Will 'Red Sonja' Ever Happen?

Director Marcus Nispel's "Conan" reboot has begun filming this week at Nu Boyana Studios in Sofia, Bulgaria — with actress Rose McGowan as the lastest member of the primary cast.

According to Variety, McGowan will appear as "an evil half-human/half-witch" opposite Jason Momoa as the title hero Conan. Rounding out the cast are Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang, Bob Sapp, Leo Howard, Ron Perlman and Said Taghmaoui.

Back in 2008, McGowan was signed to star in "Red Sonja" — another creation of Robert E. Howard that was re-envisioned as a contemporary of Conan's during the '70s by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith.

Recent reports from Robert Rodriguez, who has been planning on producing "Red Sonja" for the past few years, indicate that "Red Sonja" will be delayed until after "Conan" has finished filming.

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"To clarify press reports: 'Red Sonja' is delayed," wrote McGowan last August. "I pulled out of doing it in '09. Not permanently. Hopefully [it] will follow 'Conan.'"

"I am still contracted to do 'Red Sonja,'" added McGowan. "Hopefully Filming in '10 not '09."

It is currently unclear if McGowan's role in the "Conan" film will interfere with the production of "Red Sonja," but how can she play two different characters in the same "Conan" universe?

What do you think about seeing McGowan in the "Conan" movie? Should the producers have used her as Red Sonja in the movie instead of a witch?

"Conan" is set to storm theaters in 2011 with "Red Sonja" hopefully following a year or two after that.
More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Source: MTV News

Rose McGowan Still Planning to be in 'Red Sonja'

In June, executive producer Joe Gatta assured us that the "Red Sonja" film project was still alive and said it would be filmed next year.

Rose McGowan was cast in the title role of the Marvel Comics warrior heroine, who began as a secondary character in a "Conan the Barbarian" comic and is known as the 'she devil with a sword.'

The film was announced in 2008 and was set to film that year. But then McGowan split up with Robert Rodriguez, who was producing the movie (which will be directed by his long-time associate Douglas Aarniokoski), and the economy took a nosedive. It led to the movie being put on hold.

McGowan, who's since got back together with Rodriguez, has been speaking about her involvement with the project on her Twitter page.

She admits she had earlier dropped out of the film for 'personal reasons' - probably her break-up with Rodriguez.

First she explained: "Just this once I'll address questions about 'Red Sonja' & others I was meant to do in 2008. Major personal & private reasons I pulled out. Starting to want to work again. Sometimes real life f***ing sucks. That's all. God bless us survivors."

And then she elaborated: "I am still contracted to do 'Red Sonja.' Hopefully filming in 2010 not 2009.

"To clarify press reports: 'Red Sonja' is delayed. I pulled out of doing it in '09. Not permanently. Hopefully will follow 'Conan.'"

The new "Red Sonja" film had been intended to go into production before the big-screen "Conan" remake, now being directed by Marcus Nispel after Brett Ratner was unable to do it.

Hopefully the "Conan" remake will be successful enough to get more production done for "Red Sonja." This film won't be out for another 3-4 years at least.
More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Source: The Geek Files

'Red Sonja'

Last year a new movie adaptation of "Red Sonja" was announced, with plans to film it in 2008 and release it sometime this year, as the date on promotional posters indicated.

"Sin City" director Robert Rodriguez was to produce the project, which will star his fiancee Rose McGowan ("Charmed") as the so-called 'she-devil with a sword'.

After the remake was announced, all went quiet.

But now executive producer Joe Gatta has explained what is happening with this project and when we can expect to see it hit the big screen.

Gatta said the movie had been delayed and the intention is to film "Red Sonja" in 2010. The aim is to release it late that same year.

Gatta, who's also producing the "Conan" remake, told Empire magazine: "Because of certain issues and the economy, we had to change our plan a bit. It's frustrating because we thought we'd make the movie last year, before 'Conan.'"

He is confident "Red Sonja" will go before cameras in 2010, and confirms it will be an origin story that ignores the previous movie and is instead based on the original Marvel comic book heroine created by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith in 1973.

Gatta had last month told Empire Online: "I would say though the emphasis is on 'Conan' [rather than 'Red Sonja']. It's our crown jewel here at the company and that will be the leader. 'Red Sonja' probably won't happen until next year, as far as making it goes. So we want to launch 'Conan' and reinvent the franchise."
The earlier "Red Sonja" movie starred Brigitte Nielsen and was released back in 1985 and directed by the late Richard Fleischer - whose track record in fantasy and adventure material included "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea," "Fantastic Voyage" and "Soylent Green" - his attempt at the flame-haired warrior heroine was a flop.

Critics have called it 'hilariously awful', 'dull' and 'unwatchably bad sword-and-sorcery nonsense'. Unsurprisingly, this version will be disregarded entirely for the proposed remake.

The new "Red Sonja" film will be directed by Rodriguez' long-time associate Douglas Aarniokoski, who helmed "Highlander: Endgame" in 2000 and whose credits are mainly as an assistant director on such films as "Spy Kids," "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" and "Resident Evil: Extinction."

More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Source: The Geek Files