Chris Morgan talks tone and why Arnold hesitated doing The Legend of Conan

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

I know many of you are excited about the upcoming Conan installment, THE LEGEND OF CONAN. In an interview with the LA Times, Screenwriter-producer Chris Morgan talks about getting Arnold Schwarzenegger back, the tone of the film, and his own personal dedication to the project.

Morgan started by speaking on Arnold’s uncertainty to get involved with the film, “To put yourself out there in your 60s? As Conan the Barbarian? I could see why he’d hesitate. You’re really putting yourself out there.”

To begin, the film is not a retread, “Not a reboot, not a remake. Just an update. Where has the character been all this time? A catch-up with Conan.”

When we do catch-up with Conan, he’s still a man of many trades as the character was intended to be in Robert E. Howard’s Weird Tales beginning in the 1930s. But he’s also the warrior who has aged, and will have to deal with that aspect, “He’s not going out and fighting battles, but he ends up getting drawn into something. And he has to access the barbarian he was in his youth. I love that Conan has been many things in his life, notably a pirate, a major tactician and a commander of men. In this movie, we’re going to tap into some of those things – things you haven’t seen on screen yet. I want the warrior whose joints have started to fuse together, who has to crack the cartilage so he can pick up a sword again. I want the guy who’s not necessarily lost a step, but there’s some rust he has to shake off. I want to embrace that. It makes it a greater hero story.”

“Conan needs to be faced with challenges. The greatest challenge to him isn’t the armies that are set before him. It’s, on some level, self-doubt, a little bit of slowing down and forcing yourself to be heroic beyond what people expect of you. What I don’t want is for him to step back in and look the same. That would defeat the purpose of our story.”

When all is said and done, and after he completes the script for FAST AND FURIOUS 7, Morgan is dedicated to Conan’s legacy, “No matter what, I’ll be there every step of the way. Whether it’s penning this quickly or selecting the writer, it’s me guiding the process or being a real honest-to-god producer. I’m excited either way. I’m really, really stoked.”