UPDATED Crom! Is Roland Kickinger the new Conan the Barbarian?

Risky Biz Blog has reported that Lionsgate and Nu Image/Millennium may have found the star for their Conan remake.

41-year-old Austrian actor Roland Kickinger is in talks to play the role that Arnold Schwarzenegger christened in the 1982 classic Conan The Barbarian.

As some of you will no doubt know there are some other uncanny similarities

- Kickinger is also a bodybuilder-turned-actor from the Central European country

- He was in Terminator Salvation as the body double for Arnie's T-800

- Kickinger also played a Conan The Barbarian-era version of Schwarzenegger in See Arnold Run, the 2005 A&E biopic about the actor-turned-politician.

Shooting will begin in the fall at Avi Lerner's Bulgaria-based studio.

As previously mentioned Marcus Nispel (Friday the 13th) will direct.

I reckon this is a good choice for Conan. He looks the part and he can't be any worse an actor than Arnie. Don't forget though that he is only in talks so it is not a definite that he will be the Cimmerian.

What are your thoughts? Do you think Arnie will have a cameo? Should it be an origin tale or should he just get in there and start killing?

UPDATE: Latino Review are saying that this news is not true. Now the original article said he was in talks so not sure if they are debunking that or the fact Kickinger won't be Conan. They say:

Trust me guys, I have a super solid source at both Lionsgate and Millenium and they laughed their asses off!

I'm still not sure though. I'll see what else I can dig up.

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

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Conan to be directed by Marcus Nispel

Marcus Nispel is down to direct Conan the Robert E. Howard-created barbarian first immortalized onscreen by Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1982 according to Variety.

Production on the remake is set to start late this year in Bulgaria and South Africa. Nu Image/Millennium is making the film in a co-production with Lionsgate.

The script is by Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer, whose credits include "Sahara" and "Cowboys and Aliens."

A number of directors have been approached over the past few years - Larry and Andy Wachowski and Robert Rodriguez but none worked out. Brett Ratner was the most recent director attached to the film, but luckily for us, he would not commit to it.

Nispel (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,Friday the 13th, Pathfinder) then stepped in.

Nispel has said he will blend his childhood imaginings of the character with the influence of the famous Conan illustrations by Frank Frazetta, and the influence of such viscerally violent period films as Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto."

I think Nispel is a better choice than Ratner and his approach sounds pretty cool, but I still don't know about this. His previous films haven't been that special. Pathfinder is probably closest to the Conan film in content and that was a bit of a disaster.

How do you feel about Nispel directing Conan? Who do you want to play the Barbarian?

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

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Thulsa Doom by Alex Ross

CBR had an exclusive first look at Alex Ross' cover for Red Sonja Presents: Thulsa Doom" #1.

From the pages of writer Robert E. Howard comes the debut of Dynamite’s
Thulsa Doom!

Written by Kull writer Arvid Nelson and illustrated by Lui
(Red Sonja) Antonio, the opening story arc also features cover artist Alex Ross!
Featuring the origins of the ultimate anti-hero, Thulsa Doom #1 opens after the
destruction of Atlantis, when the world was in chaos and Thulsa sought his own
path to ultimate power!

Back in July 2008 I mentioned that fact that Djimon Hounsou was saying he would be playing Thulsa Doom in a live action film. It looks as if Alex Ross has used him for the basis of his painting.

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Classic Scene - Conan punches out a camel

Thanks to bjornage for reminding me of this scene.

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The Random - Toy Story 3D, Inglourious Basterd, The Losers, Fantastic Mr Fox, Cemetery Junction, The Big Bang, Conan, Fast & Furious, Station,

- Disney’s 3D versions of Pixar’s Toy Story and Toy Story 2 will premiere at the 66th annual Venice Film Festival. The films will surround the Golden Lion award ceremony at the Palazzo del Cinema at Venice Lido, where the Venice Film Festival will give lifetime achievement awards to the Pixar aniamtors.

- NY Times have a big feature on Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds that has this interesting piece of news - "Not to mention a shelved subplot about African-American soldiers stuck behind enemy lines. 'I have a half-written prequel ready to go if this movie's a smash,' he said."

- Wes Anderson’s animated adaptation of Fantastic Mr. Fox will be released under Fox’s Fox Searchlight “indie”-focused label. The film is currently scheduled to hit theaters on November 13th in the States, but on October 22nd/23rd in UK and Russia.

- Jason Patric (The Lost Boys, Narc) may be the bad guy in the comic book adaption of The Losers. The good guys currently consist of Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the team leader, Zoe Saldana, Iris Elba and Columbus Short.

- Matthew Goode ("Brideshead Revisited," "Watchmen") has joined the cast of the dramedy Cemetery Junction for Sony Pictures says The Hollywood Reporter. "Cemetery" takes a period look at a group of twenty-something men working at the Prudential insurance company in the 1970's and their relationships with each other as well as the women in their lives. Goode will play Mike, a go-getter dating his boss' daughter. Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Christian Cooke, Tom Hughes, Jack Doolan and Ricky Gervais star.

- Antonio Banderas will star in the neo-noir detective thriller The Big Bang for says Variety.
Banderas stars as an L.A. private detective who's hired to find a missing stripper. The trail leads to the New Mexico desert. There the private eye finds a trail of bodies and contends with a brutal Russian boxer, three LAPD detectives and an aging billionaire looking to perfect the nuclear physics equivalent of the Big Bang.

- James McTeigue ("V for Vendetta," "Ninja Assassin") is tipped to be helming the upcoming Conan the Barbarian reboot film for Nu-Image/Millenium as Brett Ratner has left the project.

- Fast and Furious screenwriter Chris Morgan tells MTV News that all the talk of another sequel is not just true, but things are moving quickly. "It seems like there will definitely be another one. I just got out of a lunch with Universal, just pitching the story around. We were figuring out if we do another one, and what it would be. It has to come from the characters, so where are these characters after this film - what are they doing?" says Morgan.

- CBS Films has acquired screen rights to Johanna Stokes's comic book mini-series Station reports Variety. In the miniseries, five nations have sent their finest astronauts to operate Earth's first multinational space station, but when one turns up dead, the remaining personnel race against time to discover if it was sabotage, an accident or murder.

- Vin Diesel, director John Singleton and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura are teaming for a film adaptation of the video game The Wheelman for Paramount Pictures reports Variety.
Diesel produced, voiced and had his likeness used in the game about an expert driver who comes out of retirement to protect a woman from his past.


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Conan - Arnold's best bits from the DVD commentary

Brilliant bit of editing taking the best bits of Arnold's commentary from the Conan the Barbarian DVD.

Check out Arnold showing off his Conan Sword to his Government buddies.

Lots of news about the new Terminator Salvation film.

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Chariots of the Gods - Is an adaption needed or wanted?

Paradox Entertainment has acquired screen rights to the 1968 controversial best-seller"Chariots of the Gods" reports Variety.

Having sold 68 million copies worldwide over the past few decades, Erich von Daniken's book explores evidence that different ancient civilizations were visited by extraterrestrials.

That premise will be turned into a science fiction film. The idea has already formed the basis of various films and television from the "Stargate" franchise to the most recent "Indiana Jones" adventure and we all know how that turned out

Paradox controls the Robert E. Howard estate and is developing a movie version of "Conan" with Millennium Films.

Not sure whether a Chariots of the Gods adaption is a good or a bad thing. It has been around for ages and has been used many times before. At the moment I'm not too excited about the whole thing.

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If Conan the Barbarian was Governer of California...Like that's going to happen...oh wait!

Great photo by Rich Pedroncelli over at MSNBC.com

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger shows off the sword he used in the movie "Conan The Barbarian" to state lawmakers in Sacramento on Tuesday. Schwarzenegger joked that the he would use it to cut the budget deficit.

Thanks to Darthqall over on the Conan.com Forum for mentioning it.

Anyone got a cool caption for the photo?
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The Random - Catch up edition - Astro Boy, Captain Marvel, Piranha 3D, Iron Man 2, The Hobbit, Sex and the City, Galactica, Observe and Report,

John Cleese is developing a stage musical of his classic 80's comedy A Fish Called Wanda with his daughter Camilla. They're hoping to have it finished in the next two to three years and debut it in San Diego with the hope of the production continuing on to Broadway and the West End..." (full details)

Fans spent hundreds and thousands on everything from water bottles to model ships used on the set of Battlestar Galactica at an online auction over the weekend... (full details)

"My idea is to have someone like Britney Spears move to New York as my cousin or niece and Carrie would show her the ropes" says Sarah Jessica Parker of her plans for a 'Sex and the City' sequel... (full details)

Unlike the original, Ian McKellen says that the upcoming AMC mini-series remake of 'The Prisoner' will answer all your burning questions by the time it comes to an end... (full details)

"I would love to. I would be available. I would do anything for Peter and I would do anything for Guillermo. Of course there is the writing challenge" says Dominic Monaghan about starring in The Hobbit... (full details)

UPDATED: "Last I heard, Brett was leaning away from Conan. This can obviously change at any time, since I don’t think anything is official either way. I’m a little constrained from talking about Conan for reasons I hope I never have to write about" says "Conan" screenwriter Dirk Blackman (not producer Avi Lerner as I previously posted)...(full details)

Andy Serkis says that shooting on the first Tintin film directed by Steven Spielberg is scheduled to begin next week... (full details)

The upcoming CG animated Astro Boy film was almost a victim of the recession... (full details)

Access Hollywood have the first post-screening exclusive interview with the last of the 'Final Five' Cylons from Battlestar Galactica who was revealed on Friday night. Don't click unless you're aware of who it turned out to be..." (full details)

Sam Rockwell confirms talk that he's playing the character of Justin Hammer in the upcoming Iron Man sequel... (full details)

Alexandre Aja is adamant he will begin shooting the remake of Joe Dante's Piranha 3D this year after a slight delay from last Fall. He also indicates the fish themselves will look different visually - "Like Gremlins not all of the piranha will be the same"... (full details)

Despite reports of its death, producer Michael Uslan says the Shazam movie is still alive and kicking "I will only say one thing — and all I will do is quote Samuel Clemens to you. This is direct from Captain Marvel himself: 'The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated'"... (full details)

Also, despite reports of its death, producer Lynn Hendee says the Ender's Game movie is still alive and kicking and insists the "project is not dead". She told The LA Times the other week that "[Card] was not interested in a ‘tough-hero action film’ and refuses to condescend to green-screen Hollywood. Card imagines a ‘film where the human relationships are absolutely essential — an honest presentation of the story.’"..." (full details)

Twentieth Century Fox is holding an online casting call to find a bright, precocious and appealing young actor, age 10-13, for the lead role of Greg Heffley in the film version of the New York Times bestseller Diary of a Wimpky Kid. Candidates are invited to visit IAmtheWimpyKid.com to learn more about the project – and to upload their audition videos... (full details)

Sony Pictures has picked up the North American rights to Blood and Bone. The film follows former convict Michael Jai White as man who gets into the world of underground fighting. His one goal is to fulfill the promise of a friend who died... (full details)

Summit Entertainment has picked up rights to Gayle Forman's young adult novel If I Stay. The story follows a young musician and her rocker boyfriend who get caught up in a tragic car wreck..." (full details)

Seth Rogen comedy Observe and Report will have its world premiere at the SXSW festival on March 16th, nearly a full month before its general release on April 10th. Rogen plays an egocentric mall cop who tries to impress a perfume girl (Anna Faris) by catching a mall flasher before the whacked out local police detective (Ray Liotta)...(full details)

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The Random

Brett Ratner was supposed to have chosen Conan as his next project. But it seems it is a little premature to say that he will definitely be directing. Ratner is not best pleased with the person who released the news early.

Rumour has it that Russell Brand is in talks to play the lead in a remake of Jesus Christ Superstar. Wonder if Jonathan Ross will play Judas?

Heavy Metal publisher and editor Kevin Eastman has announced that Zack Snyder, David Fincher and Gore Verbinski are on board to direct three segments of the currently-in-development revamp of “Heavy Metal"

Ben Stiller’s Animated Master Mind shifts Robert Downey Jr. From ‘Iron Man’ Hero To Supervillain.

"We're doing it… it's a go" said Jeffrey Tambor (who plays George Bluth Sr.) about the Arrested Development movie. Collider have the interview.

InstituteForHumanContinuity.org appears to be a viral website for Roland Emmerich's 2012.

According to THR, Twilight scribe Melissa Rosenberg has signed on to pen the next two screenplays, based on the books New Moon and Eclipse.

Tatantino Archives has said that Eli Roth is directing the “film within the film”of Inglourious Basterds, which stars Daniel Bruhl as a Nazi sniper and a group of GIs on a suicide mission.

Len Wiseman is in talks to helm Motorcade for DreamWorks. Billy Ray’s (Breach, Flightplan) screenplay is an action-thriller about a terrorist group that assaults the President of the United States’ motorcade as it makes its way across Los Angeles.

Steven Spielberg's newly independent DreamWorks is in talks with Clint Eastwood to direct a supernatural thriller titled Hereafter.
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Oh No! Barack is a Mac User!

Why Barack why? It was all going so well! Cool Pac Man sticker though. Here are 50 things about Barack Obama you may not have known.

• He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics

• He was known as "O'Bomber" at high school for his skill at basketball

• His name means "one who is blessed" in Swahili

• His favourite meal is wife Michelle's shrimp linguini

• He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, Dreams From My Father

• He is left-handed – the sixth post-war president to be left-handed

• He has read every Harry Potter book

• He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali

• He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can't stand ice cream

• His favourite snacks are chocolate-peanut protein bars

• He ate dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper while living in Indonesia

• He can speak Spanish

• While on the campaign trail he refused to watch CNN and had sports channels on instead

• His favourite drink is black forest berry iced tea

• He promised Michelle he would quit smoking before running for president – he didn't

• He kept a pet ape called Tata while in Indonesia

• He can bench press an impressive 200lbs

• He was known as Barry until university when he asked to be addressed by his full name

• His favourite book is Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

• He visited Wokingham, Berks, in 1996 for the stag party of his half-sister's fiancé, but left when a stripper arrived

• His desk in his Senate office once belonged to Robert Kennedy

• He and Michelle made $4.2 million (£2.7 million) last year, with much coming from sales of his books

• His favourite films are Casablanca and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

• He carries a tiny Madonna and child statue and a bracelet belonging to a soldier in Iraq for good luck

• He applied to appear in a black pin-up calendar while at Harvard but was rejected by the all-female committee.

• His favourite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees

• He took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing on their first date

• He enjoys playing Scrabble and poker

• He doesn't drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol

• He would have liked to have been an architect if he were not a politician

• As a teenager he took drugs including marijuana and cocaine

• His daughters' ambitions are to go to Yale before becoming an actress (Malia, 10) and to sing and dance (Sasha, 7)

• He hates the youth trend for trousers which sag beneath the backside

• He repaid his student loan only four years ago after signing his book deal

• His house in Chicago has four fire places

• Daughter Malia's godmother is Jesse Jackson's daughter Santita

• He says his worst habit is constantly checking his BlackBerry

• He uses an Apple Mac laptop

• He drives a Ford Escape Hybrid, having ditched his gas-guzzling Chrysler 300

• He wears $1,500 (£952) Hart Schaffner Marx suits

• He owns four identical pairs of black size 11 shoes

• He has his hair cut once a week by his Chicago barber, Zariff, who charges $21 (£13)

• His favourite fictional television programmes are Mash and The Wire

• He was given the code name "Renegade" by his Secret Service handlers

• He was nicknamed "Bar" by his late grandmother

• He plans to install a basketball court in the White House grounds

• His favourite artist is Pablo Picasso

• His speciality as a cook is chilli

• He has said many of his friends in Indonesia were "street urchins"

• He keeps on his desk a carving of a wooden hand holding an egg, a Kenyan symbol of the fragility of life

• His late father was a senior economist for the Kenyan government

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The New President will soon be with us - Some

The US Presidential election is due tomorrow. I've posted a few of the stories and cool ideas to come out of the election race. Here are a few more. If you know of any more add the link in the comments. Let me know which is your favourite.

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The Random

Posters for Body of Lies, Passengers, An American Carol, The Transporter 3, Saw V, He's Just Not That Into You, Che, The Haunting of Molly Hartley

What's the plot of Judd Apatow's upcoming comedy "Funny People"? "What if a very successful comedian thinks he's dying and then finds out he's not?"

With the upcoming "The Incredible Hulk" DVDs, there are 13 minutes of cut scenes on the standard DVD, 29 minutes on 3-disc special edition, and 44 minutes on the Blu-ray version. Director Louis Leterrier admits that he cut 70 minutes out of the film in total. Andy D mentioned this weeks ago.

Cameron Hood and Kyle Jefferson are no longer directing Dreamworks Animation's "MasterMind", the pair having left the project months ago.

Video of the Long Beach shoot on "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is up. There's a parade of vehicles here, footage of a major explosion here, and pics of the vehicles here.

An interesting piece explaining the lawsuit between Fox and 20th Century and the battle over "Watchmen". Also the film's characters appeared on four special covers for the Brazillian magazine Set this week, check them out here.

"Red Sonja" director Douglas Aarniokoski hints that a sequel is already being planned, and a cameo by other stars from the previous films set in the "Conan" universe may happen.

Hip-hop artist Nic Nac is apparently in Atlanta filming a third film in the "Van Wilder" franchise, sounds like it'll be direct-to-DVD.

The first artwork for "Naumón", a thriller about a reality show set on a prison ship, is up. Spanish director Isidro Ortiz ("Eskalofrio") helms the project and Asia Argento is rumored to star.

One of my most anticipated films of the Fall, the Bill Maher-led comedy doco "Religulous", has put up some not so convincing viral marketing it would seem with some religious group calling a boycott.

Actor and "Choke" filmmaker Clark Gregg says he'd like to return as S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson in the "Iron Man" sequel.

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The Random

Universal Pictures has acquired film rights to the late Robert Jordan's bestselling "The Wheel of Time" novel series in a seven-figure deal.

The guys who wrote the Viking v Aliens movie, Outlander, are scripting the new Conan movie.

Lars Von Trier's next project is a psychological thriller that turns into a horror movie, according to Variety. It's called ANTICHRIST and will be headlined by Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

J.J. Abrams to Follow Star Trek with an Earthquake Flick

Check out this cool Watchmen poster to original art comparison.

George Clooney has optioned Jonathan Mahler's novel THE CHALLENGE about a Navy lawyer who teams with a law professor to ensure that Osama bin Laden's bodyguard and driver Salim Hamdan is given a fair hearing.

An advanced and not particularly positive review of the script for "Masters of the Universe".

Corey Feldman has confirmed that he has received no offers to star in Tarantino's "Inglorious Bastards" despite Net talk to the contrary.

Screenwriter Justin Marks talks about how the film adaptations of the comic "Hack/Slash" and the video game "Street Fighter" are progressing.

Both "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" and "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" will get simultaneous IMAX releases next summer.

A first look at "The Dark Knight" DVD releases planned for Germany is up at Batmans.de. The film will hit DVD & Blu-ray in the US on December 9th.

Albert Torres has confirmed that they're still trying to adapt Chuck Palahniuk's "Survivor" into a workable screenplay.

A couple of new photos from the much-delayed Tom Cruise-led Hitler assassination flick "Valkyrie".

Linda Hamilton's agent confirmed on Monday that the actress has not been approached in any way to be involved in the upcoming "Terminator Salvation".

Radiohead have written their first film score - for the adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel Choke reports Pitch Fork Media.

Principal photography is underway on locations across London and at Ealing Studios on "Dorian Gray".

Stone Village has acquired Dikran Ornekian and Ryan Colluci's Brazillian werewolf action thriller spec script "Lobo" reports MSN.

Discuss in the forum.

The Random

M. Night Shyamalan to produce instead of direct?

Michael Rymer, director on Battlestar Galactica, is due to direct the Witchblade movie.

The Sun are saying there could be a Top Gun 2. This time Tom would be the instructor to a young hot headed female pilot.

Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) is saying he'll be playing Thulsa Doom the early years in a Conan spin off. Thulsa was the bloke James Earl Jones played in the Milius movie.

Japanese director, Ryuhei Kittamura, will be remaking his classic Zombie Kung-Fu movie, Versus, in America. The original was a piece of cinematic genius and he promises the remake will be bigger, better and gorier.

Discuss in the forum.

Conan - Teaser Poster

"Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad. Why we fought, or why we died. All that matters is that two stood against many. That's what's important! Valor pleases you, Crom... so grant me one request. Grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, then to HELL with you!"

All I've got is the poster. If you've got any more news pass it my way please.

The Random

Transformers 2 - Actress Megan Fox talked to MTV about rewrites on the script and plans for the sequel. "As big as the first movie was, this is 10 times as big, 10 times as many set pieces, explosions, and acrobatic stunts," she said. "Shia and I make out a little bit; I don’t know if anyone wants to see that. You know, we’ve been having script meetings, and we’ve been reworking the script, because they wrote it fast because of the writer’s strike. And, we’ve just been going through and trying to do some character stuff for Shia and myself in the middle of this crazy world that they’re in." What's Fox's direction from Michael Bay? "His main note to me is just to look hot; so I try my best."

WatchmenComicMovie.com works on re-bunking some rumors still floating around about the project.

Actor Max Thierot talks about the plot details of Wes Craven's "25/8" which deals with multiple people with multiple personalities.

Seems that due to a legal settlement, Rockstar Games isn't allowed to make a feature film based on their mega-hit video game series "Grand Theft Auto" as that title is owned by Fox Atomic who've been developing a remake of the 1977 Ron Howard directed film of the same name.

Clive Barker's not happy about Lionsgate's treatment of the film version of his "Midnight Meat Train" story and talks about what you can do to complain.

Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer have just started their "contractually obligated" rewrite of the "Conan the Barbarian" remake script.

John Cleese and his daughter Camilla are penning a musical adaptation of his much acclaimed and very popular heist comedy "A Fish Called Wanda".