler put that talent to use in the new Conan movie?

That's what French film site Mad Movies is saying -- or at least, that's how Ain't It Cool News translates the report, and since we took Spanish in high school, we're sort of at their mercy. According to the latest rumors, Butler is being floated as the new Conan -- and John McTiernan, apparently, is first on the studio's list of potential directors.

McTiernan, as you might recall, has been having sort of a bad year; he was recently sentenced to a $100,000 fine and four months in jail for his role in the Anthony Pellicano fiasco. The Conan gig could be just the pick-me-up the Die Hard director needs."

The person who posted it on IMDb states that he got the quote for RottenTomatoes.com.