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Conan the Barbarian

Coverage by Nobuhiro Hosoki

Story : A quest that begins as a personal vendetta for the fierce Cimmerian warrior soon turns into an epic battle against hulking rivals, horrific monsters, and impossible odds, as Conan realizes he is the only hope of saving the great nations of Hyboria from an encroaching reign of supernatural evil.

Opened August 19, 2011

Runtime:2 hr. 9 min.

Interview with Actor Jason Momoa

 

(Q) : This is the type of movie where it could have easily gone into the cheesy realm, but it doesn't, it doesn't even come close to that. Can you talk about making sure it didn't go there?
 
(Jason Momoa) : I wouldn't want to be a part of it if it did. I didn't want it to have that campiness to it. I would read Robert E. Howard and look at a Frank Frazetta painting, they would reach out to me when I was a little kid, and I wanted to take the character and rip it right off the canvas and put it camera up on the big screen. I think it deserved to have the grittiness and the dirtiness. Marcus Nispel was fantastic about it; I thought he did a really good job at making that world.
 
(Q) : It's great that he is an actual barbarian. Can you talk about playing that, not the typical hero?

(Jason Momoa) : Yeah, that's the fun thing about Conan. He eats, he drinks, he's a thief, he's a pirate; that's the fun thing about him is he's not the saving the damsel in distress. It's not very PC and I think that's what Marcus didn't want. He should be this barbarian in a sense towards a woman, but what's beautiful about it is you see the vulnerable side and he obviously get saved by a woman in the heat of the moment where he was supposed to kill. So you get to slowly warm up to him and I think that's nice to have a little bit of humanity to the character, a sense of humor, that makes him relatable.

(Q) : I recently spoke to Stephen Lang and he told me a quick story about how he stabbed himself in the ass at one point with a sword. Do you have any similar stories?

(Jason Momoa): I've got all kinds of horror stories. I almost died on a horse a couple times. I broke my nose. I wanted to make it look like he was more barbaric, so I had a buddy punch me in the nose so I had a broken nose.

(Q) : You know they have makeup for that, too?

(Jason Momoa): Yeah, I didn't think about that.

(Q) : So you're kind of all in.

(Jason Momoa): Yeah, Conan should have a broken nose. He should always have a broken nose I think. A constant flow of blood coming out of his body somewhere.

(Q) : And with your character on "Stargate" and "Game of Thrones," do you gravitate towards these kind of warrior type people or is that just something because you're 6'4 and huge?

(Jason Momoa): Obviously when I did "Stargate" I wanted to work and it was a great opportunity four years of working on that. I think Drogo when it came along, I mean that's a once in a lifetime chance to play anything like that. I've never seen a character like him in the movies or on TV. He's such a powerful, raw character, so that was the first time I've ever wanted a character in my life was that role. Because of that the same casting director came on "Conan" so everything just kind of lined up that way. So I don't know, we'll see. Hopefully there's a RomCom in there somewhere coming up.

(Q) : When you're getting ready to play Conan the Barbarian is it a different kind of workout regimen in getting ready for the type of fighting that you're doing?

(Jason Momoa) : Yeah, we did a lot of Bushido, basically a samurai training. I wanted to incorporate that Asian gracefulness to this barbaric character; I wanted to do the sword work. But as far as working out we did like six hours a day, stunt work and stunt training, and it was just how to fall and lift heavy, heavy weights.
 
(Q) : A lot of the fighting it looks like a dance.
 
(Jason Momoa): Yeah, absolutely, choreography. It absolutely is a dance and I think that's one of the great things about Conan is that he speaks through his movement and his action. That's why I wanted to do all my stunts, because he speaks through that. I studied a lot of lions and panthers and I wanted to be able to move like a feral cat. When I read those stories about him he just comes across as that nimble product of his environment, kind of king of his own jungle thing.

(Q) : Were there any stunts that you wanted to do that they wouldn't let you?

(Jason Momoa) : No, because by the time it was the ones I had to do I was so broken I was like "Dude, you've got this one. Take it. Take it, please."

(Q) : What was the most difficult? What was the most challenging to get through?

(Jason Momoa) : Trying to keep injury at bay. Like I said, there's a flow of blood coming out of your body at all times. You're always injured for five months. It's just to be able to stretch and keep that motor running for that.

(Q) : Will it be tough for you do you think if you end up doing a romantic comedy or something to adjust to the cushy lifestyle?

(Jason Momoa) : Oh no. I look forward to it. I'm doing a job right now where I'm wearing a suit and I'm playing a villain. I get to shoot people with a gun; it's so much easier. It's like bam; dead. It's so much better.

(Q) : And you're now officially cemented in Planet Hollywood history. How does that feel?

(Jason Momoa) : Really, really cool. Really cool. It's a trip. I'm working with Stallone right now so you walk in and this is his place.

(Q) : And you get to see him hanging naked from the ceiling.

(Jason Momoa) : Is that what that is? What movie is that?

(Q) : "Demolition Man."

(Q) : Did you have any fears of living up to Arnold Schwarzenegger?

(Jason Momoa): No, not at all. I think Arnold did a really great job. It's kind of like comparing Sean Connery and Daniel Craig. They're both amazing Bonds. Arnold's Arnold, and I didn't play anything like him and he really can't play anything like me, so it's two different perspectives really.

(Q) : Tell me about the romantic side of Conan.

(Jason Momoa) : It was really fun. It's nice to see that side of him I think as a character to go there because he's such a brute force that it's nice to see that softer side of him. We weren't sure how to do it because when we had "Game of Thrones" it was so raw and passionate and at the very beginning it's raping and very barbaric. I felt it probably wouldn't be in the best interest to be doing that in this new "Conan."

(Q) : In doing Conan did you get a chance to read all the comics and do all that stuff?
 
(Jason Momoa) : Not all of them. I had six weeks to get ready, so aside from doing six hours of training every day I did read a lot of source material, but I couldn't get through all of it. Of all the comic books I went to the Dark Horse the most because that's what they tried to emulate really for the costumes and look of the world, I think Dark Horse was the closest.

(Q) : Of all the character you're playing who would you like to meet?

(Jason Momoa) : Drogo and Conan are great. I'd follow them into battle anywhere.

End.