Franchise Killers: Conan The Destroyer
-
Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Conan the Destroyer
TMC-4 — 10 years ago(November 15, 2015 08:34 PM)
http://lebeauleblog.com/2015/11/15/franchise-killers-conan-the-destroyer/
Posted by lebeau
In 1982, John Milius wrote and directed a very pulpy movie about Robert E. Howards fantasy character, Conan the Barbarian. Knowing that physicality was more important to his movie than actual acting ability, Milius cast athletes in the lead roles rather than actors. Arnold Schwarzenegger was at the time an ex-body builder who was struggling with English. The success of the first Conan didnt exactly make Schwarzenegger a star, but it did crack open the door for more acting roles. Schwarzenegger was under contract to make three pictures for producer Dino De Laurentiis, so it makes sense that a sequel would follow. Whats the one role you know audiences will accept the Austrian body builder in? Conan.
But the sequel turned out to be a very different movie from the original. Conan the Barbarian was co-written by Milius and a then-unknown Oliver Stone. Milius was known as an eccentric genius in Hollywood. His tough guys sensibilities made him the perfect director for a blood-soaked sword and sorcery movie. When Milius decided not to return for a sequel, the De Laurentiis family hired Richard Fleischer. Fleischer had already directed two movies for the company and he had also directed the movie Vikings which Milius had cited as an inspiration for Conan.
The original script was written by comic book writers Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway. It was titled Conan, King of Thieves. Screenwriter Stanley Mann was brought on to rewrite the script. Mann was credited as the only screenwriter with Thomas and Conway getting a story by credit. Years later, Thomas and Conway repurposed their script as a comic book titles, Conan the Barbarian: The Horn of Azoth. In order to distance their script from the movie, most of the characters names were changed for the comic book.
Fleischer felt that one of the shortcomings of the original Conan was that Schwarzenegger was too covered up. For his movie, the director said, I made sure that Arnold was undressed 99 percent of the time. That philosophy seemed to apply to the rest of the cast as well. A 13-year-old Olivia dAbo made her movie debut playing a princess whose virginity must be protected by Conan and his band. Dabo remarked on her costume, I knew I was going to be scantily clad but not this scantily clad!
De Laurentiis had another change in mind besides reducing the costume budget, He also wanted to tone down the violence. The original movie had been rated R. But that meant a lot of kids couldnt buy tickets. So De Laurentiis thought that a PG-rated Conan movie might sell more tickets. The original cut of Conan the Destroyer actually did receive an R-rating, but the studio cut out enough violence to secure the desired PG rating.
Like the first movie, the cast was front-loaded with athletes. Basketball legend Wilt the Stilt Chamberlain costarred as the warrior tasked with maintaining dAbos status as a virgin. Yes, its okay to snicker in light of Chamberlains boasts about his love life. Hiring Chamberlain to protect a girls virginity is like asking Rick James to watch over your blow. Its not a good idea. However, in this case Chamberlain was reportedly protective of his charge. He told dAbo that if anyone gave her a hard time, he would take care of it.
There was one cast member that Chamberlain didnt get along with. Reportedly, he fought with singer and model Grace Jones over the volume of her boom box. Jones repeatedly ignored Chamberlains requests to turn her music down. Jones played a fierce warrior who might be slightly unhinged. According to Schwarzenegger, that wasnt acting. Thats really her. Shes wild and crazy.
Tracey Walter was cast as Conans sidekick. Walter was brought in as a last-minute replacement for David L. Lander who was struggling with the onset of multiple sclerosis. At one point, Schwarzeneggers future Twins costar Danny DeVito was close to playing the part. Sara Douglas, who played Usa in the Superman movies, played the evil queen who is only protecting the princess so that she can be used in a sacrifice. Aside from Schwarzenegger, Mako was the only other actor to reprise a role from the original Conan. Sven-Ole Thorsen was in both Conan movies but played different characters in each one.
The minor roles were filled out with some genre regulars. Pat Roach who appeared in all three Indiana Jones movies (hes the Nazi mechanic in Raiders and the Thugee slavemaster in Temple) played both the ice wizard Toth-Amon and the Ape-monster Conan battles in a room full of mirrors. Reportedly, dAbo really was scared of Roach.
The movie ends with the bad guys summoning the evil deity Dagoth. The big guy in the rubber suit playing Dagoth was none other than Andre the Giant.
Unfortunately, the less violent and more scantily clad Conan sequel did not enjoy the success of the original. It still performed well enough that De Laurentis wanted to complet