From 'Avatar' Heavy to 'Conan' Villain

Stephen Lang, who played the tough as nails, nearly impossible to kill, marine-turned-mercenary Colonel Miles Quaritch in Avatar, will portray Khalar Singh, the villain in Millennium Films’ reboot of the Conan franchise, which is being directed by Marcus Nispel.

Lang confirmed his participation in the new Conan film when he was interviewed by MTV at the Academy Award show. Lang will join a cast that includes Jason Mamoa and Leo Howard as Conan and and Rachel Nichols as Tamara.

Brett Ratner Helming Conan?

According to The Hollywood Reporter director Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, X-Men 3: The Last Stand) “is in final negotiations to take on literature’s most famous barbarian.” Be prepared for a massive collective wail from certain quarters of fandom that don’t see Ratner as anything more than a mediocre director of campy cop capers. Speaking of which, it is likely that Ratner will helm Beverly Hills Cop IV (penned by Wanted scribes Michael Brandt and Derek Haas) for Paramount before commencing his work on the new Conan movie—both films are tentatively slated to be released in 2010.

Co-produced by Nu Image/Millennium and Lionsgate, and written by Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly, the new Conan film is an origin saga for the mesomorphic mutilator that hews closely to the spirit of the original Robert E. Howard stories (see “Conan Movie on the Fast Track”). According to The Reporter, the new Conan film will be R-rated (like the original John Milius 1982 Conan the Barbarian, and not PG-13 like the franchise-snuffing Conan the Destroyer from 1984) and have a budget of $85 million (down from earlier estimates of $100 million).