A CIMMERIAN FROM ATLANTIS!!!

[Temis the Vorta]

(Cimmeria is clearly southern Europe).

Eh? More like Germany, I think. Isn't Aquilonia roughly France, and Vanaheim/Asgard/Hyperboria is Scandinavia? The Pictish Wilderness = the British Isles. Zingara, Ophir and Koth are Mediterranean-ish, Argos = Greece, Shem = Israel, Stygia = Egypt, Kush and points south are sub-Saharan Africa.

I wonder if they'll keep the now-hilarious sounding name "Iranistan" in the mix. Sounds like something Fox News would invent.

I always thought Ah-nod was ethnically correct for Conan. Of course it's all just crazy-ass fantasy and Momoa isn't, and doesn't look, 100% Hawaiian anyway.

 

[Kegg]

Cimmeria is just a fancy name for the Crimea. The Cimmerians were an actual tribe from thereabouts or so it is claimed. Arnold Schwarzenegger was probably too light-skinned to be a Cimmerian, but Momoa may be too Polynesian, but he's at least a trifle darker.

Like any of this matters. It's Hollywood, and I gather Howard himself just mixed and matched ancient sounding placenames just to tickle his fancy; we probably should follow the same scrupulous nonsense logic of the fantasy king.

 

[Greg Cox]

Like any of this matters. It's Hollywood, and I gather Howard himself just mixed and matched ancient sounding placenames just to tickle his fancy; we probably should follow the same scrupulous nonsense logic of the fantasy king.

Exactly. Why worry about an imaginary nationality, when actors play all sorts of real nationalities all the time? I mean, it's not like Ricardo Montalban was actually a genetically-engineered Sikh . . .

As for his physique, who says Conan has to be a huge bodybuilder? Maybe they're thinking more of a Barry Smith CONAN than a Frank Frazetta CONAN . . . .

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Good points, both of you.

 

[Nerys Myk]

(Cimmeria is clearly southern Europe).

Eh? More like Germany, I think. Isn't Aquilonia roughly France, and Vanaheim/Asgard/Hyperboria is Scandinavia? The Pictish Wilderness = the British Isles. Zingara, Ophir and Koth are Mediterranean-ish, Argos = Greece, Shem = Israel, Stygia = Egypt, Kush and points south are sub-Saharan Africa.

I wonder if they'll keep the now-hilarious sounding name "Iranistan" in the mix. Sounds like something Fox News would invent.

I always thought Ah-nod was ethnically correct for Conan. Of course it's all just crazy-ass fantasy and Momoa isn't, and doesn't look, 100% Hawaiian anyway.

I had no idea he was Hawaiian until this thread. I figured he was just another white guy in dreds.

 

[Checkmate]

His nationality doesn't really matter. What really matters is that he's a scrawny little toothpick compared to what Conan should look like, and no amount of "bulking up" after a few months is going to change that. Couple that with an acting range that makes Megan Fox look like Meryl Streep, and you get a big fat "wtf" from me.

 

[Skywalker]

Schwarzenegger was too big for Conan, so it's fair that they've cast someone who'll be too small.

And the Cimmerians were meant to be a Proto-Celtic people, the ancient ancestors of the group that would eventually become the Irish.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Hmm... a polynesian Conan.

I actually wish there was a polynesian Conan. Sick of euro-centric fantasy.

That's what I liked about The Scorpion King!

 

[dragunzng]

To be fair to Momoa SG:Atlantis never really "forced" him to act much.. he was the stereotypical brawler and muscleman of the group and as such limited in his display of acting skills.

This may be the chance to prove himself though Conan isn't exactly Shakespeare.

True, but wasn't Teal'c the same way at first"? Christopher Judge managed to get a good deal of mileage.

The problem with Momoa isn't just that he's a terrible actor, it's that he also lacks any sort of charisma.

Terrible choice for Conan I think.

EDIT: Doh! Temis read my brain.