MORE Conan Movie News!

To add on to the news posted by Cromsblood the other day (great scoop, my brother!) and to finally pass on some info sent to me by intrepid CROM! reader, Rob Rozum, several articles have been cropping up alluding to all kinds of Conan casting, make-up and creature design and other stuff, from ComicBookMovie.com.

Stated one article:

It looks like Lionsgate's new Conan starts shooting February 2010 in Bulgaria. Marcus Nispel ("The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Pathfinder") will be directing. Empire has the casting breakdowns, which help understand the characters, and some indication of the plot.

Conan: 20s-30s, Caucasian, the last of the Cimmerians, out for vengeance on Khalar Singh, a formidable warlord and warrior in his 40s or 50s, for whom the producers are "open to all ethnicities".

Singh is looking for Queen Ilira, whose blood will help him raise a demon army. Ilira's handmaiden is Tamara, who allies with Conan in what sounds like a Red Sonja hot amazon role. And there's Ukafa, Singh's untrustworthy henchman for whom a massive African or African American is required.

There are also supporting roles for Conan's dad Corin, who teaches his son the Riddle of Steel; Fariq, Khalar Singh's son and heir, strangely described as a "proto goth-rocker"

Remo the evil wizard; Fassir, a monk protecting Ilira.

Lucius, a mercenary scarred by Conan dumping him into a fiery pit

An unnamed one-eyed thief Conan rescues from Lucius.

Artus, Conan's pirate buddy; and Cheren, Khalar Singh's mystical blind archer.

Now interstingly is the worry for Khalar Singh and the reason he wants to raise a demon army in the first place, could it be arch-wizard Thoth-Amon, he only appears in one original Robert E. Howard Conan story, but is mentioned in a couple of others.

Thoth-Amon was played by Pat Roach in Conan the Destroyer (Love that movie ).

I think this has potential but unsure of the director. I hope Conan finally gets the on screen treatment he deserves.

Another article when on to discuss the art direction and creature design and a shooting date:

Mania broke the exciting news that Scott Wheeler and Shaun Smith of Zack Snyder's comic book movie '300' are on board to do their stuff.

Scott Wheeler will be heading up the makeup department bit and Shaun Smith will be acting as the creature designer on the new 'Conan' adaption. Both of the guys right now are working up the creature schemes for the picture with the director Marcus Nispel (Of the Friday the 13th reboot fame).

Smith confirmed all the news exclusively to Mania saying, "as you might expect I really can't say much except it looks really cool and we are excited to be a part of it."

Filming is soon to commence on the epic big screen return of the barbarian hero 'Conan'. Production plans are to start shooting in Bulgaria next February.

And for those of you with stronger stomachs than mine, there's even talk of Dolf Lundgren being in the film. Mitra preserve us.

To read the full scoop, along with all kinds of other sweet Conan movie speculation and rumor, click your mighty mouse pointer HERE!

Thanks again, Rob, for send me the links!