Paul Verhoeven Open To Direct THE LEGEND OF CONAN Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger

TheArnoldFans were able to speak with legendary action director Paul Verhoeven (Starship Troopers, Robocop, Black Book, Flesh+Blood) and if he'd want a crack at direct Legend of Conan. It's shocking that Universal or Arnold haven't contacted him yet. The project could see Paul re-teaming with Schwarzenegger previously making the original Total Recall. Verhoeven seems optimistic if they offered it to him. Many consider Verhoeven a pioneer of the 80's action genre bringing in a element of satire to his extremely violent projects. Ending up with films that are still considered classics in the sci-fi action genre. If anyone could re-capture the magic of the Conan The Barbarian it would be Verhoeven. Arnold has recently revealed the studio is looking to shoot in New Zealand (possibly by the end of the year) and could have Weta Workshop involved in the production.

"If they asked me, I’d certainly love to – let’s put it that way," he says. "But I don’t know what the script is. I don’t know what Arnold wants. I’m a big fan in fact of Conan. That’s a great movie and I found that the composer, Basil Poledouris, basically inspired many of my movies [the soundtracks] like Flesh and Blood, RoboCop, Starship Troopers and Total Recall. The score of Conan is great. The style of editing that Milius used was very beautiful, and Arnold does a great job. He was really the perfect choice."

SPECULATION: Could Len Wiseman End Up Directing A Marvel Film?

Director Len Wiseman (Total Recall, Underworld 1-2) talked to CBM about leaving Iron Man and reveals he's still in contact with Marvel. This gives the impression that Len could be able to make an action film like Die Hard 4 without massive amounts of blood and gore, could end up getting at one of their budding franchises in development. So, what Marvel films could Wiseman be a perfect fit for?

"Oh man, superheroes... You know, I think a lot of the superheroes that I would be interested in, a lot of them have been done. I was involved with Iron Man for about seven months after Underworld 2. I was involved with Marvel and Iron Man, and I was really excited about that one and honestly, I think at that time, there was a concern that I was too dark of a director because I had only directed a few movies, and at that time, I'd only directed Underworld and Underworld 2. And Underworld 2 was very violent, very gory, very dark and I think it freaked them out a little bit that I was too dark of a director. It wasn't until after Die Hard 4.0 came out, which is a much lighter tone, much more fun, that Marvel called me up again..."

BLACK WIDOW: Wiseman's Underworld franchise which he co-created has cranked four successful installments with no end in sight. All of his films feature strong female characters that aren't just eye candy but can kick some ass and take a punch. A perfect combo for a Black Widow solo movie since a script has been in place for years which was recently re-written by Nicole Perlman (Guardians of The Galaxy). Considering they have a lead and a script in place, adding a director for a possible 2015 release date following Avengers 2 isn't hard to imagine. We already got a hint to Natasha's violent past with Loki's speech about her. It could be interesting to see her past coming back to haunt her or just have her going on smaller scaled adventures. 2014 is looking to be become the first year that Marvel might just be able to start rolling out three films a year. Phase Three will likely involve Widow, Panther, Strange and Inhumans.

SHIELD: This one has been in development for a while as well. The only thing is that the events concerning SHIELD in Avengers would be continued in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It's possible that that they might shelve the project completely and just keep it the connective tissue of the Marvel Cinematic Universe having SHIELD as a background player in the films.

HAWKEYE: Jeremy Renner is on the minds of audiences thanks to the successes of Avengers, Mission Impossible and Bourne Legacy. A Hawkeye film seems more likely than SHIELD as Renner could bring out audiences. Not to mention the character was only slightly explored in Avengers as he was a supporting villain for the majority of the movie. Barton is also a master in most weapons and highly skilled fighter leading up to him to take on the persona of Ronin. It could be interesting to see him partner up with Mockingbird, who becomes something of a love interest as well.

POSTERS: International Banners For 'TOTAL RECALL'

New 'TOTAL RECALL' Image Reveals Another Impressive Set

SOURCE: Collider

SPECULATION: Could 'MACHETE KILLS' End Up A Bond-Style Sci-Fi Actioner?

It's looking like the original plot synopsis for Machete Kills was a total fake. Robert Rodriguez tells Empire the whole thing was a to mislead. In fact he states no cartel leader is even involved a departure from the original film. He went on to say that the film still involves space and they're giving him a bigger playground. I get the impression that a space station/prison or off-world colony could be involved here. Robert fell in love with the idea of Mexicans in space, previously stated that Machete Kills Again would end up in space with babes and lightsabers. Moonraker was mentioned as an inspiration for Machete Kills Again and Bond is mentioned for this film. Could Machete Kills be moving into the science fiction genre early?

“That synopsis we put out is misdirection — it’s all fake. Machete is recruited by the President, that’s true, but there’s no cartel leader and the weapon in space is just one of our early story ideas."


"There is still a space element, for sure. We’ve given the character a much bigger playground. It’s going to be like a James Bond movie, with a Bond-style villain.”

A release date has been given for Sin City 2: A Dame To Kill For which will shoot later this year. However, Machete Kills which begins production soon has a full cast yet zero release date set. The impression I get is that a lot of special effects will be involved, Rodriguez is famous for the sheer volume of in camera effects. So this helps the speculation that this might be more science fiction focused than previously believed.

It could be possible Robert and the gang are putting the big guy into space earlier than expected. The writer/director has always had an obsession with the genre. The Spy Kids franchise has always had multiple sci-fi aspects. Barbarella was going to be Robert's first full-on science fiction film, it had sets and costumes ready to go but the studio pulled the plug at the last minute. Robert was also set for a live-action Jetsons movie which also never came together. One of his dream projects was a Predator sequel which he wrote back in the 90's. Fox would hire him to write and produce Predators which was oddly enough was a solid successful effort with a second installment in the works. Planet Terror was the closet thing we've gotten from Robert which also had sci-fi plot points but was more of remake of the Italian horror film Nightmare City.

The man on a presidential mission theme leads back to Robert's nature for homages. Perhaps this will be a call back to John Carpenter's Escape From New York? Rodriguez has stated when he saw Escape From New York at age 12 he wanted to become a director. It wouldn't be hard to see Machete fighting his way out of a massive prison colony on earth or off-world.

The madame character played by Sofia Vergara gives me thoughts of Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall which had late 80's Mexico City doubling as as futuristic city. Mexico was also the stage location for Mars and the notorious Venusville which was filled with bars/whorehouses.

New 'TOTAL RECALL' Stills

Two More Images From 'TOTAL RECALL'

New Image From 'TOTAL RECALL' Featuring Colin Farrell And Jessica Biel

Dominic Cooper Could Join Noomi Rapace And Colin Farrell In 'DEAD MAN DOWN'

Variety reports that British actor Dominic Cooper (Captain America, Devil's Double, Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) is now in talks to join gangster flick Dead Man Down. The film from director Niels Arden Oplev (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) re-teams him with Swedish actress Noomi Rapace (Sherlock Holmes 2, Prometheus) and stars Colin Farrell (Total Recall, Fright Night). It focuses on a man  (Farrell) that infiltrates a gang to seek revenge for the murder of his family leading him to meet a woman (Rapace) who has similar intentions.

First Trailer For 'TOTAL RECALL' Starring Colin Farrell and Kate Beckinsale

Sony Pickups White House Down From Screenwriter James Vanderbilt

It's been a very good day for screenwriter James Vanderbilt (Zodiac) as Variety reports. He was hired my MGM to do some rewrites on MGM's Robocop remake which Sony is distributing. Vanderbilt also sold his spec-script White House Down to Sony for an estimated $3 million. The action film is being compared to a mix of Die Hard meets Air Force One. Sony Pictures seems to be happy with James' work on their summer tentpoles Amazing Spider-Man and Total Recall. James is also currently working on Amazing Spider-Man 2 for the studio.

First Poster For The Total Recall Remake

New Total Recall Images From Promo Footage

Len Wiseman Says Total Recall Trailer Is Coming In March

While speaking with Collider director Len Wiseman (Underworld, Die Hard 4) revealed we could be seeing the Total Recall trailer sometime in March. He also mentioned that his director's cut of the reboot clocks in around two hours. Don't expect a Super Bowl ad this year as Sony passed on the $4 million price tag for a 30 second spot.

Kate Beckinsale Talks Total Recall

Kate Beckinsale while speaking with Collider about Underworld: Awakening revealed the details about playing Lori in the Total Recall reboot. Apparently, director Len Wiseman's take on her character was to combine both Lori (Sharon Stone) and Richter (Michael Ironside) into one single person. An interesting concept as it's the first time we've heard confirmation and reason why Richter had been left out of casting announcements. The reboot is set to be released on August 3rd 2012.

“It’s going really great, and everyone’s very excited about it.  I suppose the thing is, Sharon Stone’s interpretation of Lori is safe because my character is more… It is Lori, but it’s an amalgamation of Lori and Richter.  So I guess one of the differences about our movie as opposed to their movie is in that period of time they needed her to have a right hand man.  I am the right hand man and Lori at the same time.  So it’s a little bit more of an amalgamation of a couple of parts.”

FIRST LOOK: Len Wiseman's Total Recall Reboot

Will Yun Lee Joins Total Recall

ShowBlitz reports that Will Yun Lee has joined Len Wiseman's Total Recall reboot. Supporting roles in the film are quickly coming together as production is expected to start up soon in Pinewood Studios Toronto. The impressive cast includes Colin Farrell, Bryan Cranston, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, John Cho, Bill Nighy and Bokeem Woodbine.

John Cho Joins Len Wiseman's Total Recall

Casting is starting to quickly come together for Total Recall as director Len Wiseman fills the rest of the supporting roles. EW reports that John Cho (Star Trek) is the newest addition to the film. Cho will play the fast-talking rep for Rekall who convinces Douglas (Farrell) to get the memory implant. Starring as Douglas Quaid is Colin Farrell (In Bruges, Minority Report), Kate Beckinsale will play his wife Lori, Jessica Biel his revolutionary girlfriend Melina, Bryan Cranston (John Carter, Drive) is confirmed for the villain, Bill Nighy (Underworld) is in talks for role of the resistance leader and Bokeem Woodbine will play Douglas' friend.

Bill Nighy In Talks For Len Wiseman's Total Recall

HeatVision reports that Bill Nighy (Pirates 2-3, Underworld, Shuan of The Dead, ) is in talks for the role of resistance leader Quatto in Total Recall. In the original film Kuato was a mutant but it's unknown if this version of the character will be too. Since it's been assumed the Mars colony is also gone in the remake. Nighy would join Bryan Cranston, Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel and Bokeem Woodbine (The Big Hit).

Kate Beckinsale & Jessica Biel Confirmed For Total Recall

Collider confirms that both Kate Beckinsale (Underworld) and Jessica Biel (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) have officially signed on for Len Wise's Total Recall remake. Beckinsale will play Lori the wife of Douglas (Colin Farrell) while Biel will play the Melina role.