Westeros Blog: Jason Momoa as Conan

[Westeros]

The pictures from the Conan shoot in Bulgaria are flooding pretty much every geek film site out there, but we thought we might as well hop on the bandwagon and point them out, as some of them feature Jason Momoa in the titular role. He looks suitably barbaric, which is a good sign for his role as Drogo in HBO’s Game of Thrones and certainly even more muscular than when we last saw him at the pilot wrap party.

Will he retain that level of muscle tone for the reshoots? It’ll be interesting to see when the we get our first look at him as Khal Drogo in publicity stills as the air date approaches.

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[Jonias Snow]

When I saw those first pics from the new Conan movie, I just about fell off my chair laughing. I mean here is a 50 million movie whose first pics scream low budget television, while the first Games pic screams high quality movie production, go figure.

Here is a link to more pics. I just don't see Ancient Hyborean Age, what I see is old Robin Hood series leftover costumes from the local studio thrift shop. A wagon that is a small cheap imitation of the one used in Gladiator (not even original concept). A wooded area that looks like a local park near an airport and not an ancient forest from some lost age. Howard and Frazetti are turning over atm. Why couldn't the studio have used the John Milius "Crown of Iron" script, that screamed Hyborian Age, but of course would have a budget nearing 200 million.

By the way, that Michael J. Bassett Kane movie was made for less than 50 mil, yet he did it right and it screams high budget production. I have yet to see Solomon Kane so I am going only by the pics and trailers. That brings up another point, why is Kane having a hard time finding a North American distributor, is it to un-pc, or are local studios afraid of it taking away b.o. from their own financed movies since Kane is indepedent. The reviews afterall that I have read online give it basically 3.5 out of 5 stars average.

[Ran]

I thought it was at a $25 million budget.

It's really impossible to say how it will look on screen, to be honest, from set pictures like this.

[pika]

Nothing related to Milius screamed Hyborian Age. It just screamed Milius, not a bad thing on its own.. I'm glad they aren't using anything connected to the previous Conan adaptions.. On the other hand, this new adaption is just as far away from Howard's writing as they were. But its really hard to tell how it will look before things like special effects and lighting and what not are taken into account.

I agree with Al Harron at the Cimmerian.. the company responsible for this movie desperately needs to do some Production stills which are meant for release rather than allowing these dodgy set spy pics to keep surfacing as the only proof the movie is actually getting made.

[Jonias Snow]

I thought it was at a $25 million budget.

It's really impossible to say how it will look on screen, to be honest, from set pictures like this.

Well, that explains the Studio backlot costume thrift shop look, and why that wooded area is sooooooooo unremarkable. Still though, the Hyborian Age is akin to ancient Rome, Greece, Persia and Egypt not medieval Europe, and the garb on those riders speak 11th, 12th century, not ancient world. Obviously the producers never read Robert Howards books or even the Savage Sword of Conan pulp magazine of the 70's and 80's., let alone Frazetti's artwork.

[pika]

actually the Hyborian world varies between Stone age, all the way up to the Medieval Age.

Contrary to what most media presents, Aquilonia is more similar to Medieval Acquitaine than to Imperial Rome.. so in that regard a lot of the costuming in these pictures makes sense. However Momoa's gladiator getup does not, as at no time was Conan ever a gladiator.

[Ran]

Gladiators didn't tend to go out in the woods on horseback. That his armor there features bits and pieces similar to gladitorial armor doesn't really mean he's a gladiator. It could just be ... armor. I've no idea as to the story, so maybe they are making him a gladiator for a time, and really, who cares? Milius used the idea to brilliant effect in his reinterpretation.

[pika]

No offense intended, but again back to Milius.

I don't care what Milius did, I only care about what Howard did. Milius, is no better than the Fanfic writers that GRRM is complaining about on his Live Journal.

[Ran]

Milius is obviously better in the respect that he had the legal authority to write his script.

I think what I'm saying is that anyone who tackles Conan will be writing their Conan, and their Conan could well be an exceptional interpretation. If you wanted an utterly faithful-to-REH Conan film, that ship sailed long ago when Howard killed himself.

If you want no Conan film at all, well, tough. Why would the existence of a film -- when there have been two previous films, a cartoon, a TV series, comics, endless stories written by other creators, etc. -- be something worth being annoyed about?