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.

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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?

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Friday the 13th, 2009 - Movie Review

Director: Marcus Nispel
Starring: Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Amanda Righetti, Travis Van Winkle, Aaron Yoo, Derek Mears, Nana Visitor, America Olivo
Running Time:
Score: 5 / 10

This review by Babubhaut.

The scariest part of the new remake Friday the 13th … that's right, getting into your car and realizing that the eternity was only 90 minutes. All jokes aside, what I learned from the newest installment in one of horror's never-ending franchises is that you do not mess with Jason Voorhees's weed. The guy has a nice little crop growing over there at Camp Crystal Lake, and he protects it with his machete and burlap bag covered grotesque mug. Honestly, the first few deaths can all be attributable to people trying to cut in on the drug trade, but don't worry, that story thread is soon abandoned and we get back to the gratuitous nudity, impressive death scenes where you actually get to see things impaled into people's heads numerous times, and a lot of running and screaming away from the big guy. I apologize for being so tongue-in-cheek here, because the film really wasn't that tragic. I'll admit that the original bored me to tears and I enjoyed Freddy Vs Jason, (probably because I love me some Kruger), and this one had some laughs—that's right, the laughs worked—and some decent moments as far as the genre goes. Still, though, that banned Nike commercial with the out of shape Jason is by far the best adaptation of the myth, or was that more Texas Chainsaw? What the film gets right: playing a Santogold track during a sex scene, so I could at least enjoy a good tune. Okay, I'll be serious now … I really enjoyed the beginning, no joke. It all starts with the revelation that concludes the original film. Here is young Jason's mother coming upon the last camp counselor that neglected him, allowing his drowning in the lake. She has killed everyone else and is about to complete her revenge when her inevitable demise occurs—all while the boy watches on. Was he really dead? Did he rise from purgatory to avenge himself and his mother? Who cares; he's there, he's sad, and he decides to spend the next twenty years bulking up like a professional wrestler, earning all his merit badges, (I mean look at those perfect knots collecting dust on his cabin's wall), and honing his archery skills with deadly precision. But that's not all for the prologue to the tale, no, we also get to watch a horny quintet visit the secluded area and be ravished sexually by each other and violently by the homicidal maniac. This is where it may hurt me being such a cinema fan; I knew it was still the prologue since none of the "stars" were yet in attendance. Everyone else in the theatre seemed to not know this and clapped when the title finally made its way on screen about twenty minutes in.

Why did that short sequence work, besides having everything you need in a successful slasher film—namely gore, Jonathan Sadowski's fantastic comic relief, a very not so shy America Olivo, and the discovery of Jason's creepily realized lair? It did because everyone was expendable, no stars had to survive until the end because they are collecting a paycheck and our country's short attention spans need a recognizable face to fork over their hard-earned cash. This is what true genre success needs, absolute anonymity and the unknown of who may survive, if anyone. Unfortunately, after those twenty minutes, we are treated to your regular run-of-the-mill/get your frights mediocrity. Rich kids galore with Daddy's boy prick versus brooding leading man looking for his sister, (who had been taking care of their cancer stricken mother, cue the sensitivity tears), and the obligatory machismo rearing its head like only spoiled brats can show. You want them all to die, and for the most part they do, but it is just so obvious and cliché; the only enjoyment you'll get will be wondering what horrific fatality can be coming next.

I lied, that's not the only enjoyment; there is always Aaron Yoo. The guy truly is gold in everything I've seen him in. Ultimately here for comic relief, I actually hoped he might somehow survive all the carnage. He and Arlen Escarpeta are great together, (love the exchange concerning the bong), and I found them so much more endearing then Travis Van Winkle's Trent, whom you want to kill yourself, and our leads Jared Padalecki and Danielle Panabaker. It appears that "Supernatural" isn't paying enough these days with both stars seeking shelter in horror remakes, (co-star Jensen Ackles just graced the silver screen in My Bloody Valentine 3D). Padalecki is okay; the film doesn't ask too much from him and he isn't one to try and do more than he should. Panabaker, on the other hand, is a very interesting choice to be cast here. Known mostly as a mousy, nerdy girl in Empire Falls and Sky High, she is all of a sudden the "girlfriend" of mister Joe Cool Popular Trent and a total departure from the big-bosomed blonde bimbos her group consists of. Inspired casting? Sure, maybe. Does she shine and carry the film into a credible stratosphere? No.

When all is said and done, if you enjoy slasher films for what they usually promise—blood, camp, nudity, and more blood—you'll probably have a good time. It's all been done before, the turning of old classics that had a shred of subtlety and nuance into quasi-snuff films. However, since I wasn't a big fan of the original, I appreciated what director Marcus Nispel attempted. Rather than a remake, he instead opens the film with a distilled version of the 1980 original, (even captioning the first scene as 1980 before getting to the "present day"), and makes his own piece to add to the legacy of the hockey mask. More Jason XI than Jason I Redux, it could have been a lot worse. But then again, I could have stayed home and not been any worse for wear.

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Friday the 13th - You can't kill me. I'm a Derek

This is the dude who will be playing hockey faced Jason Voorhees in the Friday the 13th remake. His name is Derek Mears and he is an actor / stuntman. Unsurprisingly he starred in The Hills Have Eyes 2 (he looks like the bald guy from the original and Weird Science. I forget his name. Had googly eyes). He has also been a stuntman in Indy 4 (but don't hold that against him). He's 6'5" so I think he'll meet the Jason requirement for scariness. In the remake Jason is going to be fast. Not the lumbering fool from previous movies.

Jason's mum, Pamela Voorhees, is going to be played by Nana Visitor (Major Kira from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). The victims include Jared Padalecki (Sam from the TV show Supernatural), Amanda Righetti, Danielle Panabaker, Travis Van Winkle (his real name apparantly) and Aaron Yoo as Chewie (not a Wookie).

Still not too sure whether to be excited about this. Warner Bros did ask me to take down some photos of Jason a while back, but I won't hold that against them. I'll keep you posted.

The film is produced by Michael Bay and directed by Marcus Nispel. He directed Pathfinder (that did well!), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (not seen it. Love the original though), and videos for Cher and Billy Joel. Make your own decision as to what that foretells. They're certainly horrific.

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