Brett Ratner to Direct New Conan Movie?

Posted by on September 18th, 2008   Filed under: Action, Fantasy, Rumours
Source: Joblo

You can file this one under “I’ll believe it when I see it”, but there’s a juicy rumour floating around the web right now that Brett Ratner may be under consideration to direct the next Conan movie. Previous names that had been thrown around for the job included John McTiernan and Rob Zombie, but Brett Ratner is definitely not a name that many people will be pleased to hear. According to Dread Central, he has already been offered the gig, and is currently mulling it over.

On the one hand you have to wonder how Brett Ratner gets any work at all lately, considering that fanboys pretty much lose it every time his name is mentioned. On the other hand, he’s a pretty safe choice. He knows how to handle big action movies, and he directs them competently and on budget. The thing I find weird about this story is that Ratner already has a number of things on the go right now including Beverly Hills Cop 4 and the God of War movie. We previously heard that Nu Image wants to move ahead with this movie as quickly as possible, so he would likely be forced to drop everything else in order to do it. I’m sure it’s pretty tempting either way. Now I think I know what kind of response this will get, but I’ve gotta ask anyway… can Brett Ratner pull off a decent Conan movie? If not, who would you rather see direct it?



  • Bob the Slob

    can Brett Ratner pull off a decent Conan movie? If not, who would you rather see direct it?

    um…NO!

    John Mctiernan would be a dandy choice.

  • Matt

    Maybe his Nex Movie is going to be Conan: God of War and mess up two franchises at the same time.

    As for whether he could pull of a Conan movie, I think he could as long as it contains minimal dialogue and maximum action, because the non-speaking parts of X-Men 3 were actually halfway decent. But that’s beside the point. Arnold is not going to be in it and I can’t picture anyone being Conan other than Arnold.

  • True, but now that they’ve got the technology to put Arnold’s face on any actor, his franchises will live on forever!

  • I’m not one of those dicks constantly crying about actors being replaced but I’m on the same page: I’ll miss Arnold. I’m not always down on Ratner either; I don’t think X-Men 3 or the first two Rush Hours were so bad…but he’s not a visionary that should be doing epic fantasy.

  • Matt

    Oh Sean. I’m sure viewers will love seeing Arnold’s face on another anonymous actor playing Arnold Playing Conan. Viewers won’t find that in the least bit distracting, and a new digital age will be ushered in with Marlon Brando and Lawrence Olivier as the new, new Blues Brothers. I hope you can sense my sarcasm, because I can certainly sense yours, Sean.

  • Brett Ratner is no John Milius. John McTiernan or Rob Zombie would at least possibly make a more fun, unpredictable movie. And I think we can assume that some, if not all, of the effects in this movie are going to be CGI–the cheesy real effects/costumes/sets are basically the unnamed co-star of the first two films. And obviously no one is going to bring what Schwarzenegger brought to the role.

    I’d like to see Arnie starring in a straight up sequel to the first two, about Conan at the end of his days, where he has to go fight some sort of evil beast, kind of like the last half of Beowulf (the book; I didn’t see the movie).

    By the way, the Milius/Schwarzenegger commentary on the Conana the Barbarian DVD is my favorite commentary of all time. It’s got some amazing Arnie and Milius quotes, such as this gem: “He looks at his hand because that’s all that’s left. He looks at the sword because steel is true.”

  • cronenfly

    I remember the Wachowski brothers being attached at some point? anyone else?

  • Yep, I remember that too.

    http://www.filmjunk.com/2006/03/20/wachowski-brothers-to-direct-new-conan-movie/

    But I think that was when it was at Warner Brothers, and it seems like the Wachowskis are their default go-to guys for any big blockbuster that comes along.

  • Ian

    But how would he work Guitar Hero whoring into a Conan Movie?

  • Sekeris

    “…can Brett Ratner pull off a decent Conan movie? If not, who would you rather see direct it?”

    Here is my top 5 …

    1. Paul Verhoeven (Flesh and Blood, Robocop)
    2. John McTiernan (The 13th Warrior, Die Hard)
    3. Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy 2, Pan’s Labyrinth )
    4. Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Desperado)
    5. Mel Gibson (Braveheart, Apocalypto)

  • Lisa

    ONLY ARNOLD SHOULD BE IN THE SEQUEL. AS IT STATED IN THE LAST FILMS…” AND THIS STORY WILL ALSO BE TOLD” .

    The Governor needs to do this last movie. This is the only way in any shape or form that it will be good. It is sad that Mako and Basil have passed….they have to have Arnold. No one else will do. It will be a cheesy remake to say the least whom ever plays Conan.