I honestly don’t know which is worse, that the director of such “classics” as Rush Hour and Red Dragon was going to be doing the new Conan movie reboot or that he’s moved on and the director of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot and Pathfinder is now, according to CHUD, taking over. This change doesn’t necessary help my attitude towards the project.
Of course, it also doesn’t help that the company making the film, and has now picked Nispel to helm it, is none other than Millennium Films — the folks responsible for such cinematic gems as Alien Hunter, The Wicker Man, 88 Minutes and countless more. They don’t exactly have a fantastic track record when it comes to producing quality entertainment. However, I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt here.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the choice of Nispel may be an inspired one. His work on the rebooted Friday the 13th was actually pretty good. Plus, it looked really good, as do his other films, which is a plus for a big spectacle movie like Conan. Also, making a Conan movie is reportedly something that Nispel has wanted to do since childhood, so maybe that passion will help the film turn into something?
That’s not to say that he still couldn’t screw up Conan. But really, the original movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t exactly a sterling example of filmmaking either. It was fun and as a kid I enjoyed it but he really doesn’t have that much to live up to. What I’m more concerned about is what actor will play Conan. As the film is supposed to start shoting on August 14th in Bulgaria, that question will be answered soon enough I’m sure. Whoever it ends up being, they certainly have some big, um, pecks to fill.
