James McTeigue To Direct Conan?
A couple of days back, Empire scooped the news that Brett Ratner wasoff of theConan the Barbarianprojectand the hunt for a new director was on. Seems it was a real short chase asChudare nowalreadytelling us thatJames McTeigue, director ofV for VendettaandNinja Assassin, has been lined up to slip into the hot seat.
I think it’s reasonable to assume that McTeigue was already in the frame when the “The Rat has left the building” cry went up and, had he not been, the comment would not have been made.
McTeigue’s record seems to reflect a suitable sensibility to getConanfans on side. I guess the comments section can serve to gather more evidence on that front. While I definitely wasn’t a fan of McTeigue’sV for Vendetta– and, no, not just because I’m such a fan of Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s version, the various videos thatPeterandIhave posted seem to suggest thatNinja Assassinwill, at the very least, have some rather good action choreography.
Chud chose to note the budgets of McTeigue’s prior projects, withVpriced at $54 million andAssassinin the same ballpark.Conanhas previously been pegged at $120 million, so the deduction here is that this more frugal director could keep all of the bang without giving away so many bucks. Sounds reasonable, if you agree with Chud’s supposition thatVdidn’t end up looking rather cheap, which I don’t. It was the last film of cinematographer Adrian Biddle before his untimely death and I was always sad he didn’t go out riding on a higher wave. Maybe my familiarity with so many of the faces and textures on display helped the whole thing seem so… televisual.
The promise was that an open casting call for the Conan role would take place once the director was locked and announced. That day seems to be drawing near, so all you hopeful musclemen should place your audition orders for baby oilnow.
