'LEGEND OF CONAN' Producer Gives An Update And Will They Ask Paul Verhoeven To Direct?

Universal has been developing a new sequel to Conan The Barbarian with Arnold Schwarzenegger set to reprise the titular role. The film titled Legend of Conan is a direct sequel to the original film and is said to ignore the last two terrible films.

It's a new trend in Hollywood to scrap lesser films from canon and focus on the good ones, Paramount doing it the same with Terminator: Genisys which is another Arnold franchise getting resurrected.

In this case it's a good thing since Conan The Barbarian is easily the peek of the fantasy genre and having new material as it's direct offspring isn't a terrible thing. Barbarian's fingerprints can be seen in almost every fantasy film made since including Peter Jackson's Middle-Earth saga.

Producer Chris Morgan, who you might know from The Fast And Furious franchise and Wanted is currently one of the creative producers on Universal's Legend of Conan. Morgan spoke to Empire Magazine about the current direction of the film along with the script which was originally written by Straight Outta Compton's Andrea Berloff and now getting rewrites from Gangster Squad's Will Beall.

"Andrea Berloff [Straight Outta Compton] did a draft," Morgan reminds us, "and then we had Will step on. I approached him early on in the process, but at the time he was unavailable and couldn’t do it. But then a couple of weeks after he passed on the project I got this package from him in the mail, and I opened it and it was a Conan sword, and on the envelope it said, ‘This you can trust!’ So when he called back a while later said he’d had a slot open up, we slammed him in immediately. He’s just perfect for it; he loves it as much as I do and he has a great voice of Conan. It just makes you happy!"

"We look at all the source material and we love things that kind of speak to that tone. We’re incredibly respectful to Howard. I’m a huge fan of the stories and books, but I’m a super-huge fan of the first movie, because that crystallised and distilled it all for me. Milius just killed it. He did such a good job. And Legend Of Conan is really resonant and it really digs into the legacy of that original film. I'm already very proud of it."

This new update combined with talk that the studio is aiming for a production start in the spring could mean the sequel is indeed coming together. Arnold was saying they were possibly looking to shoot it in New Zealand with the help of the team at Weta, hopefully that isn't just cigar smoke he's blowing at us.

"[Universal] finally came forward and said, 'You're absolutely right. The previous regime has missed the boat here. We want to pick it up. We're going to buy the rights and we're going to be serious about it and make a quality film with an A-director and with A-writers and so on. And we want you to participate in this. We want you to star and you to play Conan. We're going to take a story where Conan is at that age so it's totally believable and you're not looking like a 30-year old action guy."

Arnold and Paul taking a break on the set of Total Recall.

As for a director there had been some interest from Paul Verhoeven (Black Book, Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Robocop) to make the project when asked about it back in early 2013 via Arnold Fans. At the time a script didn't exist to show the director but it's starting to sound like they might be able to at least meet with Veroheven.

"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."

Paul and Arnold worked together on the iconic 80s sci-fi action flick Total Recall previously. They almost re-teamed for Paul's movie Crusade which would have been another violent sword-swinging action flick. I imagine this could easily be a way to make-up for that project never coming together.

Hollywood has since been remaking most of Paul's films including Recall and Robocop, there is even a Starship Troopers remake in the works he might as well return to show these fools hows it's really done.

Verhoeven is currently shooting the dark thriller Elle which could be finished principal photography in the next couple of months. I'm unsure what his post-production process is but if he does leave the film in the hands of an editor he could be able to start pre-production soon after. The film not really having special effects it's turn-around shouldn't be too time consuming.

Then again, they could easily push the production start a couple of months to allow Paul to finish post before jumping into pre-production on Legend.

Schwarzenegger and Milius on Conan set.

Although, back in October Arnold Fans, who also gave us those Verhoeven quotes heard from Francis Ford Coppola about John Milius being able-bodied to direct the new film.

We should point-out that John hasn't made a film since 1997 and recently suffered a stroke. Aspects that could make Universal a bit nervous about hiring the director for such a large and costly production.

Milius famously wrote Apocalypse Now for Coppola along with Conan, Red Dawn, Dirty Harry and produced the HBO series Rome. It wouldn't make sense to have him direct the film without him contributing to the actual script since being one of the most accomplished Hollywood writers, so I'm hesitant for all these reasons to believe Milius is returning.

SOURCE: EMPIRE

JUSTICE LEAUGE Script From Will Beall Getting Tossed By WB?

BadAssDigest is reporting that Warner Bros. is throwing out Will Beall's recent draft of Justice League because of it's quality. The writer scripted their recent bomb Gangster Squad it's lackluster performance could also be a reason. Justice League is also have major problems finding a director and it could be a major factor for the studio going back to the drawing board. It's been mentioned WB is also waiting until the release of Man of Steel before moving forward with the film, so they have time to weigh their options.

Ben Affleck (Argo, The Town) and Shane Black (Iron Man 3) have been linked to direct Justice League. Both directors are also screenwriters, Ben being an Oscar winning writer. I'm sure if they give free reign to someone similar to what they did with Christopher Nolan for his Batman films it might pay-off. Affleck had been hoping for Episode VII but was edged out by J.J. Abrams it's possible the studio could throw a lot of options at him. Black is also well-known for writing skills and could end up making a name for himself as a blockbuster director depending on the success of Iron Man 3 in May. Interesting enough WB had been pursuing Affleck for Gangster Squad also written by Will Beall but passed. Perhaps, the main sticking point is that Ben wants to write it himself being a massive comic book fan.

JUSTICE LEAGUE Lineup Revealed?

LatinoReview has another scoop this time concerning Justice League. They say the official lineup for the film includes the main five heroes Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and The Flash. The site previously revealed that the villain of the film would be Darkseid. The cast hasn't been locked down but Henry Cavill and Joseph Gordon-Levitt could be the leads. There hasn't been word if the studio is looking to re-cast Green Lantern after the box office disaster. Switching out Hal Jordan for Jon Stewart could be how the studio fixes Green Lantern. A director for the large event film hasn't been hired but is expected to go into production this year with a Summer 2015 release date.

It's possible we could also be seeing cameos from Aquaman and Martian Munhunter.

RUMOR: Rebooted Batman And Lobo To Be Featured In JUSTICE LEAGUE?

CBM is reporting that Warner Bros. is currently bouncing around the idea of bringing in Lobo into the the Justice League film. While nothing is confirmed Dwayne Johnson has been closely in talks with director Brad Peyton and producer Joel Silver for the solo movie. It's unknown if they'd have Lobo join the team or end up a villain.

On another note there are rumblings we won't have to wait long to see the rebooted Batman. BatmanOnFilm says that WB is looking to first introduce this new take on Batman in the Justice League film and then a new franchise.

"Said [Batman] reboot will come after the JL film, not before. Therefore, the new cinematic Batman will be introduced in the JL film as opposed to a solo film. This would, according to my industry "FOBOF," assure the new Batman film series will be part of a "DC Cinematic Universe."

'JUSTICE LEAGUE' Get's A Writer

Warner Bros. is feeling the sting of a missed opportunity as Avengers is now the #3 domestic and worldwide box office record holder. ShowBlitz reports that the studio has now hired Will Beall (Gangster Squad) to pen a script for Justice League. While it's interesting they'll finally be moving forward, it doesn't seem as inspired as they haven't really introduced the rest of the main lineup yet. If DC Entertainment plans on competing with Avengers they'll have to hire a rather talented writer/director with a massive vision or it will bomb twice as much as Green Lantern did.

Warner Bros. Adds Another Writer To Logan's Run

HeatVision reports that Warner Bros. has hired yet another writer to tinker with the Logan's Run script. Andrew Baldwin has been set to give his contribution previously writers Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Sunshine) and Will Beall (Gangster Squad) had worked on it. Baldwin recently sold the Yakuza film The Outsider to the studio and wrote Red Asphalt for Timur Bekmembatov (Wanted, Abe Lincoln Vampire Hunter).

The film starring Ryan Gosling has also gone through a few different directors. It first started out with Bryan Singer (X-Men) then went to James McTiegue (V For Vendetta) later to Carl Erik Rinsch (47 Ronin) and finally to Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive, Bronson, Pusher).

Will Beall In Talks To Rework Logan's Run Script

HeatVision reports Warner Bros. is talks with new screenwriter Will Beall to rework Alex Garland's Logan's Run script. Beall wrote Gangster Squad for the studio which is quickly becoming a very large project. Currently Nicolas Winding Refn is set to direct with Ryan Gosling in lead.