Author John Walsh (walshbros) chats with Screen Rant about his new book, ConantheBarbarian: The Official Story of the Film, and shares exclusive behind-the-scenes production images from the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie:
Summary SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Just after the 40th anniversary of Conan the Barbarian comes Conan the Barbarian: The Official Story of the Film. The new hardback book tells the story of the film’s creation through a wide collection of interviews and artwork, some new and many rarely seen.
When they originally pitched [Conan], it was Oliver Stone and Ed Pressman, who pitched it. When they looked at what Pressman and Stone were going to do, it would have cost two Superman: The Movies, so it would have been $100 million in the mid-'70s. Of course, that scared people. The only reason they went through the door with Oliver Stone was because he had his Oscar from Midnight Express; otherwise, he probably wouldn't have been entertained. I had full access to the Stone scripts.
But I think the one person who is the glue that holds it all together is Raffaella De Laurentiis, Dino's daughter, who took on the producing role. She helped me enormously with the book, as did Buzz Feitshans, other co-producer, who she married after the film. Buzz was a long time collaborator with John Milius, so between the two of them, they really had the kind of inside track on it all. I think if I was to tip my cap to anyone it'd be Raffaella because she really made things happen.
He was an accomplished businessman by this point; he was already making money through property, [and] he'd already achieved great success as a bodybuilder. He used to hang around and watch actors like Max von Sydow as they were having takes and chat with them in between takes to try and get a sense of learning business tricks and tips from actors.
John Walsh: I do. Going back to Dino and Arnie not getting on, Raffaela was kind of anxious that things would constantly blow up, so as a result, Dino didn't go on the set until four days into filming. When Dino did arrive on set, Arnie says, “Dino came up to the set after four days of shooting. He hadn't seen the dailies, and he came up to me on the steps of a big battle scene and said, ‘Hey, Schwarzenegger, come here.’ He said, ‘You're Conan.
Dino was very similar, although he wasn't as outspoken. Dino and John Milius moved this forward; any other combination, [and] I don't think it would have worked. And certainly, if the star wasn't as amenable, [it wouldn’t have worked either]. Arnold knew this was going to be a make or break for him, and he was determined not to let anything stop him. Whether the food was bad, or he was too hot, or he was too tired, he just worked through.
They went a route which was expensive and potentially disastrous. Had it not worked, and they'd spent that money, people would have laughed about the giant snake when Thulsa Doom transforms. That transformation sequence is quite subtle, and the movements of the snake are quite subtle, too, but it really works. In my book, there's exclusive new photography about how they did that.
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