Jason Momoa
"The Massive Momoa"
Almost 20 years ago, the film Conan The Barbarian, based loosely on Robert E. Howard’s Conan The Cimmerian serial, became one of the biggest action films of the 1980’s and made its unlikely star, Austrian-born former bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger into a worldwide action icon. Now for the remake, this time playing Conan is another unknown, 32 year-old Hawaiian-born Jason Momoa, who has previously scored roles in TV series like Stargate: Atlantis and HBO’s Game Of Thrones.
Momoa talked about how important it was for him that the film didn’t get too over-the-top.
“I wouldn’t want to be a part of it if it did. I didn’t want it to have that campiness to it,” he believes, “I would read Robert E. Howard and look at a Frank Frazetta painting, they would reach out to me when I was a little kid, and Iwanted to take the character and rip it right off the canvas and put it camera up on the big screen.”
“I think it deserved to have the grittiness and the dirtiness,” Jason adds, “Marcus Nispelwas fantastic about it; I thought he did a really good job at making that world.”
Unlike the original film, which was tailor-made to accommodate Schwarzenegger’s then-fairly-limited pronunciation of English, Jason says the film is more true to the original Conan serials in the sense that he is a barbarian, which with it comes rather uncouth qualities towards women.
“That’s the fun thing about Conan,” he says, “He eats, he drinks, he’s a thief, he’s a pirate. That’s the fun thing about him is he’s not the saving the damsel in distress. It’s not very PC and I think that’s what Marcus didn’t want.”
“He should be this barbarian in a sense towards a woman,” Momoa continues, “But what’s beautiful about it is you see the vulnerable side and he obviously get saved by a woman in the heat of the moment where he was supposed to kill. So you get to slowly warm
Jason Momoa
"The Massive Momoa"
up to him and I think that’s nice to have a little bit of humanity to the character, a sense of humor, that makes him relatable.”Momoa was asked if he suffered any potential injuries while doing the film’s stunts.
“I’ve got all kinds of horror stories,” Jason says, “I almost died on a horse a couple
times. I broke my nose. I wanted to make it look like he was more barbaric, so I had a buddy punch me in the nose so I had a broken nose.”
Jason says, however, that the often dangerous stunts comes with the territory for playing a character like Conan.
“Conan should have a broken nose,” Momoa believes, “He should always have a broken
nose, I think, a constant flow of blood coming out of his body somewhere.”
Momoa was asked if he felt any bit typecast, having previously played warriors in Stargate: Atlantis and Game Of Thrones.
“Obviously, when I did Stargate, I wanted to work and it was a great opportunity four years of working on that,” Jason recalls, “I think Drogo [on Game Of Thrones] when it came along, I mean that’s a once in a lifetime chance to play anything like that. I’ve never seen a character like him in the movies or on TV.”
“He’s such a powerful, raw character, so that was the first time I’ve ever wanted a
character in my life was that role,” he adds, “Because of that the same casting director came on Conan so everything just kind of lined up that way. So I
don’t know, we’ll see. Hopefully there’s a RomCom in there somewhere coming
up.”
Jason talks about the workout regimen he underwent for Conan The Barbarian.
“We did a lot of Bushido, basically a samurai training,” Momoa says, “I wanted to
incorporate that Asian gracefulness to this barbaric character. I wanted to do the sword work. But as far as working out we did like six hours a day, stuntwork and stunt training,
Jason Momoa
"The Massive Momoa"
and it was just how to fall and lift heavy, heavy weights.”Momoa talks about the ballet-like aspects of the action in the film.
“Yeah, absolutely, choreography,” he says of it, “It absolutely is a dance and I think
that’s one of the great things about Conan is that he speaks through his movement and his action. That’s why I wanted to do all my stunts, because he speaks through that.”
“I studied a lot of lions and panthers and I wanted to be able to move like a feral cat,” Jason continues, “When I read those stories about him he just comes across as that nimble product of his environment, kind of king of his own jungle thing.”
Jason was asked if there were any stunts that he wanted to do that he was barred from doing.
“No,” Momoa replies, “Because by the time it was the ones I had to do I was so broken I
was like, ‘Dude, you’ve got this one. Take it. Take it, please.’”
Momoa talks about what was the most difficult and challenging thing to get through during shooting.
“Trying to keep injury at bay,” Jason says, “Like I said, there’s a flow of blood
coming out of your body at all times. You’re always injured for five months. It’s just to be able to stretch and keep that motor running for that.”
Jason was asked if he thinks it would be tough for him to do a romantic comedy or something where he will be able to dress more chic.
“Oh no,” Momoa says, “I look forward to it. I’m doing a job right now where I’m wearing a suit and I’m playing a villain. I get to shoot people with a gun; it’s so much easier. It’s like bam, dead. It’s so much better.”
Momoa talks about being cemented as part of Planet Hollywood lore.
“Really, really cool,” Jason enthuses, “Really cool. It’s a trip. I’m working with [Sylvester] Stallone right now, so you walk in and
