Hollywood already tried to remake Conan with a Hawaiian guy, and that didn’t work, but that doesn’t mean anyone’s ready to throw in the loin cloth just yet. Hell, this town runs on wishful thinking. Most recently, Fredrik Malmberg, CEO of Paradox Entertainment, the company that owns the rights to Conan, says Arnold Schwarzenegger is key to their future plans, and he sees no reason the 65-year-old former governor couldn’t headline a whole new Conan trilogy. Which I’m guessing means he’s ignoring the obvious ones.
“We have a great story,” says Malmberg. “Everyone loves it. This is a role that’s perfect for [Arnold] and he’s very involved with the whole Universal team. It’s the best team they have. Arnold has been very instrumental to bringing this together saying, ‘We gotta make a good Conan!’”
“I think if we do this right, we can do two more Conan movies right after,” he continues. “I think Game Of Thrones also shows a huge interest in fantasy. I’m psyched about it.”
“The idea is that this takes place after Conan has been king,” says Malmberg. “But this is the legend of Conan where he has been gone and people say, ‘Do you remember the good ol’ days when Conan was around?’ And now it’s time for him to come back.” [TheArnoldFans via TotalFilm]
First of all, Conan is like Game of Thrones in the sense that Gangster Squad is like The Sopranos. That said, you don’t need to justify to me why Arnold Schwarznegger might be wearing a silly hat. Just put him in a silly hat and take my 12 dollars. Bonus points if he yells a lot.
I think this Arnold-as-the-aging-king idea could really work, especially if he spends all day trying to molest his servants. Really, life imitating art or art imitating life, if Arnold’s involved, I’m not picky. I’d also love to see him walk into Jerry Brown’s office and cut his desk in half with a big sword. They’d have to give him his job back, those are the rules.
Photo (minus hat and carrot) by Paul Kane/Getty Images.